Dye Bags are all about process; made from a variety of fabrics they contain found objects and natural dyestuffs. Many of the fabrics used to create the bags are scraps, samples and/or unfinished artwork. They are approx 3” x 3” in size. For interior of bags I find items while cleaning my studio and place them inside. Items in the bags are dried flowers, scraps from my floors, and anything that makes me think I could place it in a bag. They are also containers for onion skins I save from cooking and leftover tea bags from the tea consumed in my household. They also contain natural dye materials; items I know will dye the cloth. As an example I place loose tea alongside rose petals in a dye bag. I chose muted color palette with a variety of browns, yellow, reds, and oranges. The bags are all hand stitched. These pieces have become a way to organize my studio and my life. After personal tragedy I began cleaning and organizing my studio and my life; these bags are a result of that process.

The Dye Bags are then used to dye fabrics for my Waterfall Inspiration pieces. I use the dye bags on silk organza and cotton broad cloth by boiling the bags and placing them on to the cloth. Through folding, pleating and randomly applying dye bags to cloth I transfer the dye to the cloth. The organza becomes crumpled and burned because of the dyeing process; losing its natural luster as a result. For the Waterfall Inspiration pieces I take a cotton strip and hand stitch the organza on top. Because the silk organza is crumpled it distorts the cotton creating buckling of fabric, an irregular shaped scroll. All the Waterfall Inspirations are triptych panels. The Dye Bags and Waterfall Inspiration pieces are inter-relational; one series is needed to create the other series of work. My work is about process. The final piece is important but what the piece does is it visually shows the steps I went through to create the piece.