SIGIL just celebrated one year last Fall, so come November it was time to embark on the first artist collaboration.
Jason Soles, also based in Seattle, has many years experience as a sculptor and creator of resin replica skulls (if you are unfamiliar, take a look at his work at his Etsy store).
Being that I have a background in apparel yet primarily now work in leather, I was craving an outlet for using fabric, coupled with leather and harder textures to create a wearable landscape previously not explored by either Jason Soles nor I.
Taking a look at our individual skill set, we distilled aspects of our distinct styles and designed a pair of Extra Large linen scarves in black and tea-stained, the latter of which was an adventure in old-world techniques. Sticking to SIGIL’s focus on natural fabrics, we chose a medium-weight cream linen and researched natural staining methods. To obtain the deep neutral tone that you see in the photograph above, we added coffee and went thrift shopping for the largest cooking pot we could find. Not to mention 40 tea bags…
Letting our “brew” steep overnight on the stovetop with a low heat (the kitchen smelled divine), the following morning we pulled the 2 yards of very wet, but fantastically tanned fabric (see above). Now what to do?
Yes, squeeze and ring out every possible drop (it felt like 5lbs..) – not as easy as it sounds.
We left the damp fabric to drip dry another night, then folded it over a towel rail to settle. The variations in the hues showed themselves as the fabric slowly dried.
Next up: preparing the leather, measuring the fabric, ironing (numerous times, thank you linen) and constructing the pieces. In addition to collaborating on the fabric:leather designing, Jason contributed (and hand-drilled) resin replica quail bird skulls for stitching on one end of the scarves as a “fringe”. Gives a new definition to “Dark Boho”.
After a full day of construction, Voila! We have the SIGIL/Jason Soles collaboration of a one-of-a-kind Fall/Winter designer scarf, hand-dyed, bearing a respectable weight and length at a finished length of approx. 1.5 yards x 12.5″ wide.
You can find the finished scarf on the SIGIL Etsy store as well as the black linen companion we did.
More collaborations are in the works for 2016! Stayed tuned…
Anita / SIGIL
SIGIL 