Saturday 2 April 2011

Kimono Project Preview

Hello Miss, please excuse Thea for this week's absence from her blog as she has been very busy and coping with much work-related stress. Now that we have that out of the way, the following is a little of what she's been up to.

As many of you know, I am participating in Melanie's Reincarnated Kimono Project. My initial idea was to overprint the Japanese floral fabric with an Australian native flora design as a meeting of the two cultures.

Printing tests proved that my water-based inks were definitely going to bleed on the vintage silk crepe.The clear print you see is off that fabric and on the cotton canvas drop-cloth. Time to execute Plan B.

I decided to print on a lighter cotton muslin, thinking that it would be quite diaphanous. This is my sketch of an Australian gumnut that I then used to cut a stencil.














Here is the screen-printed muslin that I hand-stitched over the kimono fabric. Mmm, not quite the effect I was looking for either.


I really wanted the Japanese fabric to be more obvious so the cutting away of the muslin layer begins. Ah, this is more of what I was looking for to signify the meshing of the two designs/cultures.

This is the wrong side of the work which I quite like.


Screen-printing, hand-stitching and fabric cutaway detail.

The finished work has been framed in a vintage wooden frame that I painted with glossy black paint to keep a Japanese flavour.

I hope you liked my preview. I didn't want to reveal all as I am hoping that local readers will pop into the exhibition this month. I am really looking forward to seeing everybody's work.

My piece is entitled "An Aussie in a Japanese Garden" and will be for sale at the exhibition with all proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross as a small contribution to the Tsunami Relief efforts.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

This little peek looks fantastic Thea, can't wait to see the finished piece...T

Tiff said...

Thea, the kimono background is stunning and your ability to enhance it with an Aussie flavor is inspiring. I love how you cut away the fabric, and I can't wait to see it revealed! I hope you take lots of pics of the exhibition that you are able to share! X

Cat Drawings said...

The combination of fabrics is lovely, and adding the stitches really enhances the whole thing. Well done.

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

And I can tell everyone that it's even more gorgeous in real life! Love your work Thea!

Trish Goodfield said...

I really enjoyed this post Thea. Loved having a behind the scenes look at your design process.

Le said...

wow wow wow - will it be online too - your work is as always a delight !! best le xox

Kerry said...

That is looking beautiful. I hope you'll let us see it all when the exhibition is over :)

Thea said...

I will definitely be sharing more of the work and others after the exhibition opening

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