I did not get into my studio with the blue lace today to work on my Blessed Mother. But she is slowly coming to shape in my mind.
Not the specifics, but the feeling. Ideas bounce around in my head, images of other goddesses. I know once I start sewing the lace down it will flow. I can already imagine what the different materials they’re made of will feel like on my fingers, how some will give easily and others will resist, taking on their own shape.
And her shape, her form, is evolving too. I did some drawings this evening that help me understand her better.
While she floats around my mind, an old idea of dying vintage hankies using the Japanese art of Shibori has come back to me. I’m sure it was dying the lace that revived it. This evening after having lunch with friends, I dug under my work table and brought out the cardboard box filled with white hankies. I pulled them out one at a time, sorting them by size and ironing them.
I have a small pile after an hour’s work.
Shibori is similar to tye-dying, only you fold and wrap and tie the fabric in certain ways. Small blocks of wood are used to make squares and more organic designs come from wrapping the fabric around branches. Sometimes the fabric is sewn with long stitches that bunch it and create more subtle designs.
I have lots of hankies to play with and plan on sticking with the simpler designs. This isn’t something I’m looking to perfect, just to experiment with. It’s a way of using all those white vintage hankies and like the designs, I’m creating from what I see in nature, who knows what it might inspire.
This photo is so beautiful. It has a Maxfield Parrish feel to it. Or Mucha. Stunning and so creative. You have an eye that sees art in the most mundane of places.
That is a lovely compliment Kim. Thank you.