A Moose in the Woods...

This is a little post I shall dedicate to my wonderful long time friend Muse Mohammed. 
Born in Canada April first, this man is no fool, he knows how to handle his equipment ;)
A talented closet photographer...and I say this because he only does it on the side. He is currently studying some international political thing (I can never remember since he changes the name of his program all the time O_o) at the University of Ottawa.
With both Chilean and Somalian running in his blood, he brings a multicultural aspect to many of his photos and living in Canada just makes it so much easier baby!


Yay he is coming back for this whole summer...(he missed me too much haha...no really he probably did ;D)


So heres to you Muse! (a toast was called for of course) Love ya! I look forward to taking advantage of your photography skills...since mine clearly should stay in the closet :D

Some good oldies :}

I decided that I needed pictures of my old work and recent work. During the summer I dont have access to studio equipment and those beautiful expensive cameras that make things seem magical, so I asked my friend Muse who is a wiz with technology to go into the woods with me and photograph my stuff.

This is from first year Textiles. We finally got to used the super huge screens to print yardage. This is a sea themed printed on cotton using dyes and polychromatic techniques to get the nice multi-tone effect. I do plan to make bed sheets with it so I can pretend I'm sleeping on sand at a nice beach with warm weather! 

I love the way this picture turned out. Except it does not do ANY justice to my piece :/

I put alot of detail work into this piece and unfortunately is not something a camera shows very nice. It looks better in real life. Hand painted and screen printing with dyes on organic cotton. The red little figures are pomegranates and hearts. My inspiration was comparing the pomegranate seeds to blood cell flow in the heart. It also relates to the "you are what you eat" phrase with a pomegranate being fed to a silhouette to replace an empty heart. I used metallic rainbow thread to embellish the tree...yes people metallic rainbow thread...it is as magical as it sounds. I also did some hand embroidery and beading  on some small areas.

This was the first piece I worked on this year. It was inspired by some textile pieces from the Textile Museum of Canada. I screen printed with dyes on different fabrics and patched them together on a larger piece. I also used machine embroidery, applique and foiling for more texture and detail. Again this is one of those pieces that look better up close where you can see the detailed bits that make it so beautiful. This piece was displayed at the Museum for some time. I was quite proud.

Free People!

So 'Free People' has these changing room videos that I enjoy very much. (its only because I enjoy going in stores and trying on things!!!) 


pretty little things and great music :D

Bagteria Cells

Took me a while, I should have posted this before since its an old project but here it is! This is for a project I did for my dye and print class. We had to make a series of three bags.

"Based on microscopic biological imagery, Katherine’s bags can be worn anywhere on the body, self-attached by magnets.  They function both as a discrete pocket and as a jewelry-like adornment, suggesting organic growth and form." 

This is how my teacher described it and I thought it was perfect!

These three beautiful ladies are modeling my three designs.

I thought it would be cute to see them on guys as well and I found three guys wearing plaid shirts. Dont they look amazing!

They have an industrial red felt base, handmade felt on top with applique pieces and lots of both machine and hand embroidery. They have a small pocket at the back and attach to anywhere with magnets. I was inspired by microscopic picture of different bacteria. Thus the name of the series 'Bagteria Cells' 

Just some close ups of the texture and patterns in my bags/pockets.

hope you enjoyed them!

Sunny at last

These are samples I made for my dye and print class. It is called sun dyeing because the fabric reacts to sun exposure and as you place objects or even pictures on a clear base, it will leave the print behind :D

This type of fabric can be found at BlueSunprints, you can buy cotton or silk and they have a variation of the white print in many fabulous colors. So have some fun in the sun and make some beautiful prints!

CROCHET MY CITY

I love love Crochet and knitting. I learnt how to do it a while ago but I really got into it when I began my textiles program. I remember always thinking that it was for grandmas...since my grandma used to knit me scarfs and hats. However! it is not haha it is a great way to release stress and pass the time doing something pretty. I been very fond of knit graffiti and thought I would post it up. Crews of nimble fingered knitters are brightening up the urban landscape with colourful yarn covering trees, statues and even entire buildings. This just looks amazing and its a great way to introduce creativity and color to our surroundings. This reminds me very much of the work of the lovely Francie V (Sister Valentine's hearts & crafts) 

She took over our school! This is a bike rack near our studio, she crochet this wonderful tube to give a new life to our bike rack :D

above: entitled 'tree cozy', this incredible crocheted outfit was made by carol hummel, took 500 hours from start to finish, and stood for 3 years outside cleveland heights city hall until just recently.

above: top left - a knitted handrail cover near tullikamarinaukio square, finland, by knit sea. top right - a tagged guard chain in stockholm, left by the prolific masquerade crew. bottom left - a mooring ring tagged in stockholm, again by the masquerade crew. bottom right - a grateful and warm lampost in houston, texas. dressed by members of knitta please.

 above: this old abandoned gas station in syracuse, new york, was knit graffitied to within an inch of its life after a worldwide effort was initiated by artist jennifer marsh. over 3'000 panels were stitched together to cover the building and not even the pumps were left uncovered. 

AREN'T THEY WONDERFUL! if you're looking for more knit graffiti, following THE links below...
knit sea
knitta please
knitted landscape
ladies fancywork society
masquerade
micro-fiber militia
yarnbombing
jafagirls

Final skirt print!

This is the final product I made for my client project.


These are some samples of the prints I made using a natural dye print paste. Different mordants were used.

This is actually purple pigment...used it to try out my screen on cotton. But the top is a mix of Tannin and Iron...both mordants. This would explain why the color is so light.

The one on the left is Lac with alum as mordant and the darker shade is also Lac but with iron. I love love love the one to the right. Even though the color faded on the original fabric which is organically grown linen, the bottom half looks almost like a resist. I printed with a mix of Alkanet and alum as a mordant and than used Alkanet with iron on top. 

This is the Lac and Iron mix with logwood printed at the bottom. I like the transparency of the logwood.

This is the Alkanet but the amount was very little and I didnt do as many pulls so only the logwood is visible. I also used the Lac with iron mix for the bottom color. 

This is the front and back of the packaging I made    for my DIY skirt pattern. It made of cycled and   handmade paper.

This is what comes with the package. A lovely legend explaining the natural processes and material content, instructions, printed and sized fabric and zipper and thread.

This is what the final skirt looks like.

This was super fun to make....I struggled along the way figuring things out but in the end I loved every bit of it!

If you would like to see what the lovely textile girls from my studio did for their project, check out the workroom flickr postings for some wonderful photography by Karyn!