Re-worked Skill Swap: Dundee

So today Nicola is visiting Dundee and it's my turn to show her a little tricks of my textiley trade. I had hoped, now being a Designer in Residence at DJCAD, that I might take her on a grand old tour of the dye lab, mix up some dyes and make some lovely prints in the studio BUT then I am reminded of the ethos of Re-worked; being spontaneous and reactionary to our materials. So, this considered, I have chosen to host my workshop for Nicola in my home.

Our workspace for the day (my kitchen table) with a range of fabrics etc.

I plan to work with Nicola on a dye technique called Shibori (often regarded as tie-dye but with more to it!) in emulation of some of our natural rusty dyes.

Some Shibori making materials - we will use the polystyrene and string as resist markers.

We will also construct a couple of collars (in a similar vein that is demonstrated by this A Common Thread blog post) mostly by way of hand stitching and perhaps a tad sewing machine as I would like to show Nicola a little pattern cutting and fabric construction. We will design our collar shapes together and pattern cut original shapes a la this. (Thanks Google!)

A vintage collar that Nicola sent me previous is inspiration for this route.

Nicola's workshop was such a wonderfully comprehensive one stop shop of a range of jewellery and metal work techniques that I found my own a rather difficult feat to plan but given the steps we are making towards creating our final pieces, I feel the dye, embellishment and construction techniques I will share with Nicola today are apt in helping us realise Re-worked project. 

Exciting! Can't wait for her to arrive! 

Rusted Collar

This is a sample piece that I began stitching a while ago and has been rusted somewhat naturally (in comparison to our usual speedy vinegar induced samples) by way of lots of outdoor exposure and a thin salt coating. I was hoping to get a softer rusting effect by pulling back the process. I think if the rust hadn't bled so far into the collar we could have had a really interesting and delicate printing method to replicate... Perhaps this can be achieved by controlling the exposure more? Further thought required as to what kind of metal coatings the jump rings have been treated with and what might break it down more slowly and gently. Cogs are a-turning!

 In other news, Nicola's textiley workshop is soon approaching... Details to follow very soon! I am waiting on a couple of things being confirmed in the mean time. Should be a fun and very productive time for Reworked! :)