Complex cloth is created by building up layers of surface design on fabric. It requires having a vision of where you are going, but the willingness to go with the flow because surface design is not an exact science — at least the way I do it!!

I must have the art cloth (that I can’t show you) done and shipped to Jane Dunnewold in Texas by Friday. So far I have overdyed, discharged and screen printed two central images – very abstract. I was not thrilled with my results as they were not as crisp as I would have liked. but as I said, there is nothing exact. So I started on my next layer this morning, first practicing on other fabric. I even e-mailed Rayna Gilman in a panic because I was feeling so insecure about printing on the silk. She reminded me that it is a process that you go through and the results will vary. So I forged ahead. I wanted to do some overall printing with found objects, like the vinyl mesh potato bags and bubble wrap. Here is the result on another piece of silk that I had in my stash. This is little blurry. You can see the bubble wrap print, but the mesh is more subtle. The circles are a thermofax screen that I made. I will print those on the art cloth tomorrow. I also want to create an image that I will foil.

So, after doing this sample, I took a deep breath and started working on the large silk piece. Wow, this is addictive. The printing that I did today helped to integrate yesterday’s images and the parts that I didn’t like took on this amorphous and lovely appearance. That is why I love creating complex cloth.

I am falling behind in my homework for Liz’s class. I have skimmed the material that I downloaded this week-end. I think it is going to be lots of fun. Here is the workspace for the class that I have set up in my office next to my computer and scanner. I have to scan my work and post it on the yahoo site.

I bet you are wondering how I get anything done! Here are some pages from my journal for the class to prove that I am getting work done.

The last one is a composition using lots of different textures.

I must get some work done on the SDA website. Good night.