#clayresist

I am so excited to share these pieces with you. This might be the beginning of a new phase of work in the studio. I am combining iron printing here with clay resist, layering color and quality of line. The first photo is an image of bandanas what were printed with an iron ink, using a stencil and screen method followed by dyes after: the greenest one dyed with indigo and weld, the second, just tannin, the third, with dye garden mullein. After this, these bandanas sat around for a while and were not picked up at markets. I wanted to see if i could layer another design overtop so I added more cacti spirits, this time hand painted with a clay resist paste. The second and third images are the bandanas painted with clay and the last two images are the finished products. Once dry I dipped them into an indigo vat and the indigo pigment will grab onto the cotton not painted in clay, the last handful of images illustrate the finished pieces. I am really happy with the results and will be hopefully making some shirts similar to this motif soon. They require so many steps that I hope are not cost prohibitive as I love the finished result and hope others do too! These pieces are in the shop at $68 and can be used as bandanas or hung on the wall, used on a spacial table or altar space. 

One of the goals I gave myself this year is to learn and develop more printing techniques. One of these is a resist printing technique using a clay paste and indigo. I made the clay paste that can be thickened or thinned for painting or printing, painted on a madder root dyed napkin to test out how the clay would cover and keep the red, dyeing all other areas with the blue. The second to last image of the fabric on concrete illustrates how indigo liquid in the vat is yellowy green and slowly turns blue once exposed to oxygen. I have a handful of printing ideas ready to go so there will hopefully be new designs and offerings of this sort in the near future.