more vest examples

Each person can find her own way to wear the vest.

The arm holes are slightly off centre, so it can be long with a wide collar.  I had extra cotton after having cut out all the circles, and so created a few scarves.

even our faculty got into the fun of trying them out!

These girls are demonstrating the same design worn either long, or short (upside down).  When short the extra fabric can be used as a hoodie.

The fabric is a PFD cotton jersey so it is super comfortable and one size fits all.  I was using Procion MX dyes as well as wax batik resist. 

circle vests

  A very flexible pattern

 I decided to create one versatile pattern, while continuing to experiment with surface design.

My models are a few of the wonderful students at the Ontario College of Art and Design University.

surface design exploration

More Dyeing explorations

Those of you who have been following my journey for a while may remember that I was quite disappointed with the results of my dyeing last summer.  Well, I have continued working with Procion MX dyes as well as with Batik resist techniques.

thread painted faces

Recently I have been exploring the notion of cross cultural human connections.  Connections between people, both emotional and physical, sometimes give strength but at other times are fraught with tension.  In either case we all carry ties that bind us to each other.  As the Ubuntu saying goes "I am because you are, our humanity binds us."

These faces were created with free motion stitchery on water soluble fibre.  Then they were encased in co-polyester using clear plastic resin and dye.

the journey of self expression

Recently I have been drawing and thought I would post a few I found to be particularly successful.  It has been suggested to me recently that my drawings may be expressing a search for the self.  I had thought that I was investigating the interconnections between people, a cross cultural journey.  But, the suggestion was to insert myself into this exploration.  Is this the key to what makes great art? The expression of the self.... hmmm.....

Element of Water

detail

Riverbed

Recently I have been busy exploring the notion of 'elements' as they are viewed cross culturally.  I found it fascinating that most cultures overlap with regards to what is understood to be essential elements.
This is my interpretation of

Water

The fabric is hand dyed cotton.  The river stones are a result of my drawing, manipulated on the computer and then digitally printed on to the cotton.  After that, the fabric was gathered and stitched with free motion and quilted.

detail of the collar

 Water, once again, as a wearable.  I dyed this silk fabric and the collar is dyed using a shibori technique.

Element of Cement

Cement

When exploring the elements, I felt that since I live in a big city, one of my elements is cement  (which is after all made from stone and water).  I am surrounded by cement, and so, this is my reality when it comes to basic elements.