redemption

Posted: December 8, 2021 | Author: asiadyer | Filed under: buddhism, dyeing, japan, karma, psychedelic, tie dye, tiedye, Uncategorized | Tags: art, asiadyer, cat, craft, dye, dyed, dyeing, etsy, japan, mandala, mandala tiedye, old fabric, psychedelic, recycled fabric, shibori, shop, siamese, siamese cat, tie dye, tiedye | 4 Comments

Recently, i dyed a piece with some old cotton fabric from a stash of cottons i have gathered up over 20+years of salvaging fabric stashes and random textiles from the recycling piles on garbage day, old abandoned houses, a myriad of sheeting and futon covers. There tends to be a lot of this yellow thin sheeting fabric, which is twice the width of standard kimono fabrics, and most traditional japanese fabrics. This width of textile itself seems almost iconic of the middle twentieth century and before, the earlier industrial looms. I think this type of fabric may have been used as the ‘skin’ for futons back in the day. I love the way this yellow expresses on this fabric when over-dyed. Something about the pale yellow makes the colors glow a bit….or is it just my imagination??

I love the process of saving something from certain destruction, a certain feeling a salvation, almost sacred. Especially the older fabrics. Someone saved it up until now. And now it is my turn in the chain of events. That connection is dear and precious, and valuable. Duty calls. hahaha

One piece is now tied up and ready to dye.

I probably dyed and tweeked this little by little about 10 times or more, I never keep track. Washing between each dye session. And after a few sessions, i removed all of the rubber bands on the body and put more back on, obviously in different spots. There are two mandala areas on this tied piece. Can you see them both? One is obvious, the other is not so obvious.

Once it was done being dyed, it looked like this.

When I am inspired, i tend to get sucked forward. Pulled in. A certain amount of the conscious evaporates and I am in the space I want, the healing space we all need. Ahhh, sweet auto-pilot, a mystical realm. A return.

And then, after washing, and cutting open the binds, and removing the rubber bands, this is revealed..

This first photo is at night with a flash.

This is without a flash on a rainy day.

Sunny morning shot.

I feel eyes on me as I write this. Over and over, the high pitched whine of a meow. The Queen calls her servant. I must go and serve my higher lord. I’ll be back……..

She needed to get her yahoos out. She gets a trip outside most mornings. This was her second today.

In this next photo, she is defiantly looking back at me like “yeah?? What are you even gonna do if run, hooman?!?”

This piece is so difficult to photograph. It seems impossible to get the same image, the same colors and textures, that the eye sees. Often fabric is like that. And it seems that this piece changes with the light: in ambient morning light, nighttime light from within the room, with a flash or without. Every different lighting situation seems to transform the piece. And each one also seems impossible to capture in a way that accurately communicates what they eye is seeing, experiencing.

That happens. What I find ironic is that sometimes, although a piece is very pleasing to the actual eye, a photo cannot do it justice. And on the other hand, some pieces are enhanced by a photo, and look better as an image than do in person. It is hard to explain and quantify, in the realm of nuance and direct experience, but that also happens.

Round mandala on top? Mandala at the bottom? hmmmm….I think a sort of aesthetic ‘common sense’ dictates round mandala should be on the bottom, but I always like to give the other side a fair shake. You never know where the deeper discoveries might be…..

Still working hard on the infra. Flickr and my images is what is in line for some work today.

Here’s a link to my Flickr page. It houses my photos in higher resolution, about 8000 images, now.

And also, any support is greatly appreciated!! The two outside cats i feed now are FAT and forever hungry. I have two shops active at the moment.

This is the Etsy shop.

And this is the shop at my website.

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