Gardeners & art lovers enjoyed good weather for last Saturday’s Art and Garden tour. I was situated in a garden in front of an historic (1910) St. Paul home, one of several Peace Garden sites in the Twin Cities. The gardens and plants were the stars of the tour. This garden was all about the rich textures and colors of leaves, and the structures of plants and shrubs. Here is just one example.
wow! leaf color and variety
I set my runners and hangings on trellises, and placed my pillows on the brick stairs leading to the massive front porch. I really enjoyed them as garden decoration!
Garden view with katazome work in place
I got back to the studio yesterday as I have a couple of weeks left to prepare for the Loring Park Art Festival. This morning I discovered that I accidentally recycled one of my smallest stencils along with the newsprint used to blot and flatten it after use. This is something John Marshall warned us about, and now I have learned the lesson! The stencils are soaked before and after use, blotted with newspaper, and flattened under books before storing them away for the next use. So if you layer a bunch of stencils between newsprint under a pile of books, tossing one away is a bit of a risk when you are ready to put them away a day or two later. On the up side, it forces you to improvise a little. Instead of pasting my usual minnow symbol on the back of this batch of pillows, I’ll be pasting a little Egret, which has also become one of my symbols!
Here are today’s stencils soaking in a tub of water before pasting.
katazome stencils soaking
It’s amazing how shifting a few objects around in a room can open it up. I pasted a long piece of linen yesterday (3+ yards), and began painting the work today. I can move around the work more easily. The picture shows the pasted section resting on the top of my flat file, which is on wheels allowing me to push it around as needed. I’m glad that I can now work with a big piece of fabric like this.
pasting tulip design
And from the other direction…
meadow rue pattern
The pasted fabric stretched out to dry.
pasted and stretched
Because the rice paste shrinks when it dries, the surrounding fabric pops up a little from the surrounding pasted areas. This paste was of a good consistency. It’s good to be back in the studio.
close up of dry rice paste on linen
Since my last post, I’ve been doing a lot of preparation work for dyeing fabric. I’ve lacquered stencils, which involves using water-based floor paint to attach silk “Sha” to the front of the stencil. John Marshall’s Website has complete instructions.
lacquered stencil detail
We modified my studio a bit to allow me to stretch fabric in preparation for soy sizing and dyeing. Ray mounted one of my temporary walls onto a sliding mechanism like those used for closets, so I can access the concrete wall behind it to attach a handle for tying a rope. I made my own “Harite”, or fabric clamps, which you see in this picture.
Stretched fabric, with shinshi on underside, harite (fabric clamps)
This morning I made soymik, sized the fabric, which prepares it to receive the pigments. I also made rice paste today. The rest of this week will be devoted to pasting stencils and dyeing.
The photos below are from Serizawa, Master of Japanese Textile Design, a catalog of a major exhibit of Serizawa’s work that was shown at the National Museums of Scotland in August-November of 2001. Serizawa, a master of Katazome, was designated a Living National Treasure in 1956, and was a member of the Mingei (Folk Craft) movement founded during the 1920′s by Yanagi Soetsu. The Mingei International Museum Website has a wonderful video clip about Serizawa.
Serizawa Keisuke in fabric stretching yard, Tokyo, 1982
Noren by Serizawa Keisuke
As you can see, climate and weather permitting, you can dye your work outdoors. John Marshall has a fabulous outdoor space in Covelo California for teaching and working, which I experienced in 2004. Here in the north country, I won’t be able to work outside until at least May 15th. We visited Lyndale Park Rose Garden in Minneapolis last weekend. The rose bushes there are still deeply mulched with dried leaves from last fall. The locals were out in droves to walk around nearby Lake Harriet in 60 degree weather for the first time this year! We weren’t looking for roses, obviously, but wanted to join the joyful throng around the lake.
Lake Harriet Rose Garden
