Friday, December 30, 2011

winding down...




as the gregorian calendar winds down to its inevitable annual conclusion, i am finding myself examining old techniques and digging haphazardly through unfinished projects and attempting to see them with a new eye.  one of the "old techniques" that keeps showing its face is rust and earth dyeing...two humble aspects of eco-dyeing. i went foraging the other day and came up with a pile of divinely rusty objects of various sorts. add these to my already heaping pile of rusted grates, expanded metal, pipes, bolts, nails, buckets, flotsam and hibatchi, and i've got a fairly extensive palette from which to create rusted surface design!  now to dig through my fabric scraps and see what alternatives to boring old solids i can come up with on which to make my marks...

along with digging through my fabric horde, i've also begun deconstructing many of the old garments that i've gathered from my own closets and local thrift stores, friends and miscellaneous other sources. i'm finding it every bit as relaxing and focusing as needle chanting. scissor chanting, perhaps?

i'm finding a growing pile of button strips and collars that will await future further deconstruction beginning to fill baskets and boxes... and the lovely bits of salvaged fabric filling shelves that were once filled with commercial quilting fabrics. i am continually entranced by the selection of textures, prints, and variety that is simply unrivaled by quilting fabric!

tonight will find me needle chanting the "new year" into existence...

namaste'

16 comments:

  1. happy new year!

    i love to cut things up....sometimes more than i love to sew them back together.

    here's hoping all rusts well in 2012!

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  2. Happy New Year, Joe. I wish you joy, laughter, and a creative muse always by your side. I hope the new year brings you all that your heart desires and more. Thank you for sharing your art and inspiring me to do more stitching.

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    1. thank you, dearheart... i'm so pleased you are able to find something of use in my meanderings...

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  3. Your rusty "bits" inspire me to go and search for some of my own...

    Somehow the deconstruction or taking apart of old garments could be a metaphor for the year in retrospect and making something new out of it represents hope in the coming year : )

    Anyway...I am wishing you a Happy New Year filled with much love, joy and peace<3

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    1. some of the more fantastical ones i've found in junk shops for pennies...

      may your new year be filled with joy, love and peace as well! thank you.

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  4. Collages of rusty objects and chanting scissors, what a way to spend New Year's eve. xox Corrine

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    1. i rather thought as much. ha! of course, like tibetan sand mandalas, these were gone as soon as they were assembled and photographed!

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  5. i love the sound of a scissor chanting

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    1. ha! me, too! you should have been here a few nights ago....snip, snip, snippety snip!

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  6. treasure is in the eye of the beholder - I'll be really interested to see what happens with all that "scrap" metal. Amazing where beauty can be found if you really look.
    Happy new Year Joe

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    1. ha! keep an eye peeled...pix to appear shortly!

      happy new year, kat! hope it's filled with joy and laughter!

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  7. Joe, I love the rust pile! Exciting. Happy New Year! xoxo

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    1. you should see the rust pile out by the shed! all kinds of amazing things are piled there for having fun with! ha!

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  8. That is an awesome rust pile! Happiest new year to you Joe xxx

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    1. ditto my last comment. ha! care to play?

      happiest of new years to you, too!

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