Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / All blog posts / Finished “Bipolar Prison”!
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May 31, 2016 by Tien Chiu

Finished “Bipolar Prison”!

I finished padding and lining “Bipolar Prison” yesterday! Here it is:

Bipolar Prison - finished but not blocked
Bipolar Prison – finished but not blocked

I really like the way the padding emphasizes the bars and the face. The only thing that I’m not totally happy about is the wonkiness of the edges all around. I’m going to try steam-blocking it sometime this week, to see if I can make it more rectangular.

The colored warps came out even more beautifully than I had hoped. It’s hard to get a good sense for the color and texture in the full photo, so here’s a closeup of a small area:

"Bipolar Prison" background swatch
“Bipolar Prison” background swatch

The colors in each small area are unified enough to look “solid” at a distance, but close up, they become streaks of many related colors. That’s because I used three yarns, each with a different fiber content, in each warp. The silk, mercerized cotton, and unmercerized cotton all “took” the dye differently, adding variety to what might otherwise have been a solid blob of color.

The warps also have rich texture to them – physical as well as visual. The three yarns are all different sizes, and are threaded randomly in groups of four, adding a bit of textural interest. I also added some subtle squiggles in the background (“behind” the chain-link fencing) to break up the solid patches of color into something more visually interesting.

The one thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to mount it for hanging. While the padding is perfect for the design, it also distorts the outer edge of the piece, drawing it into unsightly puckers. This would seem to be a good reason to frame it – that way, it could be stretched into a rectangle and pinned in place. But framing is expensive, bulky to store, and expensive to ship. Since I’m planning to send this piece to shows, I’d much rather be able to roll it up and ship it.

So if you have suggestions for how to finish and hang this piece to get a rectangular edge, please leave a comment and let me know!

Finally, some people have been inquiring about Fritz and Tigress. They are perfectly fine, healthy, going-on-three-year-old cats. However, as adult cats, they’re now spending much of their time lazing about, so the pawparazzi have had fewer interesting opportunities to shoot. (Although, there was the “incident” in the bathtub, wherein our two loyal cats gallantly defended us from a giant cockroach that had sneaked in from outside. I had been planning to take a shower, but decided to wait until the local big game hunters were done disemboweling their mighty prey.)

So here are Fritz and Tigress, engaged in their favorite Olympic sport: synchronized sleeping.

Fritz and Tigress, napping together
Fritz and Tigress, napping together

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Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: bipolar prison

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Comments

  1. Sandra Rude says

    May 31, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    Gotta love those cats – don’t you wish you could sleep as long and as soundly as they do?

    The weaving came out wonderfully – remember it is cloth, not something with no stretch or give to it. You might be surprised how easily it will conform to a rectangular format, when persuaded to do so.

    • Tien Chiu says

      June 1, 2016 at 6:33 am

      Thanks! I’ll give it a try.

      Alternately, various people have suggested that distortion is appropriate given the subject matter. But then I’d have to distort it even further…

  2. Janet StollnitzJ says

    June 1, 2016 at 8:27 am

    I agree that the distorted shape is in keeping with the message. The distortion or “wonkiness” is just enough; no more is needed.

  3. kathyo says

    June 1, 2016 at 9:05 am

    For hanging, perhaps sleeves on all 4 sides into which you can slide dowels or PVC ?
    2 of the sleeves, the top and bottom, could be closed after the dowels are inserted and the piece could be rolled around the remaining 2 side dowels for shipping…,
    The sleeves for the sides would be closed at bottom and that way just slide in the dowels and they stay put for hanging but remove easily for shipping…
    Just a thought… You might look at how some art-quilts are hung at galleries and shows…. Or ask at galleries for helpful suggestions? 🙂

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