Bunny conundrum

I must admit I’ve been all in a muddle about this bunny. I’m about 80% there. Scribbling (a lot), cutting shapes and rearranging them helps!
An upcoming post will show a stencil in the process of being cut.

Pinks and blues

Last week the Crab Apple blossoms burst open all around our neighborhood, including the front yard. They come in shades of white to pink to fuschia. It’s the most beautiful time of spring. This year, everything seems to be blooming simultaneously — tulips,  crab apples, lilacs. Even the peony buds are starting to emerge!

crab apple blossoms

shore blossoms

Meanwhile, in the basement, I tried an experiment with some 12 oz. cotton duck (canvas) that I had on hand. I pre-washed it, sized it with soy, pasted it with my minnow pattern, and dyed it with indigo pigment using the large “jizomebake,” or ground-dyeing-brush, which I normally use just for the soybean milk sizing. Here you see the pigment mixed with soybean milk, the brush in water, and the mortar and pestle that holds my indigo pigment. When I need indigo, I add a bit of water to the dish, measure out a little of the liquid and mix it with the soybean milk in a different bowl for dyeing. That way none of the pigment is wasted. It just dries in the bowl.

pigment mixed with soymilk, pigment in mortar and pestle, jizomebake brush

I mixed a dark indigo – applying 3 coats to ensure even coverage. I plan to sew this into a cover for a rolling cart that I will bring to art fairs this summer. I’ll be participating in Art at St. Kate’s on July 11th, and Loring Park Art Festival on August 7 and 8.

minnow pattern with rice paste (yellow areas) and indigo pigment