Dye project time. I promised myself I would do at least one over this break, and today I finally put my mind to it. This is a black T-shirt dress that I never wear because it faded in a really strange way that I can’t account for and don’t really like. I did concertina pleats on the diagonal and then again the other direction to get a square slightly larger than the jar lids I’m using as a resist. I had originally thought I would use one or two giant c clamps to hold it all together, but the clamps kept slipping before I could get the tension I needed, so I found some bamboo knives and wrapped the ends with rubber bands. I’m going to give it a bath in diluted bleach. What I’m hoping will happen: black polka dots! What will actually happen: who the hell knows! This technique is called itajime shibori, and it’s one I haven’t done much experimenting with yet, as evidenced by the bamboo knives I had to put into service here. Depending on what happens after the bleach does its thing I’m going to do another dye thing with it, TBD but probably low immersion to get an all over crystalline effect as opposed to another stronger resist technique. I’m thinking purple but we’ll see what color the bleach reveals. It’s been an unexpectedly difficult couple of days here. Lots of trauma rearing its head, lots of depression and anxiety. I think I’ve been pushing through a lot of things and putting them off, telling myself I’ll get to them later because there’s been So. Much. Work to do, and now that I’m in the middle of a four day break with not enough work to keep me moving forward like a shark, later it finally here. I’m talking body pains, deep fatigue, biting my lips raw, crying in the mornings, spiritual restlessness, loneliness. On Friday after work my joints hurt so bad I could barely get off the couch. CPTSD is a total bitch. Anyway hopefully this project will be the quick fix I’m looking for to get the creative juices flowing — I have lots of ideas, but it takes doing something to feel ready to execute these concepts that live in my brain. I’m excited to see what happens! #itajimeshibori #shibori #reversedye #creativity #dyeproject #fieldexpedient #experiment https://www.instagram.com/p/CaP4PaLFZWq/?utm_medium=tumblr
