• Home
  • Current
    • AAWR Annual 2021 Exhibition
  • Recent
    • Dark Dollies
    • Dark Carnival
    • Monster Lounge
  • Archives
    • Older Work 2019 >
      • Detroit Institute of the Arts
      • MOCA Cleveland >
        • MOCA - Artists Trust at Gordon Square
      • Cooking It Up in Cleveland!
      • heART of Cleveland Exhibit & Book Release
      • The Donut Project >
        • "We" Day Glo 7
      • BB Blues Bird
      • GRAPHIC:
      • A Cartridge In A Bare Tree
      • Holiday Treats at AAWR
      • Th-Th-That's All Folks
      • Watch It Wednesdays
      • Art Fur Animals 2018
      • Shoji Lights Collection TM
    • Older Work 2018 >
      • Curating: Step Right Up!
      • PATS >
        • Blog
      • PS...Silk >
        • Locations
        • About PS...Preservation Silk TM
        • Tropical Fruit Cocktail
        • Umber to Indigo Exhibit
        • Fire & Ice Exhibit
      • Anti-Social Media / E-11even2
      • The Chief - Still Fighting
      • Dreams & Visions/Surrealism & Fantasy Art at Lakeland Community College >
        • Bad Hair Brush
        • Gypsy Wagon That Ate The Universe / Kosmoharmaphagon
      • Make Me One With Everything >
        • Akron Art Prize 2013
        • Blog Akron Art Prize
      • "Yada-yada-yada..Seinfeld"
      • When Life Gives You Lemons
      • Maria Neil Art Project / Hyatt Regency at the Cleveland Arcade >
        • Hyatt Regency Arcade, Cleveland
      • All Things Cleveland NOIS
      • Lakeland Community College/Woman IX
      • Cleveland Artists Lonely Art Club Show
      • 100 Leaves Celebrating Beachwood Ohio's Centennial
      • Art Fur Animals 2017
      • Art Fur Animals 2016
      • Art Fur Animals 2015
      • Art Fur Animals 2014
    • Older Work 2016 >
      • Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously
      • Masterworks
      • MIMB 3
      • Mickey Meows
      • Rustbelt Textiles TM
      • Beside The Golden Door
      • Giggles at The Art Gallery
      • Collage 101 at e11even2
      • Trick or Treat
      • Exquisite Corpse
      • America Scores
      • Phone Gallery
    • OLDER WORK A >
      • Salmagundi Club Juried Non-Member Exhibition
      • Year of the Snake 2013
      • Sweet Somethings (Main Street Gourmet) >
        • Main Street Gourmet / Akron Arts Prize
      • Art in the Park
      • Sundae Shoes / Salmagundi Club NYC
      • Akron Arts Prize 2014 -see Sweet Somethings
      • YARN n YOGA
      • Waterloo Arts
    • OLDER WORK B >
      • SYZYGY
      • Pop Up Girl...or...Eat Your Heart Out Stan Lee
      • KSU Cup Show
      • The Dress Says It All
      • ONE
      • Random Acts
      • Fairmount Center for the Arts
  • Classes
    • Locks of Love, From Waterloo
  • Contact
  • Resumé
  • Galleries
    • Residence
  • Blather
    • WTF Department
    • About
    • Essay
    • Ideas
....................cleveland art sculpture.....................
             Rustbelt TextilesTM
  
Definition:  Organic cotton or linen stained by hand and weather with salvaged iron artifacts and  
  industrial flair.  Prismacolor pencils and acrylic paint provided an additional means to embellish.

                       Textile #1.   5' feet 2" inches  x 34" inches.   

    This large textile design was first shown in the Collage 101 Exhibit at e11even2, and is on display with other experimental work in the storefront windows at Cleveland's Hyatt Regency Arcade through May 2016.
                    
Picture
Ten years ago, I began experimenting using rusty iron fragments to stain fabric.  This began on the heels of an unsuccessful attempt to remove a rust stain from an old doll dress.  That failure encouraged inspiration. Although I never did get that stain out,  I made up my mind to think of it as a happy accident.  Why not capitalize on the permanence of rust?  

After much trial, I'm happy to introduce a large textile patterned with iron artifacts, saturated in natural earthy umber and ocher tones, and overpainted with figural design and cryptic symbols from cave paintings the world over.  Coming soon: fabric on demand direct to you for your sewing projects.

Stop in for a 5' x 3' foot textile preview on Third Friday, January 2016 at E11even2 Gallery in Cleveland's art mecca,
78th Street Studios.

'

Picture
The purpose of this blog is to reveal the entire process of fabric coloring in detail to any other artist interested in giving this a try.  Let me know if I you find any speed bumps in the directions below and please credit me and link to this page if you re-publish my process.
...........................................................................
6/11/15
Today I met David Smith, a FB friend and amazing metal artist who's doing creative work that's second-to-none; he's a tenured second generation metal refinisher, restorative artist and fabricator from Cleveland. 

David's a guy -who believes as I do- that it pays for artists to help other artists.  After a tour, he turned me loose in his studio shop so that I could pick and choose from his stash of metaLto beef up my own!

David shared chemical processing tricks that I'd never have learned elsewhere.  His generosity, friendship and shared artistic enthusiasm have turned my experiment into a happy collaboration.  All that said, contact me with questions.  Just ask if you'd like to visit and see for yourself what I'm doing.
Above left to right: 1) Rusty metal stash courtesy David Smith. [Hint: Choose metal with strong lines and holes like the curly iron railings, faucet handles and gears.] 2)  The original stash.  3) WD40 may loosen rusty connections so metal will lay flat for 'staining'.  4)  I bought three fabric weights of unprimed cotton artist's canvas: 7, 10, 12 oz.  [Hint: Start with the 7 oz. canvas; it's lighter weight, easier to handle, and it was easier to bleach.]   5)  Here's the yardage after bleaching overnight.  Notice the color difference between the bright white fabric and original pinned swatch.  [Hint: Soak until whitened or overnight.  Use 4c. chlorine bleach and laundry soap in a washer full of hot water.  If color isn't white enough in 24 hours, empty washer and start over with fresh bleach.  Avoid ravelling: don't agitate fabric.  Rinse gently by hand and drip dry.  Iron.]  6) Scrubbing the old unused picnic table.  Years of dirt and green moss lifted right off. [Hint: Use Awesome Cleaner.]  7)  The processing will take more space than I can spare in my studio, and now that the table is clean, it'll be perfect.  [Hint:  Find a space that can remain undisturbed for weeks at a time.]  More later!