Fun with direct application

Last night I indulged myself in some fun by combining an arashi shibori pole wrap with direct dye application. What a blast!

I don't currently own a steamer. That makes it difficult to do direct application of acid dyes to my silk. I decided to play around with direct application of activated fiber reactive dyes instead -- rather than presoaking the silk in soda ash solution, which I think might be bad for the silk, I mixed up thickened dye solutions already containing soda ash. These I squirted onto a veil that I crushed and wrapped on a shibori pole; I covered the resulting mess with plastic wrap and let it sit a couple of hours. Result? Well... not subtle... kinda crazy... but I haven't seen it dry yet. Let me get it ironed up and I'll post a picture soon!

Etsy roadblocks

I haven't posted here for a MONTH. How very lame and annoying of me. Of course, any posts would have been fairly empty of content -- I figure that's MORE annoying.

I have started off my Etsy journey. I signed up for Vashti Silks at Etsy. Then I was going to list a veil... except that I had somebody wanting to view veils in a few days. So I held off in case I should list the one she wanted. But then that didn't happen. So I started to post an item... only to find out that the photos I had of my current items were the wrong size and really blurry! So I had to set it aside again.

The next thing that happened was that all my veils came along with me to be displayed... and they all got wrinkled on the way home. So before I can re-photograph I have to re-iron them all. Gaaaah! It's going to take forever. And, oh yes, I need to be dyeing more silk as well.

I'm also very excited because my new sewing machine is coming. I'd really like to make some clothing items out of my dyed silk at some point. Maybe something like Kwik Sew 3462.

A sewing interlude

Haven't posted lately because I haven't been dyeing lately! I had fancy dress costumes to make for WisCon 32. Yes, one of my other roles in life is "science fiction geek." I've been attending WisCon since number 8, in fact, though that streak will be broken next year. I often sew costumes for WisCon; it used to be for the costume contest, but the last few years it's been for the Sunday night Fancy Dress party, which my husband and I co-host. But once the convention is over, the sewing stuff will be packed up and I'll be back in the pretty chemistry biz again.

I'm strongly thinking about opening an Etsy shop. Etsy is a place to sell individual handmade items (as opposed to auctioning off pretty much anything, as eBay is). Well, that's what I've got, is single handmade items. But I need to figure out shipping costs and how to adjust my prices to cover the Etsy fees before I leap in.

In the meantime, consider the ceiling of the Mohammed Ali mosque in Cairo. Don't you wish you had this on a scarf?

Quite a compliment

I got a phone call last night that really made me feel good. My dye mentor, DC, is an incredible artist. Many of her works sell for hundreds of dollars, and rightly so. She has both fabulous technique and vision; she plays in the big leagues, while I hang out at the sandlot. Yet, she's always been very supportive of my hobby and enthusiastic to hear what I'm working on. If I am confused about results that I'm getting, she will usually have a good suggestion for me.

DC called me last night because one of the local galleries that sells her stuff is losing their silk scarf artist. She wanted to suggest that I submit some scarves to be juried with a view to having them represent me.

Oh. My. God.

Well, this is not going to happen, for several reasons:
a. I already have a full time job, which is (correctly) time-consuming.
b. I'd probably have to become a company.
c. This is not my only hobby. I would have to give up some other things I do in order to focus on the dye work.

However! I was just blown away. Just the fact that DC even mentioned my name to these people is such a compliment. She really, really likes my work!

I'll just be over here. Basking.

How Ashar's custom silk costumes looked on stage

If you would like to see what Ashar's custom silk order turned into, you could look here: youtube

I'm not sure whether it was kosher for the videographer to post the video, so you might want to look quickly -- but they made beautiful long sleeves and panel skirts out of the three color schemes of yardage. It's a very creative and lovely performance. Go Ashar!

Crazy Fuchsia

Crazy Fuchsia
Originally uploaded by tigerb.

Even in a 10% strength solution, Fuchsia won't give you a pastel!

Cranberry Splash - sold 4/12

Cranberry Splash - sold 4/12
Originally uploaded by tigerb.

I find that Dharma Trading's Chinese Red dye does interesting things. This one's gone, so no better picture is forthcoming. By the way, blog readers, meet S... or rather, the back of S. S is one of my best silk customers. She's going to move out of town after she finishes her advanced degree in chemistry, so I will probably go out of business then. :-D