Workshop 1: Dying Fabric

This week, the team and I got together to do our first group project which was to attempt to bring elements of Kara Maria to fabric. This was also our first opportunity to work together as a team and get our creative juices flowing.

We did a couple different styles of dying. The first most obvious was a technique that emulates Kara's process when she begins a painting. We wet muslin fabric (very similar to canvas used for paintings) and then started applying to it varying consistencies of silk screen paint. The wet fabric caused the paint to bleed and travel through the fabric in random ways and after applying several layers created visual "depth" to the surface. This was a fun process to experiment with because this is how Kara begins almost all of her paintings. Instead of fabric paint she uses acrylic, and once she creates the perfect "cloudiness" effect she seals the unprimed canvas and begins the figurative part of her artwork, where she applies other techniques to the canvas which results in a collagesque or mixed-medium feel to the artwork (although it is purely acrylic on canvas).

The second type of dying we played with was batik (dying fabric using special dyes and wax). Angela is a lover of this process and so under her guidance my kitchen became a lab for the night. What seemed pretty accessable, batik turned out to be more involved than seven girls in a small San Francisco kitchen could easily handle. Fortunately, despite the challenges, we were able to make some basic designs with the wax and and it also allowed us to compare the different ways each style of dying interacted with the fabric.

At the end of the evening we divided up pictures of 16 of our favorite Kara paintings that Alix and I had organized into color movements.

Then it was time for a homework assignment. We divided up pictures of 16 of our favorite Kara paintings into four groups based on color movement and each girl picked a group. The homework was make 50 sketches of clothing designs. I directed the girls to combine inspiration from the paintings and lessons learned during our dying exercise to find other techniques of fabric manipulation beyond dyes. These could include applique, or mixed media-- for example creating a collar out of old thread spools, or using embroidery, etc.

We also defined the rules of creation. One, we will focus on the beauty of Kara's work. Her angst and dark commentary is important to explore but not to wear. Vagadu brings beauty and positivity into the world and hopes that the garments bring people joy, not fear.
Two, we will avoid the obvious. Some of the bold graphics within Kara's work are easily--too easily--incorporable into clothing, we want to dig deeper and explore lesser seen themes. Three, restrain from couture dresses. Everyone wants to design the "dress" and as designers we will always be drawn to it. These days, there are very few occasions to wear mega-dresses and I want to see practical items become wearable, common-day wear...in other words, make the ordinary, extraordinary!

In a way, these applications are relevant not only to the Vagadu project but our everyday life. You set boundaries and limitations on how you go about your day. You pick and choose what to focus on and what to leave out. And if you are daring, you take big chances and you decide to stand for something beautiful, to create something that shines like your heart. And before you know it, even the mistakes and messes become precious. Take note of my sink after the dying party. As they say, life imitates art.