Dragon Stripes AL-064, Back View
Dragon Stripes AL-064, Front View
Barberry, tumeric, logwood, and soot on silk from Thailand.
Jinbaori Hawks at Rest V-004, back view
Jinbaori Hawks at Rest V-004, side view
Jinbaori (陣羽織) are very loose-fitting tops most often worn over several other layers of
garments or a suit of armor.
While it is considered a man’s garment, in a modern fashion context jinbaori can be quite dramatic for women as well.
This piece, Hawks at Rest, is one I dyed using two stencils with rice-paste
resist on Chinese silk habotae. The primary dyes used are rust (magnesium) from
my well, and indigo. The yellower tones within the feathers (as seen in the
detail below) are dyed with barberry and an alumn/chrome* mordant.
Bamboo V-114, hand-woven silk slub
Detail of Front Closure Option, Flint Case
The imagery is of bamboo: stalks, leaves, and shoots.
The green is a mixture of yellow (iron laden) subsoil from the Central Valley of
California mixed with indigo.
I’ve used a man’s flint case from Nepal for the closure in front, creating a hanging structure
from bailing wire.
I enjoy using this general shape and concept in much of my work. The garment
below was dyed on a very rough-slub silk from India. Pretty much the same dyes
used above were used below, with the predominant color a golden brown from
barberry.
Although it may be hard to imagine, the garment below is structured much as
those above. As in the Hawks at Rest piece, there is a large slit up the back
making it ideal for high-steppin’ dancing!
Crystals Formed as Chrome and Alum Combine
*Have you ever seen the crystals formed by chrome (orange) and alumn (white)
when combined? It makes the most beautiful amethyst color!
