Artist/designer John Robshaw
has a passion for textiles.
What began as a career as a painter changed when
he traveled to India and fell in love with fabric making traditions.
This is his pichwai pillow.
Robshaw:
"It's so simple and natural. You touch a woodblock
to wet clay and then to the fabric. After the clay dries,
you dip the cloth into the indigo vat and the clay stays on.
One dip gives the fabric a sky-blue color, two dips and it deepens
to cobalt, three dips and its a saturated midnight blue.
Then the fabric is laid out to dry in the sun and
later the clay is washed off...
The dyer says the indigo vats are like a mistress
because they need constant attention.
I was completely fascinated by the dyeing and printing processes,
as well as how the finished product is used.
Textiles become intimate companions in daily life,
whether as a pillow, bedcover or sarong."
His gorgeous cicada napkins.
See more heavenly dyed, printed, woven, and stitched
textiles here.
