Jacquard weaving on TC-1. Three samples.

 Black cotton warp and white silk weft.

 Natural dyed yarns. Silk warp and silk-linen weft.

Natural dyed silk warp and white silk weft.

Natural dyeing with my granchildren - part two - other experiments

Siiri (9 years) and I cooking new colors from mountain ash and alder leaves in one pot and juniper in the other.

Yarn on the left is from the leaves, mordanted with alum and the gray yarn is from the juniper pot mordanted with alum and iron.

Natural dyeing with my grandchildren - part 1 - Lupine

I was so excited after my first dye pot with lupines that I wanted to dye more. I was in Finland at my summer cottage with my grandchildren and their friend when road sides were full of lupines. The children were eager to help me to pick the flowers and set up dye pots over the open fire place. Everybody were amazed how beautiful blues we got out of the pots.

Natural dyeing - new wave

I red an article in a Finnish craft magazine Taito about natural dyeing and getting icy blue colors from lupine flowers. My old hobby got a new spark and I tried the recipe on silk yarn this May at home in Vancouver.

The yarn turned pink at first, but when it dried it got its final color in beautiful light bluish grays.

The yarn to the right is dyed with left over stems an leaves. 

THE EAST SIDE CULTURE CRAWL 2013

 Welcome to visit my studio during the East Side Culture Crawl:

atelier 3, Mergatroid Building, 235-975 Vernon Drive, Vancouver, BC

Textile tour to Japan in May 2013

I am so happy and fortunate that I had the opportunity to take this tour to Japan with Yoshiko Wada.
A wonderful trip, full of experiences, beautiful fabrics and delicious food. I met skilful artisans - masters in their own field and shared all this with a group of enthusiastic people from all over the world. My Japan tour was a dream come true.

It all begun in Arimatsu where we learned shibori techniques at Mr Tsuyoshi Kuno's studio.

 Emily and her mother opening the ties after dyeing.

 I learned that shibori tecniques can also be used to make three dimensional patterns on fabric.

 

  Polyester fabric can be heat resisted.

 

Cloque on cotton

Felting on wool

 

At Arimatsu shibori festival young designers had an impressive fashion show.

 

Encaustic; painted silk and bees wax

This fall I took a new work shop in encaustic painting with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch.  There are many different ways to paint with wax. I find hand painted silk fabric interesting to work with. I paint the silk first, cut it to small pieces and arrange them between wax layers. Here I have finished the paintings with Indian ink drawing.

The paintings are small compared to my weaving. They are about letter size and painted on wooden panels. To learn more about encaustic painting you can start from Patricia's website: http://www.pbsartist.com/

This is my favorite. I made the sketch on my coffee break in a cafe on Cambie street in Vancouver.