buttons – Mixy's Art Blog

Imaginary Friends

I’ve got a bunch of stuff like this….

No I mean, really…. I have acres.

Clothing that’s not quite wearable any more, fabric scraps and snippets, material I’ve dyed, painted, embroidered, cut up and sewn up and all the projects and garments that haven’t quite made it, that haven’t quite played out, but they’re still lingering. Then there’s the trimmings and buttons and beads, the threads, the wools, the fibres….

Lingering, for the longest time.

For what?

Like limbo.

I just needed the nudge to know what for.

And the nudge happened recently! I’ll tell you more soon, but there’s something enormous in the making: a turning point in my days, a purpose I couldn’t see until so suddenly it showed up to me. It keeps showing up in my dreams, and I’m waking up in a full on spin of ideas.

And they are manifesting as these bizarre little creatures.

Contrast (with buttons)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Bubblewrap, Buttons & Rice (Oh My!)

The anticipation of unpeeling and revealing the results of the paper dying exploration is magical!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Of all the results, I think it’s the rice I’ve found most inspiring.

paper dying, part 3

As an aside, before I show you the latest happenings from the paper dying project: I never realised when I embarked on this it would become so all-consuming. I thought maybe a day of tearing, soaking, dripping, swishing, squishing and waiting would be followed up by a few hours of drying, unfolding, oooh-ing n ahhh-ing, then straight on to using and gluing and making.

Nope. Anyways, I’ll explain as I go along.

Having filtered out the papers deemed ‘not quite done’ I was left with a fairly substantial heap of partly-colored insipid stuff to re-dye. In a bid for something different I explored some new techniques.

Putting bits in a jar instead of a tray (done this with fabric, but not paper before)

Using pre-cut-out bits of paper

Using small things to add a bit of pattern. These wire coils were leftover from a previous project…

Ditto with rice (thinking – will absorb moisture as well as leaving rice-shape-patterns)

And again, with buttons

..Bubble wrap…