Tangled up in Blue with Carmen Bolanos

shibori sample made by Carmen Bolanos

We have been looking forward to this workshop, dyeing blue with Indigo and making designs with the Shibori techniques. Carmen Bolanos has been working with Indigo in El Salvador for a long time. What started as a pilotproject is now a structural way of living to a lot of people in El Salvador. She started to show us a big sample where she had made different designs with typical Shibori stitching as a resist. During the morning we all worked on our own sample.

dip in the indigo dyepot

After lunch the big play started. Again Carmen explained in a lovely mix of English-Dutch how to make designs, but this time using clamps, boards, pipes and many other things as a resist. It was just at the second day that she learned us how to make an indigovat by ourselves. Carmen has her own recipe for the vat, learned from the Japanese Indigo master. Her favourite is the one where you use fructose for reducing. It will take you some more time to use it, but it will give you a longer profit.

simple resist can give great results!

fabric dyed and designed by Marianne Hauser

fabrics of different students

The fabrics made on this day became bigger and bigger, we all get the hang of it and couldn't hardly stop At the end of the day Carmen showed us how to make a flowerpaste-resist and how to make a paint of indigo. Something to experiment with at home. All students went home with a bag full of indigo-dyed fabrics, enough to give their home and body a make-over!

my own small experiment with a flowerpaste-resist

  

Show must go on!

The show must go on, to start with a full week Diana Nagorna from the Ukraine!

showmodels of Diana Nagorna's dresses

dress made of only wool by Diana Nagorna, 18 April 2013

I was in such a good flow, having good idea's and I could handle all the stress. Untill that split of a second. Hubby was hanging up the last lamp in our renewed atelier and asked me for my 'approval'. I made a turn, didn't lift up my foot (probably because of my distrophy) overbend my knee and before I knew I was swimming on the ground. After two days I went to a doctor and the photo showed a broken ankle. It needed surgery with 7 screws, 1 pin and a plate and 2 nights hospital. Plus 4 weeks no walking. And this all happened two weeks ago, just before the season with all my guests. Now way to cancel this because of such a thing. So I decided to go on, to start with as first Diana Nagorna, a week full of felting and demonstration.

one of the participants showing the dress Diana Nagorna made on the first day

Diana's work is one of a kind. She started feltmaking a couple of years ago and she developped her own style. She is talented with skills and creativity. She knows how to flower a woman's body, the quality of her felt is superb and the finishing of the garments are perfect. Her sensitivity for the right colours are tremendous.

particpants are 'testing' the quality of the felt of the jacket Diana Nagorna

In the seminars Diana has showed her secrects how to make a dress, which fits as a handglove and she demonstrated a complex jacket with a hoodie and shibori. She shared her knowledge and her patterns. In the workshop she teached how to make a felted scarf with bumps and fringes. All participants were very satisfied. One student went home after the first day and came back on the last seminar with two finished dresses! Another student had worked on one sleeve untill the middle of the night to test the way Diana is working. Some students worked the whole evening to get felted the hundreds of fringes.

happy students with their finished scarves workshop Diana Nagorna 19, 20 April 2013

It was such a great privilege and pleasure to have Diana as a guest during these days. I also want to thank Natalia, for translating all the technical explaination and being a helping hand during the days.
I'am still sitting in a wheelchair, there are a couple of weeks to go before I may walk, but with the help of my family the show will go on. Thanks to them too!

lovely group with particpants from all over the world, 2days seminar Diana Nagorna 21-22 April 2013