In this now deleted post, I talked about wanting to write, if not balanced reviews, at least appreciations of some books on textiles that have mattered to me. (I’d even gone so far as to sign up with Powell’s and Amazon’s book-selling “associates” programs so as to get permission to use their bookcover photos.) And [...]
Each time I update fabric listings on this site, I find myself lingering over particular images and thinking about the design strategies behind them.
Fading and blending with restricted color
The three fabrics above, all quilting-weight cotton from the Northcott “Visual Arts” series, appear to be printed in the normal commercial way (i.e. using rotary screens, a [...]
It’s impossible, at least for me, to look at fabric designs involving dots without undergoing a kind of involuntary Rorschach test. Without, that is, on some subliminal level, seeing the dots on fabric as living creatures. They line up in rows and columns, drift apart, or contend for space. They jostle against each other, step [...]
The word “cartouche” has various meanings in art. Mostly it seems to refer to an enclosed area, often more or less rectangular, that contains words, symbols, or decorative elements. These enclosed areas work pretty well as a way of organizing motifs in tightly packed scatter prints. The two prints above (photos link to listings at [...]