so much inspiration..

Von treches am 03. Mrz. 2009

The last days there I searched through loads of printed-fabric stalls, collecting small samples of the nicest patterns. So you can be pretty sure to see some african-inspired prints in the [treches] summercollektion.

I was also impressed by the traditional Tuareq-clothing; big pieces of fabric that can be draped in millions of different ways after temprature and occasion.

Yesterday was the first day back to work (and it was great!…), and my atelier and store will be open regurarly again from now on; visit us in atelier b112, boxhagener str 112, Berlin – Friedrichshain.

But who is waiting for something good… -the summercollection is not gonna be ready in a while, the fabrics I’ve ordered will arrive in a couple of weeks…

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Natural Indigo (blue)

Von treches am 23. Feb. 2009

On my trip in the Dogon Country, in the village Ennde, I visited a family that dye indigo-cloth. Keeping the dogon tradition, they sew patterns in the (often handwoven) cotton-fabrics before it is dyed, creating undyed spots – kind of like the once-so-popular tie-die.
The colour Indigo comes from the indigo-flower – but I couldnt see any cause they only grow in the rain season. The dyers dry the flowers and clump them together for storage, luckally, they had one spare for me to bring home!
Obtaining the clear blue from Indigo is not so easy (as other colours), and thats where the sugarlike substance on the left comes into play..
As my translator did not seem to be an indigo-expert himself, he told me it is harpix for fixing the colour – after reading about indigo on wikipedia however, it seems it must be a sulfate/acid, for avoiding the immediate oxidation of the indigo after the dyeing. I was carefully explained not to touch it, and to pack it in many layers of plastic. (But they still use their bare hands for dyeing..)

Well, I had some difficulties understanding this part, but it seems it is made from burned “miel” – a wonderplant that is used for everything here; bread, to, tread, ryes, hay, beer…
After it is burned; it gets steam-boiled …and somewhere in this process it turns acid…
-well, I guess I’m not donna do this part at home.
After all theese preparations the dyeing itself seems simple; sulfate/acid and fine grained indigo are being boiled in water, and the fabrics are then added, staying only short in the water for a light colour and longer for the typical dark indigo.
As I get home, I’ll definately check it out!!

..and.. here’s a photo of me in the cliffs of Dogon (Bandiagara Escarpment), overlooking Ennde, with my new indigo head-scarf… :)

update 1: it hit me, that it might not be very environment-friendly to use strong acids in the colouring process, particulary not sulfate… does someone know something about this, or any other options??

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learning the art of bogolan

Von treches am 17. Feb. 2009

Some time ago, I were experimenting with dyeing fabrics with (bio-) food and natural colours. (Unfortunately without much success…)
So my joy was great when I heard about the malian (west-africa) bogolan -the art of painting and dyeing with mud, using (mostly) only local plants for obtaing the colours.

I visited a collective of bogolan-artists in Segou and was shown some tricks:::
Mud-painting; using mud as base for the paint, with red bark for the chocolat-colour and coals for the black. To produceseries of patterns the artists use cut-out stencils and toothbrushes as brushes. I had to try, of course… using a pattern symbolising “king”..

I was a bit sceptic.. not sure if the colour would really stay on in wash – but after washing the mud out of the textile the colours appeared even brighter!

(okay, maybe not 40°C with omo in the washingmachine.. i’ll have to try when i come home..)
Natural dyeing; local plants are used for dyeing the fabrics; red bark from a local tree, numerous other plants I didnt understand the name of (..my french is not so steady..). The yellow-green colour is from the leaves(spice) spanish people put in all the food (at least all the spanish people I ever lived with…)

This green is a mix of the mentioned leaves and indigo -but when I ask which plant the indigo-blue comes from, the only answer is “powder”.. it seems it used to be a natural way to create blue though, since the colour is used so much in the traditional cloths.
(the white? –bleach!! :) )

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treches to Mali..

Von treches am 31. Jan. 2009

..Even though I should be working on a new collection, and finally getting it out on time (..wintercollection was ready in november…t-t-t…), I’ll rather.. go on holiday!!

My destination is Mali, and I’ll stay for a month, ..and I’m so excited!

..So I’m sorry for not answering your e-mails this month! (I’ll be gone from tuesday, 3.february till 28th)

Oh, but don’t worry, the summercollection won’t be that late, cause I’m having the fabrics dyed while I’m away.. And I hope I can find some nice ideas for prints while I’m there!

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recycle at Kunst-Stoffe

Von treches am 21. Jan. 2009

If youre in Berlin, -and like recycling- you have to see Kunst-Stoffe!
It’s an overwhelming (really!) collection of — OLD STUFF !!

they have -i would say- close to everything that can be recycled and used again; bottle caps, sweets-wrapping, empty tealight-candles, foam-rubber, metal-pieces, wood, glass, plastic, buttons, floor-tiles, paint-leftovers…

Much of it is maybe to most interest for creative souls.. (“what to do with 1000 wine-corks?” ..or a bunch of empty brie-boxes?) but theres also very usable stuff for home-improvement and decoration ..

…and a great source for old commercial banners -if you wanna make some.. bags?

Yeah this place is somehow a well-kept secret, but it’s actually open to public; Every friday (11-18) you can go there and have a look in the many garages full of sorted left-over materials, and if you want something it’s yours for a reasonable price..
They even have workshops for working with wood and metal and what-do-i-know, so youre sure to get something useful out of the funny-squared metal-plates you might find there.

Oh, and if you need to get rid of something -whatever it is – you could give them a call..!

That’s some nice stuff i found. (Actually i found loads of nice stuff but i don’t have any concrete idea of what to do with the see-through plastic triangles.. hopefully theyre still there next time i’ll go)

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die waschprobe

Von treches am 12. Jan. 2009

This is the washing-test required on my last plastic-melting project..:

there’s four patches; two cotton (green) and two synthetic (red), each of them with either
plastic bags and strange silver thing or “gift-wraps” (which i found out is actually called ribbons..)
I washed at 40°C.

update:
there is two kind of ribbons used; the curly, more papery one, and the straight, shiny one.
I had some problems from the beginning attaching the curly one to the fabric, because it only
attaches on the backside, and its quite hard to make it lay straight on the fabric (because its curly..).
And during the wash, it only stayed “glued” on the fabric where the right side is down -of course
it’s still there and you cant see it, but it’s now possible to pick it off
(if you would want to do that..)
-so i’m not sure about the lolly really…
But the shiny one and all the plastic bags stayed good! (like transfer-prints i guess)

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gift-wraps are made from plastic!

Von treches am 09. Jan. 2009

I made an amazing discovery today: GIFT WRAPS, the shiny, colourful stuff to make your
last-minute presents look nicer, are made from plastic!!!
..this opens a world of possibilities…::

some of it even stays shiny after it’s melted into the fabric
(see my last blog-entry for instructions).

I made a T-shirt:

oh, i love plastic…

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creative plastic bag recycling

Von treches am 18. Dez. 2008

For some time, I’ve been working on creative ways to recycle garbage and old, out-of-fashion or broken stuff, to make it once again be craved for and have another round in the lifecycle of consumer products..
One way of doing this is sowing new clothes from old clothes and fabric. Now I found another, combining old fabrics with used plastic bags.

..And you can do this yourself!
You need an iron, baking paper, some fabric (preferably with synthetic fibres) and plastic bags.

Rip or cut up the bags and spread it on the fabric. Then cover it with the baking paper and iron on maximum heat. Press hard!

As long as you don’t use to many layers of plastic, you’ll get a nice, soft, and probably waterproof “new” fabric that can be used for…

..for example wallets like I made, or bags, pencil cases, ..or a raincoat??
(the whole story with more pictures is on my webpage.)

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[treches] ist dabei!

Von treches am 11. Dez. 2008

(kremt..)
hello world.. :)
so, the eco+fair fashion/streetwear label [treches] is part of the korrekte klamotten-blog, and I (Jeanette) am happy to join!

My fingers have been itching for finally blogging away, but these days there’s something completely different than organic textiles on my mind:::
the houseproject “Liebig34” in Berlin is finally, after being threatened with eviction for several years, signing a ten-year leasing contract for the house! It seems the owner (Gijora Padovicz/Siganadia) has finally given in to the political (a.s.o.) pressure for a solution.

Without this anarchafeminist houseproject [treches] might never have been (the same):  my first sowing- and silkscreen-studio were located there, I met all the models there, got inspiration for unusual designs, cuts, prints and fabric-combinations, learned about the thrills of recycling, and got the support I needed when I wanted to start my own label and business!
..So this first blog-entry goes to Liebig 34!

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