I am proud of my Grasshoppers. They have become so self-sufficient that I rarely have to look over their shoulders anymore. In fact, sometimes I have to prompt them by asking "Where do you think you might be going next with this?" When someone new joins the group, I sometimes forget that I
need to explain anything at all.I want to share with you some of the work of a few of my Grasshoppers. These batiks are the ones they are currently working on and at different stages of the process. The most recent addition to our group is Rita whose tree frog has come a long way without much advice from me, and, unbelievably, she has accomplished this much in only two nights. Every beginner has the inevitable accidental blobs of wax on the fabric before they gain confidence from their practice with the tjanting tool.
The Grasshopper who has been with me the longest is Dianne B. She has even gone so far as to take a "Fundamentals of Dying" class with me at Pro Chemical & Dye, and along the way has learned as much from my mistakes as I have from hers. (Like, who knew bleach could go bad?? Not me!) Dianne has been working on these gorgeous zebras and is now agonizing on the finer details of shading and contrast.
Grasshopper Mary is working on her third duck image, a Merganser. She has sworn that she is moving on from ducks after this, only to find out she has been researching more ducks. Mary has gotten horribly hooked on batik and is already planning out her own studio, building a light table, and acquiring her own supplies. LOVE it when that happens!
Grasshopper Tamara shows no fear. Her very first batik was an ambitiously jaunty
image of Walt Whitman, and despite some major disasters, she played around and experimented with different processes until it became as beautiful as Walt's poetry. This is still by far one of my favorite batiks of my Grasshoppers. Currently she is finish
ing up an image of Sally from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. The picture shown has just come from the final dye bath and still contains the wax resist.Another ambitious first project was completed by Gail, a vivacious Grasshopper with tons of spirit and adventure. Sadly last year, she lost all three of her greyhounds to illnesses, so it seems fitting that her first project was of her greyhounds. Beautiful use of color, texture, contrast, and composition. Her next project is going to be a scarf, but I am eager for her to begin the image of her cat's face. The detail in that image has encouraged me to seek out new methods of applying the wax to the fabric to get different textures
and detail. You will see some of those in my next blog about the tools of batik.Last, but not least (sorry Dana, Mom, and Lynn), is Grasshopper Diane H. whose husband is keeping us "well rounded" with his wonderful desserts. Diane has started working on a Mexican Oaxacan bull afte
r just finishing a fabulous Oaxacan Eagle. This image is going to challenge her with the magnitude of its fine detail, but I know she is up to it. As the abilities of my Grasshoppers mature, they brave greater complexity in their image choices.I am almost finished painting my batik. I have a few areas I want to redye in order to assure the vibrancy remains after I wash out the dye and boil out the wax. The next stage is to rewax the areas I want to protect from the final dye bath and leaving the hard outlines seen in my inspiration image. Before I move onto the dye bath though, I have to address what I am going to do for the background. I know I want it to be dark so that the other colors POP, but I am still struggling with how much detail, the technique, and the colors. I will have it all figured out by next Friday, I am sure, after many sleepless nights. At least it is almost out of its "Ugly Phase." Stay tuned.
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