Continuing the reblog from the instagram story I'm posting on my feed. Check out @bayfibers on Instagram
The Great Spangled Frittillary
Great Spangled Fritillary- the third design for the Leonardtown butterfly trail. Read about it 👇
The project story pt.4:
color is a major element of any batik project, and they have to be planned carefully from the beginning. Each colored dye is layered on separately and mixes with each iteration that came before it which makes the ordering of colors critical. Especially when working in a lot of neutral colors like in the Spangled Fritillary, planning the path you're going to take to get to the end result takes almost as much time as the original design itself. Want to know more about what guided the color choices? Follow the project (@bayfibers) to learn more the color choices in the next design!
The Common Buckeye
The Common Buckeye- the fourth design for the Leonardtown Butterfly Trail- read the project story 👇
The project story pt. 5:
The colors in the buckeye were some of the most complex, mainly due to the variations in the "buckeyes" themselves. But the background colors in each of the design tell a different story. Working on a public project involves multiple stakeholders, and as an artist who came out of college into the field of architecture, it's a part of the process that I'm familiar with and actually enjoy. In order to add to the town's visual brand on top of the adoption of the butterfly mascot, we decided it would be important to work the town's logo into each of the banners as they look on site. The creative approach we took was to use the design of the logo in each of the pieces, but the colors of the logo would be reflected overall in the entirety of the installation. So the background colors you see in each banner tie into the town's "colors", which as a whole help to contribute to the sense of place we feel. Follow the project story (@bayfibers) to see more of the color choices and learn more about the story.
The project story pt 6:
A planned series of wax and dye iterations brought each design to life over time. I use a combination of soy wax and bees wax which melts into the fabric to resist the dyes, which are applied in low immersion methods to create colorfast imagery that won't fade or bleed. The wax is removed by boiling it back out in a low country boil pot over a propane burner.
By the numbers pt 2:
40= pounds of soy wax
15~ pounds of bees wax
75~ gallons of dye mixed and soaked
4= propane tank refills
1= minor burn!
Follow more about the story @bayfibers oh, and prints are up in the shop, www.bayfibersstudio.com/bugs
