down to the wire

Well, I have around 20 veils to take to La Crosse this weekend. They're all ironed... but none got photographed. Boo! I wish there was a more time-efficient way to take the photos -- but to snap them all would take an entire evening, and I just did not have one to spare this week. Sunday was taken up with frenzied cleaning of the house, as friend KB came over to help out. (Then we collapsed and ate Indian food.) I had to put in some long days at work this week as well.

All things considered I'm just pleased I have enough stock to take north, but it really doesn't help my portfolio to dye-and-sell!

Here's hoping people will want to buy my pretties tomorrow....

veil dyeing vs. my back

Well, my back wasn't too pleased about the combination of multiple ballroom classes last week PLUS a multi-hour bellydance workshop on Saturday PLUS a lot of sitting and driving related to Easter Sunday festivities. Monday it basically stiffened up and refused to move.

(And by the way... I don't really appreciate it when a dancer I have known for 10 minutes tells me to fix my dance posture to avoid back pain. Especially when she has not seen my dance posture and is not a doctor, nor does she play one on TV. Also especially when you're someone who is willing to wear a hipscarf out to a restaurant at lunch time. I think that's tacky.)

So anyway, I haven't done much dyeing this week. I did do a big 4yd pink-and-white number that I'm hoping Tzigane will buy from me in LaCrosse, as she mentioned she's looking for one. But other than that, no. I need to take a good inventory tonight and figure out what else is a "must-have" for the show; I'll do those and no more. Leaning over the sink is not a great thing right now.

conservation of buckets

Phew. 13 veils done for the LaCrosse show.

Last night I got out the two curved veils I bought on spec. They aren't half-circles... they're more like half-ovals, because they're not quite wide enough. But I'm darned if I'm going to hem my own half circle veils... what a nightmare! So I'm working with what I have.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, actually. The Shibori Borealis half circles are gorgeous, but so complex, and Darlene's artistry is miles away from my skillz. I thought I would go for something much simpler. I dyed each veil in a bucket -- one a warm yellow color, one a medium blue shade. Then I set up a third bucket with a 2x strong fuchsia solution and simply dropped the lower 2/3 of the veils into it. After a while I pulled more of the veils out of the bucket and added more dye to make a 4x strong solution.

The veils don't show smooth absolutely perfect ombres -- you have to do more work to get those -- but they are a lovely example of basic color theory. The yellow veil looks exactly like a Tequila Sunrise cocktail, deepening into a pinkish orange edge. The blue veil reminds me of a morning glory with the deep velvety purple edge and blue inner area. Photos coming soon!

13 veils. Whew.