Tag Archives: textiles

Jean Paul Gaultier, Bad Boy of Fashion, Madonna and the Virgin of Guadalupe

Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 | 2 Comments

In 2007, French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier introduced his Spring/Summer 2007 Haute Couture Collection - Virgins on the Paris runway. It was controversial, ethereal, and evocative, garnering applause and criticism throughout the world.

This week I saw this collection, along with others on exhibition at The deYoung Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in Golden Gate Park. It immediately brought to mind Mexico’s most revered saint, our Virgin of Guadalupe.

The animated mannequins draped in Gaultier’s vision of Virgin were singing hymns and crowned in areolae so magnificent, I could feel the aura. Costuming a saint-like human figure takes imagination and courage.

In 2007, Gaultier selected a Paris strip-tease queen to wear one of his virginal outfits on the runway — a statement about repentance or redemption, perhaps? He designs clothing to make you think, question, respond to society’s issues, ideals, undercurrents. (Gaultier clothed Madonna for her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, see sketch below, introducing his famous cone bra — the epitome of punk style.)

In her book, Madre: Perilous Journey with a Spanish Noun, author and linguistic anthropologist Liza Bakewell discusses the Mexican man’s pre- and post-marriage image of woman. Before marriage, she is The Malinche, the whore, sexual and fiery. After marriage, she becomes the Virgin, revered mother of his children, unapproachable.

Gaultier captures both identities and blends them perfectly into an alluring, sexual goddess who is both approachable and revered.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk closed at the deYoung on August 19, 2012, but will travel to other locations worldwide.

Check out our two upcoming fashion design workshops in Oaxaca, Mexico, set for winter 2013. (1) Felted Fashion Design and (2) Painting on Silk Art of the Rebozo clothing design.

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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving

Tagged blogsherpa, fashion, Mexico, Oaxaca, textiles, Virgin, workshops

Indigo Dye Workshop: It’s Called Shibori, Not Tie Dye

Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 | 4 Comments

Actually, using resist dye technique using indigo to create patterns and designs on cotton is called shibori, tritik, amarra or plangi(depending upon country of origin). It’s not the hippie dippie 60′s tie dye that’s been reincarnated on beach blanket bingo T-shirts. It’s high fashion wearable art. Not long ago, I saw an Eileen Fisher designer label Made in Japan shibori design on a finely woven cotton scarf dyed with indigo at a Nordstrom selling for over $100USD. The technique is universal.

Norma's Indigo Dyed Shibori Napkins -- A Gift for Jacob and Michelle

As frequently as once per month, Eric Chavez Santiago teaches a hands-on indigo dye workshop for people of all ages at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca. At a recent workshop, a mother, father and baby sister accompanied a six-year-old who made a fish design on a white cotton T-shirt. Dad was right by his side and the learning was a fun family adventure. Other participants included local artists, university design program students, and visiting tourists.

Indigo can be used to dye cotton, wool, alpaca, silk, linen and the fiber of the agave plant. Some women in Oaxaca villages even use indigo to dye their hair. Dyeing with indigo is all about chemistry. Cellulose fibers such linen, cotton and agave absorb less indigo to get an intense color than do protein fibers of silk and wool. Said another way, it takes less indigo to dye cotton than wool. That’s why, we are using 100% cotton for the workshop. Polyester blends just won’t work because indigo saturates only the surface of the fiber, not it’s core.

Look for Felted Fashion Oaxaca Style, coming in February 2013. It includes dyeing wool roving, silk, and cotton with natural materials and making your fabric into luxurious scarves, blouses, wraps. Contact me to get on the mailing list for complete course description. Instructors are clothing designer Jessica de Haas, Vancouver, B.C., and Eric Chavez Santiago, Oaxaca, Mexico. Limited to 8 participants.

The process is fairly simple. First, we rinse the white fabric (I dyed white, handwoven cotton napkins from the Amuzgo tribe) in clear water to soften it. Then, we squeeze out all the moisture and make our design.

1. To make the shibori design, you can make accordian folds and then tie this together with rubber bands or with string. You can drape cloth over marbles or beans, securing them with string or a rubber band. You can whirl the fabric and then tie it with string or rubber bands.

2. To make the tritik design, you use a needle and thread to create a very specific pattern, folding the cloth and then sewing through it.

3. It probably takes about an hour to make the design. Tie a lead string onto your fabric so you can easily fish it out of the water.

4. Dip the folded and/or sewn fabric into the dye pot for 20 minutes. Be careful to immerse it gently into the solution. Do not stir or disturb in any way. Pull the piece out of the dye pot with the lead string.

5. Hang on a line from the string until the fabric changes from green-yellow to blue, for 15-20 minutes.

6. Repeat two more times.

7. Remove the rubber bands or thread.

8. Rinse well in water. Then, dip in vinegar water for 5 minutes to set the dye, soften the fabric and remove any of the alkaline residual and garlicky odor

9. Let hang to dry.

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Posted in Clothing Design, Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged art, blogsherpa, class, clothing, course, design, handmade, indigo, Mexico, Oaxaca, shibori, textiles, tritik, workshop

Making Indigo Dye in Santiago Niltepec, Oaxaca

Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

The market for organic indigo dye is making a come-back in Oaxaca as more textile artists and weavers are choosing to work with the natural plant material. Today, the state of Oaxaca produces about 100 kilograms of añil or indigo each year. Up until about three years ago, the indigo dye making process had almost died out in Oaxaca.

To stimulate the economic development of indigo as a crop, the state government has made investments to help the producers develop new markets. The Museo Textil de Oaxaca gift shop sells small bags of indigo along with “how to” DVD’s and recipes. I learned this and a lot more during the indigo dye workshop I participated in at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, where about 15 people gathered to learn shibori and tritik dye techniques using indigo.

The people in Santiago Niltepec, on the coast of Oaxaca near Juchitan on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, pick the wild plant, chop it — stems and leaves — and put it in a fermentation bath for at least twelve hours (sometimes as much as thirty-six hours) to prepare the dye. Each family has its own recipe for making the indigo paste. Most use rocks to keep the plants submerged below the water to make sure that they oxidize completely and yield the deepest color.

The process is ancient, thousands of years old. The plant material decomposes and collects at the bottom of the large vats as a thick paste. It’s then strained to separate any sediment. The result is a highly saturated, concentrated product. It takes about 200 kg of plants to produce 1 kg of indigo dye. It is then dried and becomes rock-hard. To then use it, it must be pulverized into a fine powder. Traditionalists in Oaxaca use a metate or mortar and pestle. Others take the faster route by using an electric coffee grinder.

Indigo can’t be dissolved in pure water. It has to be dissolved in a highly alkaline solution with a 10-11 pH, and free of oxygen. Eric Chavez Santiago, director of education at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, told us that there are several ways to manipulate the chemistry by using either sodium hydrosulfide (highly caustic) or the more organic fructose crystalline. French botanist and dyer Michel Garcia is now experimenting with using mango skins and fructose successfully.

Eric says it is important to be patient when dyeing with indigo. You can use the dye within thirty minutes after preparing it, but it often takes three or four days of fermentation to get the deepest shades of blue.

During the workshop, we dipped our white cotton material at least twice for 20 minutes each time, to intensify the color. Some people even dye their hair with indigo!

Tapestry Weaving and Natural Dye Workshop this summer 2012! Don’t miss it.

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Posted in Clothing Design, Food & Recipes, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Oaxaca rug weaving and natural dyes, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged blogsherpa, class, conference, course, indigo, Mexico, natural dyes, Oaxaca, recipe, textiles, weaving, workshop

Commonwealth Club of California to Host Chavez Santiago Family Weavers on May 10

Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

San Francisco and Bay Area textile and fiber artists, hand-weavers and spinners are invited to attend a presentation at the Commonwealth Club of California at 12:00 noon on May 10.

The Future of Tradition: Weavers of Oaxaca, Mexico Connect Their Future with Their Past.

Eric Chavez Santiago, director of education at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca and Janet Chavez Santiago, education coordinator at the San Pablo Academic and Cultural Center of Oaxaca, will talk about their family’s weaving and textile traditions, indigenous life, and the professional goals they have set for themselves and their institutions. Jean Pierre Larochette, a Berkeley, Calif. weaver and leader of the American Tapestry Alliance, will introduce them.

Chavez Santiago Family Portrait by Richard Carter c.2012

Their father, Federico Chavez Sosa, is a master weaver whose work is recognized for blending traditional Zapotec design with innovative color combinations and pattern adaptations. Both Janet (top, second from left) and Eric (top right) are fourth generation tapestry weavers, along with their brother Omar (top left). Eric’s novia Elsa Sanchez Diaz is to Eric’s left.

The family is committed to using only 100% natural dyes in their work. They have been featured in the NY Times article 36 Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico by travel writer Freda Moon.

Eric and Janet are in the Bay Area at the invitation of the American Tapestry Alliance.

This summer! Weaving and Natural Dye Workshop with Federico Chavez Sosa and the Chavez Santiago Family Weavers in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, produced by Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC.

Chavez Family Weavers, a Portrait by Norma Hawthorne c.2012

In addition, Federico accepts commissions for custom work and when you are in Oaxaca, please visit them at Galeria Fe y Lola, Av. 5 de Mayo #408, Centro Historico.

Questions? Contact Norma Hawthorne, executive director, Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC.

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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged American Tapestry Alliance, blogsherpa, Chavez Santiago Family weavers, Commonwealth Club of California, dyeing, Federico Chavez Sosa, fiber art, Mexico, natural dyes, Oaxaca, San Francisco, spinning, textiles, weaving

How to Felt Wool: For Beginners

Posted on Saturday, March 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

Ten women gathered together at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca for a felting workshop with Jessica de Haas from Vancouver, Canada. All but one of us were raw beginners. I had knitted and then agitated my wool in a washing machine, but Jessica was quick to say this is NOT felting. Rather it is called fulling–which is the process of creating the wool structure first and then agitating it. Felting, on the other hand, is when you put wool fibers together to create structure.

The Felting Process

1. In a large 2-3 gallon basin, add room temp water and some liquid soap, about 1T. Put aside.
2. Cover a work table with bubble wrap, bubble side up, taping it securely to the underside of the table. Work on a concrete floor or outside. The floor will get very wet. Jessica covers her floors with old towels.
3. Put a bamboo mat on the table. We used a placemat. You can use a mat for rolling sushi.
4. Cut merino wool roving into 8-12″ lengths. We used wool that had been dyed the day before with indigo, pericone, cochineal, and then overdyed to get purple, moss green and brown. The wool was prepped by separating the fibers until it was fluffy. Note: merino wool is softer and also faster to felt.
5. Pull the wool fibers gently until you get a transparent piece about 4-8″ long.
6. Lay the fibers onto the bamboo mat In ONE DIRECTION each overlapping with the one before.
7. You can mix colors and do sections in different thicknesses. Patch areas that look thin.

8. For the second layer, lay down your wool pieces in the opposite direction. You will be creating a horizontal layer if your first layer was vertical or vice versa.
9. For the third layer, it will go in the same direction as the first layer.
10. 3 to 4 layers are preferred for strength and durability.
11. You can add wool, silk or cotton threads for texture.
12. The thinner your layers the stronger your fabric will be.
13. The cloth will expand when wet, and shrink up to 50% when dry.
14. Push the wool evenly into a square when completed, then cover with a clean piece of synthetic window screening.
15. Get a plastic bag and use it to dribble water –in thirds– over your screen covered mat.
16. Pat down each section with two hands u til wool completely absorbs the water. NO RUBBING. ONLY PATTING.

17. Use the plastic bag (vegetable bag) to rub the water into the wool cloth using a circular motion. Do this for about 5 minutes, keeping the cloth constantly wet with the sudsy water. The wool has to be completely saturated for the fibers to begin to break down. Remove the screen.
18. Fold the thin edges over so they are the same thickness as the rest of the square.
19. Roll up the mat with the wool square I side of it and then roll it back and forth in a rocking motion with two hands, using some force like you are rolling dough with a rolling pin. Count to 50.
20. Unroll the mat. Add water. Rotate the mat so you are rolling it up again from the other direction. Repeat Step 19.
21. Repeat Step 20. Do this process for about an hour until the felted wool fibers cannot be pulled from the fabric. From time to time, you can rotate the wool cloth inside the mat to make your cloth more even. Note: there will be wrinkles, but don’t worry. Just dribble more water on and these will even out.
22. Rinse your material in hot water. Squeeze out water. Hang to dry.