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“After all, hope is a form of planning. If our hopes weren’t already real within us, we couldn’t even hope them.”Gloria Steinem


Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Oh Socks!

i have a habit of painting things that come into my sight and here is just one more example. Take a pair of ordinary white socks, the kind you might put on before your tennis/walking/running shoes. i was thinking i might need them as i was going to an outdoor wedding and it had been raining and  i thought i would wear my new purple clogs. but white socks are so ,well, pedestrian really, especially to artists as the bride to be was/is.  I got out my textile inks, already  slightly watered down from last paint class, inks that i have used since since 198 something , usually used for transforming  plain vanilla  fabric or boring tapestry fabric or  ancient commercial prints into the colors of my ideas. 
 i sprayed the socks with water and squirted out the colors and smooshed them in with a stiff brush and then with my fingers and  t6hen added even more water as the cotton was soaking up the moisture like a pair of old socks. Now i am in a bit of a time compress as the wedding is in a few hours and the  sun is not shinning. i got the hair dryer out to hasten the project along when i usually air dry or set pieces out in the noonday sun .




i have been admiring crazy with color socks in Christmas catalogues but these ain't it or even close.
 i can't knit, well i have never wanted to until i saw the fun stockings some  arty people have whipped up from the remains of sweaters and things.  i will try again with older socks perhaps soaked rather than sprayed as the moister the more the colors travel and that is what i was thinking of and that is  my story so far. Be well happy feet! sonja

2 comments:

LA Paylor said...

socks take forever to dry. How will the inks stand up (no pun) to washing and drying? I knit socks, and the yarn does all the work. Plus you can buy pretty wild socks online.
I'm intrigued with painting them. I have dyed them with procion and they stay vibrant for years, til the holes develop. Then I hate to throw them away!
Ink, not textile paint? Did you heat set them? How? The blow dryer?
LeeAnna

sonja said...

Well the color will probably out last the sock integrity. manufacture says heat set or- week or two cure. if i lived in a cold place i would take up knitting just to make rainbow socks! i used to crochet in California but haven't hooked for decades. i wear sandals or tennis shoes as to not be cranky.