Rag Rug Experiments

Is there anything more satisfying than cleaning out your boyfriend's t-shirt drawer, and then making something useful out of his throwaways? Hmm, no.

This rag rug, completed back in May, is warming the floor in my son's bedroom.

This silk blouse it piece dyed with Ciba, and trimmed with hand painted yardage.

New Work

I've recently been working with direct application techniques, i.e. hand painting on silk. The above is a silk noil tank with hand painted trim and pocket.

Latest Work

Loom woven, hand painted merino wool scarf

 

 

It's been a few months since I last posted, but I thought I'd get one last entry in before the year is out. It's been a busy, eventful year for twofolds and for me personally; I created a new body of work this year, added new stores, tried my hand at pop-up retail, and ended off with a successful weekend at the Eastside Culture Crawl in November. I'm expecting a baby any minute now (literally), and look forward to the adventures of motherhood, along with exploring some of the new design ideas I've had in the last couple of months. My hope is to return to the studio as soon as possible, blissful, sleeping baby in tow.

That said, I'm very happy I was able to complete the scarf warp that has been sitting on my loom for the past several months. The hand painted piece shown above was purely experimental, and I love the results. I plan to do more hand painted work with acid dyes in the new year, though this will likely be the last woven piece that I complete for a long time. My plan is to give the old loom up to create more space in my studio for my production work, and perhaps a playpen...

Happy New Year to you all and I look forward to sharing more of my work in the future!

Toronto

My stall in the cool of the morning shade

My recent trip to Toronto proved both successful and inspiring. I met a lot of supportive and engaged art lovers at the Outdoor Show, and despite the blistering heat and super sunny stall location, the weekend went well. I debuted my new dresses and was excited to see that they were looking good on all types of bodies - short, tall, thin, and curvy. These are now available at Circle Craft on Granville Is., and will be coming soon to Twigg and Hottie on Main Street in Vancouver.

Otherwise, Toronto is such a great city. I got to spend some time on Queen West, where my friend Erin Candela is opening a new gallery called the Graven Feather with two other artists who explore print making, illustration, and water colour painting. Other trip highlights were visits to Kensington Market and dinner at the newest French bistro in Leslieville, Le Canard Mort where my man and I dined on 4 courses for just over $100!

Mum and I setting up Friday morning

Natural Dyeing in Rwanda

various Rwandan dye plants

I stole this link off my friend Joni's facebook page. She must read a thousand blogs and always has interesting stuff to share. This one in particular talks about contemporary textiles in Rwanda, and the introduction of natural dye traditions where there previously were none. Interesting to note that a lot of the brightly coloured "african" cloth is actually imported to Rwanda, and not produced there traditionally.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/15119/atelier-rwanda-natural-dye-in-rwanda.html

September Shop

I've recently been invited by a group of local designers to join them for the month of September at a pop-up shop project at 10th and Kingsway. The space is owned by Rize Alliance, a Vancouver-based development company that is currently donating the shop space to a variety of juried artists and community groups throughout 2011. There are a number of awesome events to check out at the Pop Up Retail Store, including the Cheaper Show on June 25th. September Shop will be a collaboration of jewelery, clothing and textile art, personal accessories, and housewares. I plan to add some new pieces by then, including two styles of dresses, a tunic-styled blouse, and wrap skirts. Stay tuned for pics of the work as it progresses.