Pirate's Map for Textiles class

So, my last post left us here in the process of making my 3d Pirate's Map for my final project for my Textiles class this semester. I had picked up a gourd, scrubbed the waxy coating off, and iced dyed it for a subtle coloration. So far so good. Next up, I needed to felt around the gourd. Last time I tried this, I carved the gourd open first and then felted around it. But, the gourd got really waterlogged that way, and that makes for a fragile gourd. This time, I decided to do the felting first, to take advantage of the natural water resistant rind. The risk, of course, was that I would crack the gourd in the cleaning process, and waste all my work. But, that is why I bought a spare gourd!

So, I went through my stash of wool roving, and pulled out my blues and greens. I want the felt to represent water, with the top of the gourd sticking up like an island. Ready? Go!

I found a little pail, and turned the gourd upside down. Then I spread out a length of roving and laid it over the gourd. It kind of looks like hair here. I resisted the urge to draw googly eyes on it.

Instead, I kept on adding thin layers of wool roving at right angles to each other, until I had 4 layers built up. Then it was time to add wisps of the colored roving to make it look watery.

I needed to hold the wool down to the gourd so I could get the felting started. So, I cut the legs off of a pair of panty hose, and tied the remaining stubs in a knot. That left me the body part of the hose, which was just the right size to come down and around the woolly gourd. Time to soak it with hot soapy water, and get to rubbing! The fibers will velcro themselves together.

Once the fibers were holding together, I could take off the pantyhose and just work it with my hands. At this point, I cut slits in the wool. With luck, these will pull apart as the wool shrinks down into felt, creating the look of little islands around the main island.

So far so good! The gourd stood up to the hot soapy water. The slits pulled apart into openings. And the wool shrunk and velcroed itself into a nice firm felt, that is holding to the gourd without the need for glue or stitching. Time to let this dry thoroughly before I cut the top off, and clean out the insides. Crossing my fingers that I don't crack the gourd in the process.

Yay! No cracks. I cut the top off, cleaned out the insides, and sanded down the rim. Then, I drilled holes and strung the opening with a web of artificial sinew, so I could needle weave my 'X marks the spot' and compass rose.

I also took a bit of time, and hand spun some wool yarn for the coiling at the rim. I used some of the same turquoise and green roving that I used in the felt, to tie the colors together. But I also added some browns, so the coiling could represent foliage.

My needle weaving is done, and I've started coiling. Round and round I go.

I like it! The red X marks the treasure spot in the cavern, and the blue arm with the white arrow points north. I had a pendant hanging around that makes a great sample treasure coin.

Now, to add some sea foam to mark the shore of my main island. I'm making a branched fringe with glass beads, crystal tear drops, and freshwater pearls. And a cloissone fish, just because.

Done!! I added some seashells to the sea foam shoreline. And then, it was time to make my pathway that makes this actually a pirate's map. You start at the coin with the key, and follow the freshwater pearl pathway from little island to little island, collecting keys. Avoid the little islands with the skull and crossbones. Trust me on that one. When you get to shore, follow the woodburnt dotted line up the beach to the foliage, and then the garnet path will lead you up and around into the cavern. The treasure is almost yours!!

This was a fun project. The assignment was pretty open ended. Just, make a map using some of the techniques that we learned over the course of the semester. I'll turn this in tomorrow, and see what the teacher thinks!

Textiles class final project: Make a Map

I've been taking a Textiles class at the local community college this semester. We've done felting, embroidery, ice dyeing, shibori, surface embellishment, and coiling as the sections. For our final project, the assignment is to make a map of some sort, using some of the techniques we've learned over the semester.

I was stumped. I thought for awhile that I'd make a fabric map of Snake Bay on Lake of the Woods, where I go for summer vacations. But, what I envisioned for that was going to take a lot of embroidery. And, I still really don't care for embroidery. Other techniques grab me much more. So, while I was working on my coiling project (bowl made of hand dyed wool yarn wrapped around clothes line)...

...I decided I wanted to do something more three dimensional. And, maybe not hold myself to an actual place. Wouldn't it be fun to make something like a pirate's treasure map? And my brain was off and running.

So....take a gourd. Maybe ice dye it to make island ground colors? Felt around it in water colors. Cut it open. Coil around the top, to mark the entrance to the treasure cave. And then embroider on it to make the map leading to the island. I don't think that makes sense to anyone who is not in my head, but I can almost see this one. And I am kind of excited to give it a try.

Step one was a visit to Wuertz Gourd Farm, which you can see in the picture at the top of this post. http://www.wuertzfarm.com/ Seriously, if you can't find the gourd you're looking for there, you aren't trying. I have never seen so many gourds in one place! All sorted by type and size. So, I picked out two kettle gourds. One to work on, and one as a spare in case I screw up the first try.

I could have paid extra for a gourd that already had the waxy coating cleaned off of it, but it is easy enough to do with some water, a copper scrubbie, and some elbow grease. You can see the difference that taking that coat off makes visually!

Then I did some mad scientist art experimentation, and tried to ice dye the gourd. I couldn't find anything on line about it, just that it was possible to use Procion powder dyes to dye gourds. I wrapped the gourd in towels soaked in soda ash water to prep it, then removed the towels, buried the gourd in ice, and sprinkled the dyes on the top. 24 hours later, I rinsed off the gourd.

Hrm. I'd guess that I didn't find much on ice dyeing gourds because it doesn't work terribly well. Especially for the amount of pigment that went into the attempt. I'll keep ice dying for fabric, like in this class sample done with the same general technique:

But, the dyes did leave some subtle reds and greens, and brought out the natural variations in the gourd. I can definitely work with that for this project. I just won't try it again. (Unless someone out there has ice dyed gourds more successfully? I'd love to hear your technique!!)

Tomorrow in class, I'll attempt to felt over the gourd. I've tried this once before, and found that the felting process makes the gourd shell very delicate and apt to tear when it gets soaked. But I had already opened and cleaned that gourd, so the water was getting in to the shell and soaking from both sides. I'm hoping to avoid that this time by waiting to carve the gourd open until after the felting process, and after everything has dried back out. I've cracked several gourds in the cleaning process, so this is a risk also. Luckily, I have that spare gourd for when I screw this one up.

Wish me luck!

Glowing Petroglyphs gourd bowl

The Native Forum team on Etsy is participating in an 'Artists Exposed' treasury this coming November. That is a gathering of listings where the lead picture is a shot of the artist themselves, rather than the item. It lets folks get to know one another a little bit better. I didn't participate last year (my native blood dates back to the 1800's, so I always feel like a visitor to the team), but got my guts up to play along this time. But I wanted to have a new piece of art work for the listing.

So, I took the time this week to transform this gourd:

The gourd was originally grown in Casa Grande, Arizona. I scrubbed it down, sawed it open, scooped out the innards, and cleaned and sanded it up. Then I dyed the bowl inside and out with a half dozen blended colors of leather dye, and sealed it with several light layers of clear spray. The darker streaks down the outside of the gourd were inspired by a phenomenon called 'desert varnish', which is a dark patina that forms on cliff faces in arid climates.

I sewed a decorative chevron rim treatment in waxed linen.

Then came the fun part. I regularly go hiking in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park, located just west of Phoenix, Arizona. If you look carefully when you are on the trails, you can spot ancient petroglyphs that were carved into the desert varnish by the Hohokam Indians, probably somewhere between A.D. 500 - 1100. Rangers say that some of the images may actually be up to 10,000 years old. I have collected many pictures of the petroglyphs, and for this bowl I went back through my albums for inspiration.

I sketched the symbols on the gourd, and then carefully drilled holes along my lines. It adds a nice texture to the gourd during the day...

but the bowl really comes alive at night. The next pictures are of the bowl in low light conditions, with a tap light inside of it. With light streaming from inside, the ancient images take on a glowing new life.

You can find the bowl at http://www.etsy.com/listing/84957986/for-artists-exposed-gourd-bowl-with

For my own 'Glowing Petroglyphs' piece I use a votive candle on a stand inside, which makes a lovely warm and flickering light. But the gourds are flammable. I don't leave mine unattended, but for safety's sake I sell the gourds with a tap light included instead of a candle.

Oh...the picture I used for the 'Artists Exposed' part of this? I grabbed this one that my daughter snapped of me last July. I was in my studio, trying out one of her pop-tab necklaces. They are actually quite comfortable, and really fun. She's planning on listing them in her own shop over the next week or so. That is a D&D d20 dice hanging from the choker. Yes, we're gamer geeks over here.

The finished gourd

I finished up the gourd I've been working on. Take a look here to see the process:
Cleaning a gourd: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/cleaning-dried-gourd.html
Dyeing a gourd: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/dyeing-gourd.html
Weaving on the gourd: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/teneriffe-weaving-on-gourd-lid.html

And here's how it turned out!

I'm pretty pleased with this one. The weaving especially was fun to do. I started with a color scheme, and with the beads in place, but improvised everything from there. I was aiming for an organic feel that was still fairly balanced. So if I used a color or technique on one side, I used it across the way in a slightly different form. It holds the design together without being rigid symmetry. Not bad!

Teneriffe weaving on the gourd lid

I've been busy modeling for life drawing classes this week, so I haven't made as much progress on the gourd as I wanted to. But here's what I've been up to. (Check out the previous steps in this project here:
Cleaning a gourd: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/cleaning-dried-gourd.html
Dyeing a gourd: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/dyeing-gourd.html )

My first step was to find a handy circular guide, and with a pencil lightly mark out where I wanted to drill holes.

Then I drilled two rows of holes with my little hand drill.

I pulled out some waxed linen that was similar in color to the gourd lid, and measured out about 5 yards. I tied a knot in one end that was too big to slip through the holes...

...and then threaded it through one of the holes from the backside of the lid. (I glued that hairline crack, so it wouldn't be a structural issue. The crack doesn't go through to the front anyway--looks much worse than it is. But I'm careful.)

I took a moment, and strung a few beads onto the waxed linen. My needle was too big to fit through the holes, but luckily I could take the needle off and just pop them over the end of the thread.

I rethreaded my needle, and took the thread down into the hole directly across the way.

I came up in the next door hole, and went directly across the center again to the other side.

I repeated this step, building a web across the gourd lid. I had put an odd number of holes in the circle, so the last thread went just halfway across, and came up just beyond the center junction.

The warp is now in place, and I'm ready to weave. I started weaving over under, going around the center junction.

I snugged the thread down tight, making a circle.

If you'll notice, that circle is a little off center. To work around that, I went back and forth now and again in addition to round and round, until I had a nicely centered circle.

It doesn't look exactly perfect, but I wasn't worried since my next step was to sew down the knob that allows me to pick up the lid.

Now I buried the end of the gourd colored thread, and added in a contrasting circle of grey to make the handle pop visually.

Now, the fun part begins. I weave under/over, back and forth with the waxed linen, just kind of doodling on the web. I have no real plan charted out. You can chart out lovely patterns, but I'm just playing here with a free-form design.

I decided that my design might change depending on what the rim treatment was going to look like, so I added grey linen for a visual pop. It is whip stitched going around one direction all around. Then I reversed direction and whip stitched going the other direction all around, letting the stitches cross at the rim to make a neat V pattern.

And that is as far as I've gotten tonight. Next up is more doodling with the waxed linen in a free-form design. And maybe another row of gray V's on the rim of the bowl in addition to the ones of the lid. Still deciding on that. I'll probably wait to decide until I get the lid done, and see what it needs from there.

Dyeing the gourd

In my previous blog entry (http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/09/cleaning-dried-gourd.html) I showed you how I cleaned up a dried gourd to get it ready for turning into one of my decorated bowls. Today I took the next step, and colored the gourd.

First, I used some sandpaper and smoothed down the rim of the bowl and the lid.

Then I gathered my materials. I used several colors of leather dye, and a smidge of gold acrylic paint.

First thing I did was to dye the inside of the bowl and the lid a yellow, and let it dry. I decided that was a little bright, and put a layer of white dye over it to tone it down.

Then I used the leather dye on the gourd. I started with darker colors at the base of the bowl, and built up to lighter and lighter colors. I encouraged each color to drip down into the previous layer. I tried thinning the gold acrylic paint out with some leather dye for a glittery layer, but it just clumped up and looked icky. So I wiped that off, and tried a layer of acrylic paint thinned with water. That worked better, but the texture was still kind of thick. I got a hint of glitter gold, but I think I'll skip that experiment next time around.

When I had the color pretty much how I wanted it, I turned the gourd over a canister to dry.

After it was dry, I took a rag to it and buffed it up to smooth out the texture, and remove excess dye.

Because the acrylic paint was in there, the buffing stripped up some of the color where it was a little thick right at the rim. So, I took some sand paper and turned that into a feature.  It actually added a cool texture. No mistakes!

I checked to make sure the lid was colored in such a way that it coordinated with the bowl.

Then, I took the bowl and lid outside and gave them 4 light coats of sealant.

Next will be the fun part! I do weaving on top of these bowls to decorate the lid. I had a request for a weaving in light neutral colors: white, grey, tan, silver, and gold. I think I've figured out the accent beads and handle I want to use, and I've ordered some grey waxed linen to go along with the white and warm tan that I already have.

OK, mail, get here with my linen! I want to keep playing...