Mildred Wong Pratt Institute Burnout and pigment on poly/cotton

Keen Gat Pratt Institute Reactive Dye on linen

Ola Kapusto Pratt Institute Burnout and pigment on poly/cotten

Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn Pratt Institute Reactive Dye on Linen

Hana Schear Menneapolis College of Art Burnout and Pigment on poly/cotton

Wow!

This gives you an idea of the exhibtion. The fabrics hung in rows and on the ground was the furniture. Our fabrics were like a backdrop and the glass students had placed their peices on pedestals. It was a surreal time. We were finally done working and it felt weird to just be done. That was yesterday. Today I am cleaning and packing. Getting myself organized for the trip back. But I still have Berlin...

And the show begins. People walk, chat, drink, look, and wonder in amazment how we produced such fine works of art. We had a great buffet dinner and dessert. There was dancing to follow with not so good music. I danced a little.

After breakfast we finished cleaning the print rooms and our studios, ironed the fabric for hanging, and hung the exhibtion.

The last day

We started with a traditional Danish breakfast that includes breads, jams, cheeses, and pastry. Joy made three jams herself and they were delicious.

The Exhibition

Well, here it is. And you've already seen many images of my design. At least you can see the whole textile in a verticle viewing. I will post photos of others' finished work too. It is impressive.

Final Moments

The critiques finished today. I was able to go between watching the critiques and cleaning in the print room. This is it. Tomorrow is the exhibition along with all the other DIS students who have been working just as hard on glass, furniture, and architecture. We hang the show and then take it all in. There may be tears. The show will be a time to say goodbye to everyone-well we do have Friday when we take down the show. I think Friday will be short though. I leave for Berlin Saturday morning. This picture is from a stand that sells fresh flowers and produce on Stroget. I was at the DIS office and decided to get a Danish hot dog and ice cream. It's funny, I felt like a tourist more than ever walking down the street with my hotdog, stuffed backpack, and camera flashing, and it's nearly my last day!

Next stop: Berlin

After finishing the critiques, I rode my bike to the eurolines office and got my roundtrip ticket to Berlin for only $80. I booked my hostel which is located within walking distance to many museums and the city center. The bus leaves Saturday at 8:30 and I get into Berlin in the afternoon. I have Sunday, Monday, and half of Tuesday. It will be nice to just be by myelf and explore one of the best cities in Europe! I get back to Copenhagen at 11pm and catch my flight out Wednesday at 9am. Get back to Omaha at 3:30pm. That will be strange. I don't feel like I've been in Europe long, but I feel like I've been away from home a long time. I'm curious to see how everything will look and feel different. And of course I am excited to see all of my favorite people! I can't garauntee I'll stay home for long. There's the rest of the world to see out there! Maybe I'll buy a ship. Does ayone reading this want to learn how to sail? I know some people who sail around the world, so they could give us advice. Okay, I'm just talking shit. I have to finish school, so I'm bound to Omaha until then. But after. . . Where should I go? I will try to do as much traveling during my last two years too. I'll be taking donations. Let me know if you need my address.

"I have a lot of informations to tell you" -Gunhild, my professor

Today. The first half of the critiques are now finished and I am closer to being done. Although it feels good to relax, I am not looking forward to being done. I have liked working and doing the whole process. I wish I could start over again. I learned it all and now I have to stop? Of course I will do what I can with my resources at home. Joy said she would give us a contact sheet of places to get products if we want to continue. We'll see. Mom, I may be turning your garage into a print room/dye kitchen/studio. The kitchen is located just inside. How conveneint...for boiling, steaming, washing. Hmmm... The critique was good except that felt more tired than ever. The professors asked quesitons about how all of our ideas and inspirations made our final peice. Most of us had several sources that converged into one personal interpretation on fabric. That was the case for myself. I talked about the garden, Swedish wallpaper, Josef Frank, Vuokko, and an Alexander Girard image. They said my peice had references to past aesthetics yet maintained a modern look. Overall, they seemed to think it was successful. I realized during the critque that my process was very artistic. The head of the textiles department of Denmark's Designskole was a guest critic. She was not there to watch our process like our professors were so she was able to ask us more questions. She asked me what my plan was for controlling the background and knowing how to scale my pattern against the width of the strips. I confessed that it was a fast decison process that was in part experimental and intuitive. Some of my classmates had more methodically planned out each step along the way; fully aware of what would happen next. Me, not exactly, but I maintained enought confidence with each step that I trusted what would happen next. My process started with a blank mind (conciously anyway). When we got back from the study tour some people were already thinking of specifics. I found a sketch of a flower I liked, and quickly put it into repeat. At first I wasn't sure about doing florals because they are used so much. However the pattern was nice, and why not do something that starts with beauty even if it is used a lot. I felt connected with the subject enough to keep developing it because the sketch was attached to the memory of the Stockholm gardens. It was more than the single flower. It was being in Stockholm outside with the greenery and haveing a time to just relax and enjoy ourselves. That was the day everyone commented on how nice it was to be there and sketch in the comfort of nature instead of a museum. My first pattern was sketchy. I kept simplifying it. I suppose it was the Scandinavian influence to abstract and simplify. I tried to come up with a pattern that portrayed the exuberent, colorhappy, and eye catching pattern that the designers I admire achieved. I feel like I did this. It seems like everyone else feels satisfied with what they've done. As Malene our Danish professor said, "You all worked your asses out." With swollen feet and eyes, we agreed. She also said that the level of our work looks professional because of our high ambitions. None of us settled for less. Even when we said "I don't care." That wasn't true. She said to make sure we look at our fabric a month after we get home and take another look. We will realize what an amazing job we did and forget the sleepless nights and frustrations. What's left is cleaning of the print rooms, our lockers, and power washing the designs from our screens :( Wednesday we will have a Danish breakfast with our professors and hopefully get to see some of their work. In the afternoon, we hang the exhibition in the glass hall at the Designskole for the opening. We have a buffet dinner and a party to follow. Friday we take down the show and say our goodbyes. I'm crying already, no actually but I could.

Done!

The last step for my final piece was to roll it up and put plastic over for protection. I hemmed the top and bottom. It is ready to be hung on Wednesday for the show. I can't wait to see everyone's fabric. They are all so different and look amazing. We worked hard on our designs and it shows.

It's almost over : (

It's Friday night and I finally got home at 11pm. I was at school all day mixing color and creating colorways. Colorways show how my pattern can be if I change the colors around. It is difficult with my pattern because I have to stick to the mulit- colored background. I don't know how the colors will overlap until I try them. I go back and forth between the dye kitchen and looking at color swatches. My critque is Monday. I am supposed to prepare a board that has everything that encompassed my process and all of my inspiration. It lasts about 25 minutes. I'm actually looking forward to it, not nervous yet. I'm curious what I will learn from it. I have learned so much already! Sitting by the window, I can hear Justin Timberlake and people singing to it. Conversations and laughter are in the air. I'm so tired and my feet are aching and swollen but I still can't go to bed yet. We have school tomorrow and have to be done with all printing by 6pm sharp. Sunday, I might be able to stroll around the city. One week left. I will miss many things about Copenhagen. For example, I rode home on my bike completely tired and exhausted but I didn't have to dred it because there are bike roads and the weather is so comfortable (as long as it's not raining). When I ride my bike at home it will be the 90 degree humid air, with cars mad that I'm in the street. I will miss the old buildings and parks scattered throughout. I will miss what I'm doing. I will continue to take what I've learned and apply it to my own art at home. Working with reative dye requires too much use of water and the right utilities so I won't be using that. Except maybe on paper to print. One thing about textiles that isn't positive is that it's an extremely poluting industry. One of the worst in fact. I hope good textile scientists will create a dye that works like reactive dye that doesn't require the massive use of water or chemicals. When we mix the dye we have to wear masks so the particles of dye don't get into our lungs. Next week we have an exhibition of all the work DIS students have created. Our fabric is hung and chairs and glass designed by students are in the section of the Designskole that has glass surrounding it. It should be a beautiful display. I will post pictures. Exciting!

The morning after printing

P8070047, originally uploaded by ashleyrodriguezreed.

7:30 am. I just got up from my bed in the closet to find some sun on my table because I was freezing. Mildred thought I needed a picture. My hands are magenta and I was feeling a little loopy at the moment. Those of you who know me well, know that when I'm tired...well it's obvious.

Were I slept last night

So this is the bed Kim and I made in the cloth drying closet. Those are sheets that we use to dry the silk screens. They were clean, just stained. We passed out and then woke up early freezing. I have a feeling some of my classmates might be finding/making beds at school tongiht.

A summary of the past two days

For starters, I finished my final piece! How it got there was exciting, nerve racking, tiring, fun, and with a lot of faith. On Monday a group of us were scheduled to begin printing but that didn't happen because we had a field trip to see a textile artist, who was amazing but everyone got a little behind. Tuesday morning I woke at 6am and stayed up until 4am Wednesday printing my fabric. Kim and I were print mates and we alternated between hers and mine while our layer dried. By the time we were getting close to finishing, we couldn't go home because the trains didn't run and we were coming back early again. So we figured that we could use the drying sheets to sleep on and make pillows. We chose the cloth drying closet because it was mostly clear, but the floor was still concrete and the sheets were not at all cushiony. We laughed deliriously about our situation, but passed out as soon as we hit the floor. We got up this morning at 7:30am to finish the process. Today I unpinned my fabric from my print table, pinned it to the steam cloth, steamed it, washed it four times, boiled it once, and boiled again with soap. After that, I took it out of the big pot of boiling water, rinsed again, spun it, and then used the industrial sized feeding iron. Ta da! It's done! I don't know how to feel quite yet, but I think I like it. I'm not going to post the picture of it fully done until the show next week. I think I will look best then and I don't want you to see it until it looks at it's absolute best. Stay posted.

Second layer

Pouring the dye...and then pull four times over the screen. Pictured here is the bar that has marking on it that match with the markings on both sides of the cloth. As long as this is right and I match my lines correctly is should work. The screen has to stay stationary while I pull or my print will be fuzzy. It's a little scary how many opportunities for mistakes there are!

First layer goes down

Kim is holding the screen while I try to make an even pull. It's a little awkward because the width of the squeegee is so big. The dye I've put down is also in bands of color to create the gradient effect. When I pick the squeegee up, I have to be careful not to drip on my cloth. And I didn't. Yeah!

Colors for the first layer

For the first layer I mixed 700 grams of fiber reactive dye for each color. They have a consistency of syrup, and change once on fabric. They always look darker in the buckets. You just have to hope you measured right.

A more subtle color combination, but not as fun. I could go this way too.

Testing, testing. This is one look I might go for. Maybe it's too bright, but I like color. Many decisions to make. I like the color changing effect.

This is the rubilith film that I cut. It was fun cutting and peeling away the red film. Sort of relaxing. This was placed against the silkscreen and exposed for printing.

What a week

It's Saturday, and I spent the whole day at school. It was sunny the whole day and everyone was so happy because it's been a long time since we've had an un-rainy day. My hands have stains of red, yellow, and blue from the die I was working with. I was able to figure out some good color combinations so I did make progress. However, I still have a paper to type tonight. I decided to type this post instead. Oh, procrastination. This week, I perfected my pattern and then created the repeat and transfered the color separations to two types of surfaces to be exposed. The first layer I cut from rubilith and exposed that image to one screen. For the other layer that has the smaller details, I used India ink to draw on mylar and exposed it to the screen. So I print with two screens. One screen first, let it dry then the second screen. If you are reading this you may be confused. I could go into more detail because there is a lot more to the whole process but it's hard to understand unless it's in front of your face and in your hands. Anyway, I really like all that I am doing. It is satisfying in many aspects. I get to think about how to arange a composition and create a pattern that is complex and moves the eye without being too busy. Then there's playing with color! And the fabric. We get to choose from any natural fiber. I have discovered that I love linen. It has a great texture and the dye brings out the visibility of the weave even more. After I test my colorways and wash the fabric, I will be able to decide what works best for the final piece. The next few days are going to be chaotic. There are twenty-four students and three teachers. All of us are novice. The actual printing process doesn't take much time. All the preparation and testing we are doing is crucial so that when print, it comes out like we have imagined without surprises. Like many things in life, there are many variables but it will all work out. Now I must write a paper.

Joy

Here I am cutting away. Underneath the red film is my the repeat of my pattern, and I follow my drawing with the exacto knife leaving the positive of my image. I will expose it to the silkscreen later. Kim and I are laughing because...well I can't remember but it doesn't matter.

I found the beach

This beach is located on the part of Copenhagen where I live called Amagar. I rode my bike there last night and it was so nice to walk in the sand. I'm definitely going back for a swim...as long as it isn't rainning.

Is this right?

Lastly, I check for accuracy. I test my repeat marks by using a copy of the repeat and lining the markings up. They should match up exactly, which the light table allows me to see. And they did! I get to continue by preparing the silkscreen. I don't know about that yet. I will find out tommorow.

A closer look

Here you can see the repeat marks. My pattern is going to be a half drop, which means that the repeats are placed halfway down from the one next to it. Versus a straight repeat where the repeat follows the next one on the same line.

Making repeat marks

After I traced the repeat, I lay it on top of millimeter paper and then figure out the height and width of the repeat. Next, I apply the repeat marks so that I know where to place the next repeat to make the pattern. This part relies on exact precision. If the repeat is not marked correctly, it will be very obvious while priting. Everything would be off.

Finalizing the repeat

After enlarging my pattern a couple of times to see what scale works best, I take it to the light table to trace the repeat and make it exactly how I want it. Underneath the paper are photocopies pieced together.

Here comes the sun!

The sun finally came out and decided to stay. This picture is looking out from my studio window at the Designskole. What a difference the sun makes. I might go to the beach tonight!