Metal and Fabric mix ......

Saturday my friend Nat and I took a trip into Ziguzagu.....our favourite Japanese Warehouse where we find lots of old deconstructed kimono, vintage kimono fabrics...row upon row of baskets of wonderful fabric treasures. If you ever visit Melbourne be sure to visit.  You wont be disappointed!

There are also many wonderful kimono's and Japanese garments to be found and many other Japanese wares.  I found some beautiful old Kokeshi dolls (circa 1950), I bought a lovely metal ikibana (I hope that is correct), used in Japanese floral arrangements.  I am going to use it to print onto fabric and journal papers.  Sorry,  I havent photographed the dolls or ikibana piece.  Will show you soon.

Nat admiring the Japanese garments .....so hard to choose as there are so many beautiful pieces.  I love the fabric in this one.

I bought myself some lovely pieces of vintage kimono linings.  I love to use these for dyeing.  Some of the colours as they age are just so beautiful though,  I think some pieces might be used with just their natural patina of age.

Our day out was planned around a visit to the opening of an Art Exhibition,  "Journeys In - Journeys Out' at the Burrinja Gallery in Upwey.  Jude Craig of Naturally Dyed and  Michael Hyett and Martin Judd of Juet Sculpture collaborated to create an exhibition fusing metal and fabric.  It was wonderful.....  see photos below and visit Nat's blog for even more photos of ZZ.. 

Eco dyed patchwork.  I love how Jude displayed this piece with the reverse as the front .... those raw and frayed edges created such lovely texture.  Arent the colours amazing?  Colours from the Australian bush.

Beautifully framed eco dyed clothing fragments/remnants.  And if you click on the photo you can see one of the metal and fabric sculptural pieces.   (all photos are clickable for a closer look).

Wrapped canvases...each one with a metal object attached.

And the artist posing with a couple of her students/fellow artists.  L to R  Nat, Jude Craig and Jillian.

It was a wonderful exhibition and Jude's body or work was amazing. 

These next few photo's are 'just because' .....  Lynne and Zorana,  here are my new brushes!!!  We've been talking about how much we love our paintbrushes and how exciting when we get a few new brushes, so I wanted to share them with you.  I was recently given a voucher to my local art shop so bought two new brushes, more expensive than my usual purchases...such pleasure in choosing them. Arent they such beautiful shapes?

 L-R.  First,   for acrylic work a new filbert.  Then a chinese calligraphy brush I found on a trip to China Town...I just loved the look of it.  I love the shape of this 3rd brush (and dont even know its correct name),  but it is for my ink and watercolour work....as is the lovely little brush on the end.

Leaf and Rock

Leaving the exhibition I picked up this river pebble and lovely pink gum leaf....they fit together so well and are now sitting on my bookshelf for me to admire.  They make me happy.  I want to crochet a cover for my rock,  or paint it ... but I think it likes it little leaf companion.

OUR LIVES ARE FILLED WITH

GORGEOUS MOMENTS

THE SMELL OF CLOTHES DRIED

IN THE SUN IS ONE OF THOSE.

RELAX, AND LET MOMENTS

LIKE THESE SEEP INTO OUR SOUL.

- SARK -

Relax and enjoy your week.

Jacky xox

Drying and stitching ......

Now this is the sort of washing I like to see hanging on the line..... some more eco dyeing.  It's lovely to see it fluttering on the line, seeing how the colour has taken.  Most of these are silks.  I used vintage kimono silk, silk velvet, flannel blanketing and felted wool.

 The pieces below had some 'purple carrot' in the bundles....what amazing colour they gave off.  My friend Nat gave me a couple of them to try....I will definately be on the hunt for them now.

 Pieces of an old silk dress dyed with eucalyptus leaves (the tan/orange) and the darker colour was achieved using metal to wrap the fabric around.

 More of those Purple carrots...this time the piece was wrapped around an old piece of exhaust pipe and put in the dye bath.  I love the grey colour from the metal and the spotty look at the bottom.

 And above,  little more stitching to my cloth (click for a closer look).  The rainbow bird is finished...he has arms and legs now.  Plus some stitching around the Magic Pony....lots of x's  and above him some birds feet stitched (variation of fly stitch).  It was Australia Day on January 26th so I stitched the Southern Cross  on this small piece of cloth to celebrate the day and more mark making stitches.  The moon is a moonday moon (visit Peggy's blog to find out more).  I've even tried a bit of paper pieces which I have decided I love!!!  So easy to pack a little bag of pieces to take when you are out and about.  And if you look really closely I have stitched over a little silk heart with my mark making.... it is valentines day soon!

Close up of some of the stitching.

DANCE

WITH COLOR

ECSTATICALLY

-SARK-

Have a great week.

Jacky xox