I got out the dyes again, and painted some threads to use in the Moroccan/henna pieces.
About 8 different threads were wound into a skein - cottons, silks...
..then dye painted on in sections.
Browns; yellows; greens...
..resulting in this...
These were then used on a couple of backgrounds that had been done a few days ago...
..and included some of the embellishments showed in the last post...
While the dye stuffs were out, I did a few more pieces of fabric....
...and bleached them in places afterwards....
I think these will require only a small amount of stitching/embellishment...
This theme is beginning to take hold. I've ordered two lots of henna powder - red and black - to use on future pieces. I feel that I want to use the materials that WOULD have been used, wherever possible.
I've also been reading a lot about Moroccan henna cloths...it's a fascinating subject...about a lost art. The last "real" ones were made back in the 1950s in a small area of the Anti Atlas. Most of the meaning behind the symbolism is forgotten, but, luckily, research was carried out and some information is still available to us.
Apparently, many of the symbols used were "talismanic" or "amuletic"...and consisted of versions of the ancient Berber (Amazigh) script, Tifinagh.
This is particularly interesting to me, and I'll be looking into this a lot more....
I was really pleased to discover that a number of henna veils are held in the collection of the "Musee de Quai Branly" Paris. I'll be at Chartres again later in the year, so can visit and have a close-up look at them! It's less than an hour on the train from there.
Meanwhile, I'm back to my book for a while before bedtime....
