Show/ The Rattles

Alright, I had a request from someone else for more information on the Rattles, how they were made and what they were made off. In posting these so late I did not include a whole lot about them of that nature. So here we go:

So the first one, is the one hanging slightly farther up--the spider web one. This project started out from the idea of doing cocoon's and cocoon rattles is where it went. That particular rattle is made out of Mawata (Silk Hankies), that are made from silk worm cocoons. They were stretched across the branch and then with liberal use of spray starch and a bit of glue they stayed on. However, beneath them are two key components that give it more structure: string was wound around the branch first in various direction to give some added mesh another layer for the hankies to stick to, strung from the strings were a number of silk rods.

I'm not sure that you can see the silk rods on the inside (they are a golden color next to the white of the silk), inside of the rods I sewed bells. Thus when you pick it up and shake it the whole thing jingles. The over all affect was nice but rather quieter then I wanted it too be.

The second one was made out of the silk worm cocoon's themselves, I purchased all that Shadeyside Farms had. The nice thing about these were, I did not get the good ones. I purchased all of their discolored or deformed cocoon's. They were very nice people if you ever need anything I would suggest getting it from them. I was not disappointed, prompt email responses, etc.

As you can tell from the image many of these were dipped in red dye to give them a little more contrast--a decision I'm not overly fond of not as it just looks like blood--against the white wall in the gallery space. All of these were threaded on a red string and wound around the branch that they were attached to.

Which brings me to where the idea for this piece started for me and that was with silk worm cocoon's themselves. I had purchased a couple off of cocoon's and rods from Larkspurfunnyfarm, out of curiosity to see what they looked like. The one thing that really intrigued me was the fact that--with the dead bug inside of them--they rattled. (I actually have ideas and plans to make a dress that has these all over it so that it rattles when you move but we'll see how that goes.) I was so intrigued by this phenomenon that I wanted to do more with them and so it went from there.

Now, we get to the good part. So I was paired up with a Ceramists by the name of Chris White. Chris did a lot of the wood gathering, and helped build/mount the piece that goes on the wall as well. On this last one he also created ceramic tiles that look like little bits of bark.

The under bits of this cocoon are actually made from stitched piece of wool. I was going to make it from undyed silk rods; however, it was not large enough to contain the tiles or the weight at that point. I dyed the wool roughly the same color as the cocoon's and then cut it into similar sized pieces and stitched it with red thread. After it was put together it was stuffed--with raw wool roving--and bound onto the stick. The ceramic tiles were then loosely stitched onto the wool base, so that they over lapped with each other.

Thus when this piece is shaken it is the collection of ceramic tiles hitting one upon the other, that makes the noise.

Over all the project was a lot of fun, though the end result was rather quiet. Unfortunately give the viewing space, it did not have as much effect as I would have liked but--they do not usually have a radio blasting in the corner either. So it was what it is. I hope that, that answers any questions people might have about the production and the collaboration of this project/ exhibit. If you have more feel free to ask. Cheers! J

So Catch up: Collaborative Shows

Since the last time I posted in here, I have participated in a couple of smaller collaborative shows which have been fun. I'm going to put up a few images here, beginning with the oldest and moving on to the one that happened on 11.11.11 (at the start of this month.)

BFA Collaborative Show: Rattles

These are images from the collaborative BFA show, that happened last year actually. *chuckles*. I was paired with and worked with one of the ceramic's BFA's and he created the lovely ceramic (the ones that look like bark), tiles that created the rattle part of the center rattle. Over all it was a fun project.

Textiles Artists Assembling Show: Forces

The theme behind the TAA show was 'Forces', I played around with a circular weave and the way that the wool constrains that when it's felted. The idea was the way that we conform to and confine ourselves to forms within society for various reasons and in various ways. In the end I just liked the form and wanted to try making it.

Eventually I would like to see these things much larger and a whole lot more of them. I would also like to incorporate something coming into or going out of them in some way as well--possibly with a larger or longer fringe on the end of the weaving's.

Cheers!

Black and Yellow

So, this is the jacket that I did for my final weaving project last semester. While I like what this is, it isn't exactly what I set out to do. This project began with one of the other weavers doing pleats. I thought it would be neat to have a jacket with pleats down the back that got consecutively larger.

I wanted the pleats to be made out of something see through, so that you got a layered effect. (I have been thinking about trying the pleats again and scratching the visibility idea, just because I still have this image stuck in my head of what I wanted it to look like in terms of form... which is this but isn't this.)

I tried a number of different things. The one that ended up working the best was the fishing line. Though my original idea was to use plastic, as I did with the garment in the previous post. However, even if the plastic was cut in very narrow strips, the visibility was lost when it got bunched up in the weave.

I'm currently planning on doing a set up that includes both this piece and the plastic/trashion piece as interacting with each other. Similar in some respects to what I tried to do with this scene. In this scene I plan on working with the silhouette as I did in weighted. The difference being that in this current scene, I would like to attempt to try and make the silhouette look as if it is wearing the garment hanging out in front of it.

I'm going to try a set up that includes on the heads, hands and feet of the silhouette and not the entire thing. The problem that I can see right now, is the fact that different people will be viewing it from varying heights, as we are all different shapes and sizes. This will mean that if I line up the garments and the outlines for my height, it will be off for everyone else.

Though I suppose some wiggle room could be added in there... there is some work that needs to be done, and things that need to be played around with. I'm hoping to get some time in the study this weekend to see what I can do.  I thought about going in today but... I can't carry everything I need with me and that's the only option at this point.

Anyway, I need to figure out how I want to model for the silhouettes for me. Doing myself is hard and easy at the same time. There is something in that thought, of doing to silhouettes of myself. Hmmm... has a different meaning though.

Alright, that's it for now. Outwards and onwards. Poofs.

Trashion, ReFashion

So, for a few months now I've been playing with the idea, working on the idea and sometimes getting somewhere with it. I planned this piece out last semester actually and then did a couple of thing's wrong. Anyway, the idea was to use a great deal of the trash yarn/cord that I have. Unfortunately I spaced out on that when I was setting up for this project. However, all things considered it turned out fairly well. ;)

The above are some images of the top modeled by my friend Clara. ;) The top is made out of cotton and wool, the pleats down the front are plastic (the same plastic that's used for the skirt bellow). The top is all of one piece at the moment, depending on who's going to model it for the show, I might have to make it a bit smaller. We'll see. ;) So that was all done end of the semester last year. Over the break I started working on the monstrosity bellow.

The skirt is made out of trash plastic and was going to be all one layer. However, the single layer was not poofy enough for what I wanted. So I ended up fashioning a fathered under-layer. You can see the under-layer as modeled by myself at the end of the collage. The lamp shade model is wearing the entirety of the thing as it is right now. I plan on fashioning an adjustable waist band of some sort today. Vanishes.

What?

I've been trying to figure out the last few days, why certain images appeal to me. Why do I find one more evocative then the other? What is the element that hooks me and draws me in? I'm not sure what it is, but usually it's because I read an emotional content into it. An emotional content that feels truly expressed in some way. Though, in truth I'm not rightly sure how to show that or to put it into words in other ways.

The reason for attempting to do this, is linked to another problem. I have not posted images of this work, but I've been working in hanging garment forms in my textiles work of late. In creating narratives between these disembodies garments that become representation of people, stories and lives. So in trying to figure out what appeals to me in an image, I'm hoping to try and better express that feeling or thought in the scenes that I create with these garment forms.

I'm also working with pairing specific garments with silhouettes on the walls. Where in this gets a little harder because you have less and more to work with. The trick now is figuring out what the relationship between the silhouette and the garment is. Does it change based on objects and arrangement? Does it always contain some of the same inherent properties? What is the story, image, or emotion that I wish to convey?

To give you some examples, here are a few images of some of the pieces that I worked on last semester. Though the locations are not exactly ideal for displaying these garments without background interference, it is what it is. :)

For some reason I'm having a hard time figuring this out. I was hoping that writing this might help but I still have no answers. Hahhaa. Alright enough wasting time on the computer. Cheers. vanishes

Weaving Chaps

Alright, so I've had a few curious comments from people. So, my last weaving project for BFA was a woven pair of chaps. Which seems to boggle people's minds just a little bit.

Thusly, here are a few images from said project. Pardon the unedited versions of images, I'm still having issues getting CS 4 or 5 to work in any form and haven't had the time to sit down with my computer and try anything that takes more time.

 So basically, they were woven all in one long piece on the loom. The wool was inserted into the weave and locked in place by further weaving. Once everything was woven, one long piece was taken off the loom and cut into sections, legs and waist. The sections were then sewn together to create the chaps.

I realize now I don't have a good frontal view of them, only the side view. But this gives people an idea. ;) 

Anyway, so yeah. Now two weeks before the next critique because everything has been shoved together. So, I need to go and start working on that, not to mention reading for my other class and another project for the weaving class (for that kinda got shoved out of the way in the need to finish the chaps... which subsequently too much, much longer then they were supposed to.) But yeah, I will post a few Feast pictures eventually. vanishes.