The Costume
When creating the costume, I wish to also create the atmosphere of the piece. So in essence the costume moves beyond the figure to capture or create an environment.
For many of my beginning years, I would blast through the body with reckless abandoned to get as quickly as I could to the costuming.
When I applied to NIADA, I realized the entire piece was equally important. After that I realized that actually, the body is more important than the costuming. It is the foundation that sets the tone of the entire piece.
And now at this point, happy with the changes I made in the body, I can move on to the costuming...
She is to be a New Moon Rabbit.
I choose my fabrics, with great care. Thinking about where and how this rabbit lives. What is the mood and colors of a New Moon...and as always, it is important for me to know the symbolism of my subject. I feel it adds an unseen layer...and yet, somehow shows up in my art piece.
FABRIC CHOICES
As we think of the New Moon being the dark side of the moon, the symbolism speaks very differently.There is a freshness to it. So the I chose brighter blues and soft whites that includes mostly vintage kimono fabrics, with exception of the blue silk for the foundation of the kimono.
With one special piece for the Moon Hat in a very dark blue with beautiful embroidery squares upon it.
Side note!! I always start with fabrics that speak to me...and as the process flows and I listen to the direction it wants to go...fabrics may drop away, while other are added.
MOON LINING
For the lining I selected a vintage kimono lining because of the circular shapes that reminded me of the Moon!
This piece needed to be unstitched...
I find the "unshin" hand sewing such a beauty in itself...
Need I repeat...Quality begets Quality...the beauty of the fabric begets beautiful sewing!
Here is a link on How to do "Unshin" hand sewing
PAPER
Now comes the part that I am so excited about...adding in the unexpected!
I love the juxtaposition of new and old and also texture with smoothness. I like to create a balance of all into one piece!
To do the texture, I bring out my stash of hand-made Japanese papers!
My eye goes directly to a lace-like Mulberry paper. It has delicate threads or fibers running through it..perfect!
After a eye-ball measurement, I lay out my set up for hand-dyeing...
The wonderous thing about dye is that you never quite know what you are going to get in color not only in hue but also in value.
As I rose the next morning, I found that the dye color value was very light- almost a grey...THAT was not going to work...So I mixed up a brighter and deeper tone...I took the entire piece and dipped into the bucket of color. One side effect that happened is that some of the paper fell away.
I actually was thrilled with this result! It became more lacey and yet, I believe, more mysterious...like the Moon!
And a beautiful dye *waste* is the under sheet of paper...I am now saving this and it goes to the new owner of the piece as an additional art piece.
