Swarm

Continuing to play with the hand made marble panels. This time large pouches with an added element of leaf stencils with a tad bit of hand painting. What do you think?

New marble in the shop.

I really enjoy making marble cloth. It’s very soothing work—creating patterns in the dip pans with multiple colors feels almost meditative, a bit “zen.” I’m especially drawn to color combinations that are slightly unexpected. Whenever I use a bright color, I usually pair it with an earth tone. Brights on their own often feel a little too intense for me, but balanced with softer, grounded colors, they come alive in a different way.

The process of marbling is quite involved and requires a great deal of preparation. There’s washing and mordanting the fabric, cutting, ironing, and other steps before it’s even ready to be dipped. It can also be unpredictable; sometimes everything works beautifully, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I suppose that uncertainty is part of the process and part of what makes it interesting.

Once the dipping is complete, there is still rinsing, drying, and more ironing before the real creative work begins. That’s when I start combining patterns—mixing and matching designs that coordinate and complement one another. Bringing those pieces together to create a one-of-a-kind pillow, bag, or pouch is one of my favorite parts of the process.

Think this is my favorite photo of STuK. His eyes. Sums up his personality. The sweetest.