handheartthread

Ok, so I've taken a different direction here. I had initially considered developing a stripe design which I may pursue if I have the time, but I decided to play around with a combination of the two ideas.

Here I have also used a base cloth that I dyed back in Sydney which I will be making my shirt from, it's a cotton drill with a green wash, uneven and slightly dirty.

I've been able to get them to work with a cotton/poly thread rather hen the silk and I'm really happy with the results so far. In some ways it feels like a shame, coming all this way and not using any beading/ sequin work but I'm making a point of learning what I can while the artisans work on my designs. 

I think what is beginning to happen in this piece is that its beginning to move away from a really neat and finished look which is really exciting. I think the biggest challenge is communicating what exactly it is that I want, it occasionally gets lost in translation which can lead to happy accidents but not always.

Ashok and the artisans work incredibly long days, they are there a few hours before we get there at 9.30am and when we leave at 6pm each day they work on for a few hours still. I'm intrigued as to why all he artisans are men but I am yet to get any answers from anyone.