Hand dyed velvet shibori "fuschia on fire"

Ombre dyed "bubble stretch silk" scarf

Salt Lake Sunset bubble silk scarf

hand dyed rainbow shibori socks for wee little feet

you get this…

silk/rayon velvet dyed, discharged, overdyed, forgotten & found again

velvet shibori scarf dyed, discharged, overdyed

In a rush to get *something* done, anything really, I grabbed a handful of scarves I had dyed with liquid fiber reactives. The one above I believe was cranberry & turquoise. The one below was all cranberry.  I had limited time & apparently limited focus. At first i couldn’t figure out why my discharge bath wasn’t heating up. (I had unplugged my hotplate set up).  Then even when hot enough it didn’t seem to be working. So I started gradually (i thought) increasing the strength. Till i realized I had just doubled the amount of thiox, unintentionally, and WHAM- then it worked. Quickly stripping way more than intended.

I was completely devastated since it was yet another “failure” in a long list of things that hadn’t been going well. And i just *didn’t have the time* to do it all over again.

I peeked under the folds and realized it also hadn’t been compacted as much as I thought either. So resists weren’t tight.

*sigh*

So, I grabbed some dye paste I had left from another project from right before, literally slapped it on the poles, stuck them in buckets, and forgot about them, OUTSIDE, where it’s about 45 at night for 2 days.

Imagine my surprise when I went out to take the garbage out, and there are my little buckets, with the neglected poles. I picked the leaves off, started rinsing, pulled it off the pole and was shocked at the results. Colors I wouldn’t have ever really thought to put together had I “planned” it all out. The pinkish one below I was less impressed with, but the sister to these two is in my closet. mine mine mine.

Dyed velvet, discharged, over dyed on pole.

Now my goal is to try to in some way replicate these mistakes.

(Apologies for the crappy, unedited iphone pics. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it to drag out the big camera)

But a very cool thing happened recently. I got to finally meet some “internet friends.”  Yes I broke “Internet Safety Rule #1″ and not only met these people in a strange place, but I did it in a city I’ve never been to, and…. had basically… a grown up slumber party there.
I’ll write more about it later, but i have to say it was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long long time.  ETSY nicely did a little story about our shenanigans.  You can read more about it here…

ETSY Storque article about Hussyfest @ Renegade Chicago 2009

Yes, I went to Chicago to meet the other Hussies and help one of them sell her penis shaped pin cushions. And I’m proud of it.

How about we stop legislating nonsense? 

I’m not even sure where to start, but a well meaning law has gone so far off the deep end, that it will literally force makers of natural toys, children’s products, kids clothing, anything that could be *perceived* by the CPSC as geared to kids (even if it’s not), to go out of business.  In addition to requiring not only not allowing component testing to stand in for item testing, they are requiring it on EVERYTHING.  Every color, every size, everything.  I’ve seen costs for this range from 180 per item to 300 per item.  In some cases there will be SEVERAL tests required.  Make hand dyed baby onesies?  The fabric needs to be tested for lead, as do the dyes, the snaps and the thread.  All independantly.  EVERY COLOR.

If you can’t prove testing, and can’t provide certification, you are not in compliance.  You can be fined HUNDREDS of thousands, and face jail time.  

After Feb 9th, 2009, all these items you have made over the years, will suddenly be considered hazardous waste and can NOT be sold (accross state lines- apparently you can still sell in state only, and only if you state is not as rigorous as the Fed laws.

In addition, there are parts to this law that include apparel manufacturers.  “i’m not a manufacturer, I’m a dye artist, weaver, sewer, etc”  you say. Nope- if you make it and sell it, you are a manufacturer. You will be required to label even more stringently.  In addition, I believe- but am not positive because the whole thing is so damn confusing, submit products for testing for flammability, though it’s possible they will all just have to be labeled as flammable if you don’t. 

And apparently “labels” are not permanent enough to the cpsc, it is sounding more and more like it will have to be a permanent part of the product, not removable.  Yes that will look nice on that silk scarf.  “FLAMMABLE!”  No kidding.  So don’t butt your ciggy out on it! Or dangle it over an open flame. 

I urge anyone, or at least the 3 of you who read this to look into how this affects your business and art. 

Some interesting articles can be found here:

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-product-safety-regulations-that-affect-all-manufacturers/

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cpsia-requirements/

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cpsia-and-small-manufacturers/

http://mothering.com/sections/action_alerts/toy-safety-legislation.html

Take a look, read up, contact your legislators, nearly all these links lead to more links.  And some sample letters if you know how to write one yourself.

I’m all for regulation and protecting kids.  I’m a mama, I know.  But I’m going to kick and scream about this one. 

more later…

One of the Best Fairs Ever!

Peace to you and yours.

on my mind:

The Election

The Economy (and it’s effect on those of us selling “luxury” or “non-essential” items.)

Trying to build up stock for my Etsy shop, a few shows, and the holiday season in general.

Trying to find an artistic path instead of what lately seems like aimless wandering. (Today I’ll discharge silk, tomorrow I’ll slap wax around, the next day- painting, after that more shibori, what do i want to do, dye scarves forever?- or create my own fabrics to be used in other work, or maybe I’ll continue my fascination with Rozome, etc etc lather rinse repeat)

yada yada yada

More later.

and as testament to my apparent need for better focus, the first time I posted this I spent a half hour trying to find it…. only to find out that I accidentally wrote this as a page instead of a post…..

 If your message doesn’t pop up right away, please don’t get offended it just means something in the message triggered the little internet elves to hold onto it for me to take a look at first.   I’ll post it as soon as I look at it.

thanks

HA. Just kidding. Obviously. This would be the doofus cat that still calls my house home. SOMEDAY his real mama will come to reclaim him (hint-hint christine…). He just likes to wait until I’m slaying trolls in the Etsy fora to take advantage of the most expensive fabric in the house. (Don’t worry- this gets washed on hot about a dozen times during dyeing.)

Here- thanks to my hubs, is my “discharging” get up. Sometimes you just gotta take the color OUT of something, and that throws off some really nasty fumes. I do it outside (hence the outdoor shot) with my hot plate and a “table” made of sawhorses and buckets and so on. Not something you want to dress up for. Generally- this would be done in one of the many multicolored (aka dyesplashed) shirts and crocs. and grubby pants or pjs. But we just amae back from a day out with the kids- so I threw the garb on for the modeling session in front of the hydrangea. FYI: That hydrangea is FULL of bumblebees…..

Scary eh? Maybe sometime I’ll actually do some REAL workspace pics. After I clean up my workspace.

Anyhoo- that’s me. Last time I was out doing this- in my driveway- every dog walker and kid walker happened to decide to go for a stroll by my house that day. Trust me- It wasn’t pretty and I secured my place as the nuttiest on the block.

Now that we’ve looked at that- let’s look at the cute…

Yes- that’s the asshat cat from above, looking cute so that I still feed him every day. There are two others in the house- but they are a little more camera shy.

“Yes Way!”  I say.

I did, and I have proof, that indeed, I spent the afternoon rocking out with Gaelic Storm’s new album, in my basement, mixing and concocting, and soaking and rinsing.

Behold, the wrinkled, not quite ready for primetime, but sort of pretty nonetheless, batch of scarves I did today.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

They may not be colors for everyone, but I am finding, as I usually do at this time of year, a yearning for the colors of autumn.

Subdued, warm, looking like the sound of crunching leaves, but light enough to still feel like summer heat.

They should be up in the shop by tomorrow.

(and for anyone keeping count, which is probably only me…. that was a seven week hiatus from dyeing things.  Let’s not let that happen again, shall we?)

So instead I write a letter to you. Somewhere in a foreverland of snowcapped mountains and rolling hills and Scottish moors and happy dogs, I imagine you sitting down to read this. Taking a break from some intricate puzzle you’ve been building, popping into the office for a bit, leaning against the doorway.  In my head you are on a coffee break, and I guess you kind of are on a break from the meds and the radiation and the fatigue and difficulty breathing and the vision problems and the searching for words and the frustration in not finding them. A break from the cancer. Yes you are on a break.

Put down the hammer, pour yourself a glass of Laphroaig (the 15 year of course) and relax.

Hey Nick,

Back to work tomorrow and word of your leaving us will surely be starting to spread. I’m sure the guys at the site first, and then moving outward like ripples on a lake. The calls will come in and grown up tough guys will be reduced to quivering puddles again. They will be examining their own mortality. Which in a few cases, could be a good thing. But I digress.

I’m not sure I want to be there, my friend. Unless you’d like to pull in to the office driveway and stand silently, smooshing your nose and face onto my window, waiting for me to turn around and then fall off my chair in shock, like you did last summer. Or the day you came in and taped the computer mouse to the desk. You can come do that again. I promise I won’t yell. Well not much anyways. Maybe just a little, until you break out into rolling laughter. And we follow suit.  Doubled over, gut splitting, tears flowing laughter. Maybe you could do a little peanut butter on the steering wheel once more, that one was good too.

Or you could bring one of your gorgeous dogs in again. Max was it? You the proud doggy papa. Trying to convince me I needed to bring a Golden home to my family. I was convinced, you know. But the better half wasn’t so much.

You could come in and tell me about Utah, and the mountains. I’ve finally seen them, and you were right. There’s nothing like them. But you could tell me about them again, and I’d listen. Eagerly clinging to every word, we’d listen.  And show me the pictures, again.  Please.

How we are supposed to do this? This moving on, this one day at a time. We need to keep the forward momentum, but we don’t want to leave you behind.  Faith has brought me from here to Utah and back again, allowing us to leave there feeling you were at peace now. I’m digging my nails in and not letting go.  This faith is an elusive thing.  I held onto it for the last  6 months, and I promise to keep holding on , but it’s hard and a bumpy ride.

Throw us a bone, let us know that it’s all okay.  Nothing hokey, no rainbows and God light, but a good old fashioned prank.  Glue the shot glass to the table, or the phone to it’s cradle, or 12 sugars in someone’s coffee.

Then laugh so we can hear you. So we can nod and smile and bust a gut ourselves and say “It’s okay. He’s on his break.”

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Many thanks to the Nicoll family for use of these wonderful photos. He was a true friend to many and is deeply missed.

and this is what he made:

When asked what it is….

“It’s a pooping sheep.”  he says.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

And indie…dear sweet kitty indie…

couldn’t
get
enough

Wouldn’t leave them alone. As soon as I got him off the tale, back up he jumps. WORSE than the computer obsession.

So – when he wasn’t looking- I moved them to the kitchen window. He found them.

I finally had to put the out on the ledge on the porch so he can’t get to them.

He then proceeds to cry at the door, (much like he did when I had the lemon grass plant out there before I planted it) and run out every time someone opened the door to go out.

He cries, he rams his head, he scratches at the door.

He paces, and jumps on the couch, then on the shelf where the keys are just to get a glimpse of his beloved flowers.

Pace cry jump pace cry jump.

I’m trying to nap, until I hear a distinctly different cry and see this:

pacing, pacing, (and meowing)

and of course the obligatory cat butt picture…

Eventually, after about 3 minutes of frantic pacing and a final gaze out the window at his beloved flowers, he jumped down with more of a splat than feline grace, but he’s fine. I think if he hadn’t been so scared- he would have tried to go through the screen to get them.

(thanks to the hubs for his catching the action)

This shy beauty was found among a bed of irises along my driveway. Some of which had been transplanted 2 seasons before from my backyard. I’ve never seen her before, but she is stunning, and the nicest surprise.

It is also amazing what has grown from a handful of seeds, haphazardly tossed in the side yard 2 seasons ago.

Funny how big this guy grew, happy as a clam in this crappy, unamended, compacted soil, from questionable seed, and the pots I purchased from the garden center 2 years ago- died the first year.

What’s nice is this one has a bunch of friends in this bed. Maybe it’ll take over the whole side.

And lastly

This lilac hasn’t bloomed like this in the almost 3 years we’ve been here. It smells DIVINE.

Well my friends, clearly there hasn’t been much dyeing going on. Lately I’ve been reveling in the color in my yard. That’s where I plan to stay as long as it’s sunny out.

This, my friends, was what I woke up to this morning. Boatloads of views and about 15 new hearts on my shop. Never does that happen, as I’m a small fish in the BIG ETSY ocean. But alas, apparently the treasury I was in was on the front page overnight. And this was the lucky listing.

This gorgeous Treasury was curated by juliegarland . She was kind enough to send me a screenshot of the front page that someone took for her.

I’m just a wee bit excited. Just a bit. And please be sure to check out her shop as well.

In response to Shiborigirl’s challenge to try to figure out or replicate this pattern, I decided to start simple.

Rows spaced half an inch apart, half inch stitches, off set each row by half an inch. I knew looking at the original fabric this wouldn’t get the same pattern- but it could be a jumping off point. About 3/4 of the way down the fabric- trying to sketch the stitch lines and lining up quilting rulers to make sure the off set was correct (and frequently winding up with wonky lines) it occurred to me that drawing an actual grid would have been a helluva lot easier.

So would have been doing this without trying to watch Deadliest Catch at the same time.

Anyhoo, onward we go.

Started with this (stitched ever so carefully on the bus yesterday)

Pulled the strings tight.
Then immersion dyed in dark green mx dye bath, probably swishing too much,

and got this

Clearly, not what it was supposed to be.

Things I know:

I need better thread. I’ve been using nylon coats and clark thread for the silk tying. But it is not thick enough for using with this fabric I don’t think. Or maybe I just need something less slippery. I had a hard time tying the threads tight enough to get clear resist. In digging through a box of samples that I’d done, I realized I had tried this technique a few years ago- before I really started getting into dyeing. I had used a heavier weight “thread of unknown origin” that had been in my grandmothers stash of sewing/craft supplies. It was the perfect weight for that- there were threads still in there, and I remember the cone it was on. I also remember chucking it when the basement flooded 2 years ago.

I think I over swished (agitated) in the dye bath.

Not entirely sure that original fabric did get immersed. Not even sure it was mokume.

So I will think about this some more and try again on the weekend, after I get the veggies in the garden.

And I will chuck that green dye stock, it seems shot anyways, and it’s a really icky color.

I usually throw down cross stitch in disgust, toss knitting across the room and commit similar semi violent actions again innocent crafting projects.

Which is why I’m surprise I actually stuck with this one, to the distress of my shoulder, neck and eyes (from stitching white on white and then picking out the dyed stitches.)

Here it is- my first foray in to both Mokume AND using lanaset dyes. Not too shabby for a first shot.

Photos of completely unpicked scarf to come. I suspect I’ll be  pulling stitches out on the train for the next few days.

I was tempted to ignore the Google Alert I got on  “teegee” since usually, it’s just referring to an indie gamer somewhere. 

But today I looked,  and this scarf is featured

in an article, (a brief one) about Batik. 

Thanks to the folks at  Threadbanger for the plug!

In anticipaton of the show and in honor of Etsy Hussy girlsavage having her lovable creations being mentioned, the Hussies of Etsy have banded together. We are offering promotions and sales, snagging treasuries right and left to let Martha and her fans know that we think she’s HAWT. And now, an honorary Hussy.

How do you get to be a hussy? There are no requirements other than a (tawdry) sense of humor, the gift of gab, and make room on the big red couch for the next hussy to walk in the door. We are a group of gals (and a few guys) spread over the country who enjoy making each other laugh, holding each other up during the yucky days …..and always on call to hide the bodies of those who cross our fellow hussies when necessary.

So here’s to the Hussies!

CharmingDarling, Raven, Yobo, Ebon, Pandys, HerMajesty, Lynnette, Pink, Abitabite, Sue, Keys, KJ, JLyn, Gini, Avionmaille, KJMart, Stoney,

and of course the Queen of Trollbies and other vintage goodies!

Ms. KarmaRox !!!!!!!!!!!!

For more about Etsy, and some of my favorite artists, click on the Etsy Artisans tab above. If you have no idea “what is this etsy you speak of”…my ode to etsy is here.

After a while I thought it would be neat to try to make some ornaments out of the cranes we were doing, but wasn’t sure the paper would hold up.  So I went through the exploding fabric stash looking for the Japanese fabrics I knew I had and started folding that. The fabric by itself wont hold the folds, but with a little fabric stiffener it works beautifully.

We gave our flocks of cranes away, stung on string and each with a little bead, for Christmas and Hanukkah gifts.  They were a hit, so I just kept on going.

I’ve been experimenting a bit using my own hand dyed fabrics, but that isn’t going as well.  The cottons I did last summer are too thick, and there needs to be a little more experimentation on the silk stiffener.  Too much and you lose the sheen and inherent qualities of the silk, too little and it’s just floppy.

But in the meantime, here are a few of the cranes that have been done for a while.

This next one is actually not a Japanese print.  It was a butterfly fabric from Hoffman, for he Hoffman challenge a few years ago.  I bout it specifically for the origami.