In the Theatre Department’s production of Somewhere by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit, Olga added these characters called the Kin, who were representative of the character of nature in this play. They represent water in the play and represent the four directions of the wind, they operated and embodied the butterfly in the play; so it was a real design challenge to design what the Kin look like. Summer Lee Jack the resident costume designer for the theater department created these characters with a lot of collaboration with Olga and help with work-study students Elsa Marrian and Lile Casey. A process called Ice Dyeing (learn more here: https://www.dharmatrading.com/home/learn-how-to-ice-dye.html) was used to dye the silk fabric for the tunic garments to invoke the unpredictable look of nature, as well Rust Dyeing (more info about this can be found here: https://www.fourrabbit.com/tutorials/2020/6/25/rust-dyeing-6dzpl#:~:text=Place%20you%20fabric%20with%20rusty,and%20up%20to%20three%20days.) Here are the sketches and photos behind that process:
