The Inidgo Bloom
Location Series // Fine Art
Inspired by the influence of denim in Japan
@ Tokushima and Okayama, Japan
This fine art collection is inspired by recent travels to Japan. When traveling to indigo farms and areas that focus solely on the production and sale of denim, I was amazed by the influence of denim and history behind it. Once I returned back to the US, I knew I wanted to explore the technique myself. The process began by making a cold water indigo vat, then hand dyeing and painting cotton Khadi paper with indigo. Afterwards, I wanted to explore other types of materials and printing techniques, and decided to focus on printing onto transparent acrylic sheets using a UV flatbed printer.
By using a paintbrush to manipulate the indigo bloom, as well as a wax resist, and paint marker, I was able to create small unique texture studies. For each paper, the indigo sat for different amounts of time. Some were dipped into the vat longer than others, while others were dipped into the vat more times. On some, the bubbles of the bloom remained and dried, creating texture. Since each one was dyed differently, each has a slightly different depth of color.
Continuing the process
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After completing the indigo dyed papers, I still felt inspired to do more, but this time to take the process further in order to explore other types of materials and printing techniques. I then began working with the UV flatbed printer to print onto clear acrylic sheets, experimenting with layering and transparencies. After many trial and error tests, I was able to achieve the goal of creating a more permanent piece, that still had the ability of showing transparency, as well as texture from the indigo dye process that I had been so inspired by.
This drawing shows the layering process on the acrylic piece.
24 x 18 in.
