The Ultimate Artist's Smock

This is the ultimate artist's smock.  And although you might not want to wear it for painting, it is so cool with all its pockets which literally could hold all your tools.  But what a garment to wear for traveling if we ever get that chance again.  You can pocket your cell phone, keys, wallet, passport and even keepsakes and talisman,

Ever since I got back from Ellen Baker's silk painting workshop on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, I have been obsessed with painting silk and using them in felted garments.  And although I did not have the time to also take Fiona Duthie's complex garment workshop which used the painted silks, I was just blown away and totally inspired by the gorgeous felted garments in their Color Collaborations exhibit which was located in the same hall as our silk painting class.  

I arrived home just days before countries started closing their borders and stay at home orders issued.  During this pandemic, I have had the time to create in my studio even more than usual.  With the extra time and Fiona's motivation from her on-line challenge (mums the word on what I made for the challenge but you will see it in a few months when the photos are published) and her direction to push and stretch ourselves artistically, I have been teaching myself how to make complex garments using multiple resists.  I have also been figuring out ways to make closures by using things like snaps and grommets.

I am loving painting silk using the method I learned from Ellen Bakker.

This garment took a lot of engineering and design effort including color placement for both the wool roving and silk fabric.  I first made a drawing of the front and back of the garment and then made multiple resists allowing for 35% shrinkage.  

I made felted beads and buttons from 4 layers of roving.

I placed grommets in the felt pieces to make them look more like buttons.  And then I threaded thin felted cords through them to close up the pockets.

Fun, colorful, graphic, freedom, pockets, swinging, sculptural - all ways to describe this complex garment.

Mendfulness - A Worn, Torn and Visibly Mended Nuno Felted Dress

Worn, torn and visibly mended - a sustainable nuno felted reversible dress created without seams using new and recycled silk and cotton fabrics and merino wool roving.  Waxed linen thread was used to stitch and create mendfulness.  Katrina Rodabaugh. wrote about Mendfulness:

We can be mindful. We can be mendful. We can do our very best to leave this fragile planet a little bit better than how we inherited it. 

Mendfulness is about being mindful about mending and repair, but also about being mindful about our relationship to fashion.

It’s about pausing to consider our consumer habits, getting clear on what clothes we like to wear and why, and also embracing wear and tear as a normal and even beautiful process.
It’s a shift from the fashion “trendmill” to make our wardrobe more personal and less perfect.
It’s about applying concepts of mindfulness to fashion

 This dress was created on a resist with two layers of silk, including silk with metal fibers, hand dyed silks and cotton fabrics sandwiched between one layer of super fine wool roving.  The fabrics are both new and upcycled from old clothing.  Pieces on the dress were purposely torn and hand stitched with waxed linen thread to create the feeling of mendfulness.  

Nuno Felted Vest Workshop - Spring 2016

Winds and Dragons

This is my newest nuno felted vest which I'm calling "Winds and Dragons" in honor of mah jongg, another one of my passions. I learned mah jongg from my mother who played the game once a week from her mid 20's to almost until she passed away at 85.  My Aunt Bernice is still playing at 90.  Looks like I'm on the same path and I love it.  Mah jongg keeps your mind active and is an amazing game of skill with some luck certainly thrown in too. 

 This vest has two vintage mah jongg tiles used as buttons and closed with felted cords. The maj tile in the photo to the left is a One Bam and the tile in the photo above is a Red Dragon.

Shibori balls embellish both the front and back of the vest.

  I play mah jongg at least once a week and sometimes more.  I have taught several friends to play over the years and they in turn have taught others.  Some are so good that they have even entered tournaments.  When I was on a cruise in South American last December, I went up to the game room to get in on the maj game.  All of a sudden, I hear "Is that Beth Marx?" Can you believe it, it was a maj player whom I had played with a few times at home.  How fun it that and how cool that you can get a game going anywhere.  For more of my mah jongg posts, click here:  

  


 

 Work in Progress

 The collar is made from an beautiful silk/metal fabric and looks amazing.

 Of course this vest is reversible and can also be worn upside down as a shrug/shawl.