the (pink) lab coat is the experiment

The other component of In Vivo which was documented last Thursday, Pink Pokeberry Lab Coat. The pattern was created from a scan of a couple of pokeweed leaves.

The coat has several panels made from various dilutions of pokeberry juice. The left rear has completely faded because of the 1:2 dilution used but retains brown images where pink used to be. The right rear has faded the least and, in fact, achieved the least record of an image from exposure to sun. The right rear and right front pocket both got full strength pokeberry juice. The front panels were made using a 1:1 dilution of pokeberry juice.

The hanger is made from a fallen sycamore branch recovered in South Park (Dayton).

Thank you Charmaine Renee for your excellant sewing skills and problem solving abilities. Charmaine and I will be at DVAC tomorrow at 4 pm to sew together he saffron coat which has been at the front of the gallery receiving a bit of sunlight everyday since the exhibition opened.

twice diluted

Some surprises this time of year are bound to happen with lots of sunlight and alternative processes.

The pokeberry emulsion that I cut with water twice to cover the remaining pieces of fabric is fading very quickly upon exposure to sunlight. The image below represents about 4 days of exposure (maybe as little as 3). The second image is the backside of the fabric which has retained some of the intense color.

The downside to this fast of an exposure is possibly equally fast fading.

exposure side

flipside

Textile in progress

Here is a preview of the pattern I created using two pokeweed leaves. These will become the pokeberry emulsion textile from which the labcoat will be made. After cleaning up the scans of 14 leaves I ended up using just three. The bottom and top side of one leaf as well as the bottom of another. The double sided leaf is to scale. The other was reduced to fill up so empty space in the textile.

Three Easy Pieces

Today's image shows three larger pieces of fabric hanging to dry. The two on the right are undiluted pokeberry pigment.

a little return of the return of dr. frangst

Searching my archives for a negative I never included in the Dr. Frangst series, I found this zoneplate image from 2004-2005.

I may print this yet in its cropped version. Did you know that Photoshop CS 5 has a Rule of Thirds grid for the cropping tool?