My trip to the Osa Penisula, Costa Rica: Dyeing Tree Fibre and The Boruca

 

 Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica: March, 2025

One interesting aspect of traveling to a more remote place is the surprise. We were traveling to a famous place which holds the last low lying, triple canopy rain forest in North America. Fifty years ago an effort to preserve this area from clearing this diminishing slice of life, represent thousands of species of animals and plants. This preserve is called Corcovado National Park. Many people were displaced and told leave the area to protect the preserve with a promise of compensation, including the Indigenous tribes.

Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica, is a  small town close to the Corcovado National Park and has not changed in 20 years. Our small group went there to print and dye from plants we found near us. We ventured to a Saturday Flea Market and found a market, organized by two women who are working with the Boruca people, Artesanos Naturales, to sell a wide range of artwork. 

Boruca, are one of the many indigenous tribes in Costa Rica. They are located among the Talamanca Mountains 20 km from Panama. Like many other tribes, they struggle to keep their culture and traditions alive. Enabling spaces to honor and commemorate their culture has been an important inspiration for anyone interested in preserving culture.

What did we find?  A new fibre!

 

The Boruca people traditionally make fabric from tree bark using a process similar to bark cloth-making found in other cultures. The bark they use does not come from the outside , rough surface of the tree but comes from what they call, "inner bark." They select trees for this use that are softwood like, Ficus-Wild fig trees. I believe this not only provides them with a more malleable fiber but the tree can easily be regrown. I believe there is a lot more to know about this and I hope that more information can be collected.

The Process:

-  The inner bark is carefully removed from the tree.

-  The bark is soaked in water to soften the fibers.

-  The fibers are pounded using wooden mallets or stone tools to a flat, flexible sheet.

-  The pounded bark is stretched, dried and further softened by more pounding. 

-  The final fabric can be dyed with natural pigments.  

The Boruca also have a long tradition of hand-dying threads from naturally found colors from sources including leaves of the sangrilla tree, bark of the carbonero tree, clay, indigo plants, and occasionally the ink of a mollusk. 

My traditions run deep as well. I like to dip almost anything in an indigo vat. So I dipped this sweet miniature pocket book in my indigo vat. Letting the bark fibers soak for hours with the following result.                                                        

                                                             

Like everything else that is new, you want more. I hope to return and learn more next year about this tribe, about the women who founded the Flea Market and the great potential for plant prints and natural fabric dyes.Click here for Sharon's website.

Celebrating Spring by Dianne Koppisch Hricko

 Its Spring and time to celebrate with a new silk scarf.

I am working on a lovely crinkled silk crepe that feels great against your skin and holds color like crazy. 

The first layer of color are two slightly different yellow greens on a leaf screen. I am working with MX dye thickened with sodium alginate, the silk was soda soaked prior to printing. Here it is dry after a second layer of blue loops.

The stripes dry to a cherry blossomish pink. The freeform lines are Bosenberry. 

Dried and washed.

I love the pop of the orange serged edge. 

So much fun to see these colors on their own against the white and then how they play with others as they overlap. I find this endlessly intriguing and the original yellow green leaves just jump up through the intense blue violet stripes which were the last layer. I suspect that is because they got to the dye sites first and the techs at ProChemical and Dye agree. Then there is that beautiful grey that happened with the pink over lapped the azure blue.  Top it off with a serged orange edge. Chase away grey days of winter Yummy. 

Where Do We Go From Here? Paducah! by Mary Vaneecke

 I am thrilled to announce that Where Do We Go From Here? III is traveling to Paducah for the Yeiser Art Center's Fantastic Fibers exhibition, from March 18 - May 3.  The Yeiser is located at 200 Broadway St. in Paducah, Kentucky.  

The Where Do We Go From Here? series explores way-finding in a chaotic world.  The piece is inspired by a Wari textile in the collection of the Tucson Museum of Art.  Using the Japanese itajime method of dyeing fabric, I created this very contemporary version of a flying geese quilt.  

Where Do We Go From Here? III

FiberFly to Hawaii!

 

Aloha Kakou, Deborah Weir of LA based Fiberfly Studios https://fiberfly.blogspot.com/ will do a free, open to the public slide show lecture on Saturday March 15 at Kaimuki Library. In the afternoon she will do a silk dyeing workshop which you can sign up for  https://www.hawaiihandweavers.org/event-6002082 Should be a great learning experience and a lot of fun!

Learn Fiber Arts with Us! Classes Donate classes@hawaiihandweavers.org info@hawaiihandweavers.org hawaiihandweavers.org

Collage to Quilt

Recently, I was invited by Quilts on the Wall to give a talk and show some examples of one of the ways I create a quilt.  I collect interesting and colorful paper images from magazines, junk mail and other cool pictures that come my way.  I have files sorted more or less by color as I often start a piece with a color concept in mind.  

                                    Paper:                                                            

Stitched Fabric:

I lay out a piece of strong paper, 24" x 32", and build the arrangement over several days.  I rip for raggedly edges which I generally prefer.  Then I go back and forth between a glue stick and white school glue to adhere the bits and pieces.  Playing with glue and paper is worry free since I just cover over areas that don't please me!

Paper:

    

Once I'm happy, I take photos.  This is a bit dicey as there is quite a bit of shiny paper which annoyingly reflects my light sources right back to me!  I often end up taking the best pictures in an almost dark hallway.  I take them in RAW and then add the light back in using Photoshop.  Then, once I've selected the image I like the best,  I spend a lot of time adding and subtract imagery, adding more small details that will be great when stitched, and I generally try to imagine it as a full sized fabric and thread creation with balance and a nice path for the eye.  Then off it goes to Spoonflower to be printed on cotton sateen.  I always make sure to include a 4" wide black border so I don't have to use part of the image when completing the quilt.  Since I use a lot of bright colors I don't want there to be any white peeking around the edges on the finished piece! 

    

After I receive the fabric I add a very thin batting and begin stitching. My stitches vary but are basically running of all sorts and French knots, some quite dense 3D and then sometimes I feel the need to go all in with 19th century fancies. I use DMC 6 strand cotton floss and occasionally a little of this and that as the image leads me.  Once done, I put on what is sometimes referred to as a "false back" so that my very messy real back is hidden safely away from view and from snagging.  The label and pocket for hanging go on with the back.  That black border folds over the newly applied back which is almost always black as well.  

Art Movements in Fiber

Four ACN members are participating in SAQA’s regional show Art Movements in Fiber. 

Exhibitions include:

-Jan 31 - March 27, 2025   The Gallery at 48 Natoma, Folsom, CA 

-May 23 - July 18, 2025   The Center for the Arts, Grass Valley, CA

-Nov 7 - Dec 11, 2025   Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA

Ileana Soto with Between Waking and Dreaming (surrealism)

Ileana Soto with Princess Andromeda (Abstract Expressionism)

 Maria Billings with Bridge in Venice (Impressionism)

Left: Mary-Ellen Latino with Line Study, var. 3 (Jackson Pollock)

Left: Sherri with Transform 2 (Abstract Expressionism)

For those who are interested:  The paper catalog costs $28+shipping on MagCloud; the digital PDF is currently free.

Additionally, there is a little YouTube video of the opening reception in Folsom, CA .

 

 

 

One Long Earth Song Now Available Online

The Westies is a group within Art Cloth Network made up of members who live west of the Mississippi. Their latest exhibition is One Long Earth Song, and is now available online.

You can see it here on Blurb.

"High in Fiber" at the Abington Art Center by Dianne Hricko

 I really enjoyed visiting High in Fiber curated by THECOLORG. 

The exhibition presents works that span a variety of mediums, all using fiber in innovative ways. Whether through the delicate use of thread, the manipulation of fabric, or the sculptural possibilities of the materials, the artists push the boundaries of what fiber art can be. 

Liz Quay

The exhibition runs until [Jan 6 2025]. Admission is [free/price], and The Abington Art Center, with its beautiful grounds is well worth a visit. You can get a preview here https://abingtonartcenter.org/high-in-fiber-2/ I've included a few of my favorites .

Valarie Goodman 

Margery Amdur 

Well worth the visit. 

Dianne

 

A long time in the making - by Regina Marzlin

 One of my favourite surface design techniques is printing with a gel plate on fabric. In 2019, I got a large 16"x20" printing plate and worked with it for the first time at a group retreat in June 2019. I made some really exciting prints that I loved and wanted to use in my art pieces.

Alas, the fabric was too precious and also difficult to combine with anything else that I had in mind. Off it went into the pile of printed fabrics, not to be seen again for a while. 

I tried to make a composition in March of 2022, here is the picture.

The fabrics were mostly not sewn together yet, and I couldn't get a good composition on my design wall. I tried more unsuccessful combinations, over the span of a year or so, and just couldn't get it right. Back onto the pile with the fabrics!

The Art Cloth Network call for entry for our 2024 exhibition "ReVision" finally gave me the push I needed. I was going to make those fabrics work. I didn't change the colour scheme, as I loved that, but rather introduced new elements, like cyanotype prints and transparent overlays, and really worked hard to achieve a good composition. In the end, I created two artworks I was happy with, and both got accepted into our exhibition. Sometimes, the waiting is as important as the making. 

Here are the two pieces.

Opposing Forces 1

w.23" x h 32.5"

Opposing Forces 2

w 20" x h 42.5"

And some detail shots:

 

"Quilted and Carved" Artwork by Sue Sherman

I have recently been dabbling in a whole new way to give a voice to the wild animals I have photographed, by framing their images in a way that may be meaningful to them.  The technique is an extension of what I have been doing for the past 6 or so years: using thickened dyes and heavy thread painting to create realistic animal portraits.  

What’s new is that I’m adding a frame to the portrait.  The frame is created with metallic fabric paint, quilted, then closely carved (trimmed) close to the stitching lines.  The edges are then finished with matching paint to create an integral frame that’s a reasonable imitation of a real one.  Using this technique I can create whimsical, meaningful or slightly wacky frames, each one unique and matching the character of the portrait.

The portrait starts with a photograph, from which I have created a line drawing.  The line drawing is then traced onto fabric treated with soda ash, and then coloured with thickened dye applied with paintbrushes, to create a face as realistic as possible.

After the dye has worked its magic and has been washed out, the frame is outlined onto the fabric and painted with metallic fabric paints.  For a 3D look, I usually include some shading and highlights in the paintwork.

For the cardinal's frame, I created a natural looking design by tracing actual maple leaves that had fallen from the tree in my backyard.  I then painted them using a mixture of gold, brass, bronze and copper metallic paints for a natural looking mix of colours, reflecting the way the leaves looked on the tree in October.

After quilting, I trim the edges very close to the stitching and then finish the edge with more fabric paint.  If you look at the below picture you can see that the loop of chains on the left has its edges finished, but the edges of the loop on the right are still white fabric.  This step is just a small detail, but it makes a big difference to the finished artwork:  it stops the edges from fraying, it covers up the remaining bits of white fabric, and it stiffens the piece just a little more (which helps it hang nice and flat).  After this step, it is usually necessary to trim off some remaining frayed edges.

The whole process takes a long time to complete and is very finicky but I’m very happy with the results.  Here are a few examples of finished pieces using this technique:

For this king penguin, I thought its regal name deserved a regal looking frame.  This is a smaller quilt than the others (only 12”x12”), and it was made for the 2024 SAQA Benefit Auction. 

Here’s a hornbill photographed in Kenya.  The most notable thing about him is his spectacular beak, so I wanted to make sure it was the most attention-grabbing part of the piece.  The best way I could think of expressing this was to have it be just too big to fit into the frame.  

The emu has so much attitude, it just needed a punk frame featuring chains, skulls and spikes, around a studded black leather band.

The puffin is framed with tiny sand eels, their favourite food!  The silvery eels worked out very well in silver and gold metallic paint.

The cardinal’s frame is a reflection of my association of this beautiful bird, photographed in our backyard, with the maple tree where it spends a lot of time.  It’s the most natural-looking "quilted and carved" portrait I’ve done so far, and definitely the most complicated.  I really enjoyed making him!

This is becoming a whole new avenue of fibre and stitching creativity. I have so many ideas for the future!  

You can see any future pieces in this series by following me on Facebook or Instagram (sueshermanquilts).  If you don't do social media, you could email me at sue@sueshermanquilts.com and ask to be added to my newsletter list.

by Sue Sherman

link to Sue Sherman's website