studio time

Yesterday, Rachel and I spent the whole day in my studio. We're trying to think differently as we do our surface design -- but neither of us is comfortable with thinking before we work, so it is a bit stressful. Of course, discomfort means we are stretching -- and that can only be a good thing.

Unfortunately, I left my camera in the studio so i can't post pictures of Rachel's challenging piece in transition. But I suspect she will get around to doing so on her blog one of these days. I took a particuarly hideous piece to see if I could improve it. The jury is still out. I started with a piece of yellow fabric Helene had batiked and sent to me for rescue. I only made it worse. Check it out on the left of the page. I over-dyed it with some ungodly rust color which made it so hideous the camera broke (just kidding) - and then i knew i had to do something drastic. I discharged first with dishwasher gel, but that didn't do much. Then I painted with dye and paper resist, and finally, used discharge paste through a screen. Here is the result. Better. You can still see the yellow and green, but it is more subtle. Not sure what the next step will be.
Tonight i rearranged my upstairs studio and can breathe for a change. Now, after a day in New York and all this moving stuff around, i can barely keep my eyes open. So, goodnight!