Whew, It’s Over

The Funk In The City “art festival” was a total bust for me.  I like what another vendor said…”I sell more than this at my crappiest shows”.  Yeh, what she said.  There was a gal next to me selling ceramic mushrooms for $5-$6…could that have anything to do with it? And the more I thought about it…surely they had to come from China.  So what’s there to say about a show like this?  How about…I won’t be back!  And so many people I know have raved about this show.  Sigh.

I did meet some nice people next to me to whom I am completely indebted for helping me load up.  Due to incoming storms the festival closed up an hour early.  Their help made sure all my stuff didn’t get wet, because a big downpour did come.  Thanks to Sean Troy of Wood Turned Dreams and his helper.   His old website was shut down by the host, but his new one is almost up and running.  Check out his wonderful wood turning work when you get a chance at www.woodturneddreams.com

Anyway, on to the next thing…I have some classes scheduled, a trip out of town where I will be visiting with friends and seeing Quilt National (yeh!), and a one day quilt show event.  Perhaps I can even work on some art this month… that would be fun.  I am feeling inspired to do some printing so that I can continue exploring with the piece of cloth from the previous post.  I am stirred to create.

Another task is to begin photographing all the things that didn’t sell! to start listing in my Etsy shop.

Photo…gray hand dye that I “painted” with soy wax, froze, crumpled, then brushed dish gel over it to discharge it.

This Week…

I am working today making more bags…just two more festivals to go and then maybe I can “rest” a little. Ha!

But I also took a little time for play…

This is a fat quarter of black cotton sateen.  I waxed it, then crinkled it, then brushed automatic dishwashing gel on it.  I’m thinkin’ I’m in love…

Farm Progress Show Follow Up

Dear Readers: In my haste to get ready, load up the van and get to breakfast on time yesterday, it never once entered my head to get the camera!  I’m just not in the habit of carrying it with me to meals…yet!  I am going to have to get advice from Gerrie since she always has lovely pictures of food and meals, even when they eat out.

But I can describe it for you…we had a fruit dish of bananas and strawberries, small stack of pancakes, sausage patties, hard fried eggs with a soft white cheese melted on top (never had that before!), juice and coffee.  Yes, it was another wonderful breakfast.  If anyone questions my infatuation with my breakfasts the past few days…let me explain.  My husband goes to work early and we don’t fix breakfast.  Every morning I have a bowl of bran flakes with soy milk and dried cranberries on top…that is it.  Being at the bed and breakfast this week was quite a treat as far as breakfast was concerned!  And someone else was fixing it…and it was way better than the continental breakfasts you get at a motel for the same price.

Anyway, I sold a few more scarves yesterday…that was very encouraging.  Right before I left, I worked on some large square chiffon scarves and was quite pleased with how they turned out.  Every day I draped a new one over my “dummy” to see public reaction.  The third one sold, and it was one I ran out of time on and planned on doing more to it when I got back.  The sale saved me more work!

I still have these two…the one that sold was a bit more reddish than the orange one above.  I discharged it the same way, but didn’t like the color so I overdyed it.  The discharged areas were more muted.  I also used the same screen print on it that the orange one has.  It is a Thermofax print of a picture of tree branches.

I’m back home now and need to re-stock my inventory…next art show is in two weeks.

Bags, Bags, and More Bags…

At least I’m having fun!!!!!

More This ‘N That

Does anyone else wake up in the morning with so many choices before you that you find it hard to choose your direction for the day?!  Some days that’s how I feel as I prepare for shows, classes, etc. And then there’s the things I would like to work on “just for fun”. I find it hard finding time for those…

I made another Runaround bag…it makes up so fast and easy.  This one is made with discharge dyed black cotton with another piece of my cloth and then adorned with  leftover chocolate button trim from Moda.

A piece of black cotton sateen discharge dyed in circles. I left the dishwashing gel on it for a long time, so it bleached out quite a bit.

And lastly, some small bags I have been making using deconstructed screen prints.  The prints are just the right size, and after layering and stitching them,  they make a cute makeup bag.

What I’ve Been Doing…

It’s been awhile again since I’ve blogged…I’m getting so lazy!

Update on the Arts Council show…I got a call last Wednesday that I have been awarded an Honorable Mention award…yeah for fiber! Rayna wrote me a nice note and said that this is extra special because this is recognition in an art show.  Thanks, Rayna.

Update on the Runaround Bag…I decided not to go with those antique buttons.  Instead…I think some fun, funky buttons are called for…

I have been dyeing some fabric to replenish my supply.  The multicolored ones sell pretty well for me.  The striped ones were hung on the clothesline and I poured the dye on them.  That was sorta fun if you can keep the dye off your toes…I may do more, mostly because I would like to use them myself.  I also soda soaked some white cotton and hung on the line…and guess what showed up?  The Japanese beatles swarmed the white cotton…go figure…they must like the soda ash.

Last week I prepared some discharged black sateen pieces to sell and to stitch on.

I will be making more of these…”painting” on black cloth with dishwashing gel is too much fun.

More This ‘N That

Woohoo!  I feel like I actually got something done today.  I got a sample bag made, and it went pretty fast.  This is the Runaround Bag by Lazy Girl Designs, made, of course, in my hand dyed fabrics.  One fabric has paintstik designs on it.  I didn’t have a 12 inch zipper to match the fabrics, so making do with the yellow one I did have.  I think it looks just fine…it makes  a yellow stripe.

Front…

Back….with a heart embroidery stitch used as topstitching…

How about some antique buttons added…?

This is a cute pattern and makes up fast.  The finished bag measures 7 1/2″ x 9″. I have patterns for sale.

I am planning what shows I will be attending this fall and what I need to have done as far as samples.  This bag is one sample I wanted to make up.

On another note, I was juried into the annual Working Together exhibit to be on display at the Evansville museum from July 11 to August 28.  This is an Arts Council exhibit. I have shown this piece in another post on this blog.  It is …But Words Will Never Hurt Me (Sticks and Stones). I am happy it will be in this exhibit.

Rust dyed cotton sateen, discharge dyed sateen, screenprinting, stamping, stenciling, cotton thread, handwriting.

What’s Going On Now…

The Christmas artisan’s fair is over again.  I didn’t have a lot of sales, not enough actually, but it’s funny how one thing you do leads to another….I was asked to do a solo exhibit in a gallery…in 2011.  I think I can get ready in time!

So this week, I have a goal.  I am planning and writing up a proposal for a commercial commission job.  I had started it a couple of weeks ago, but then other things got in the way and took my attention and time.  Now it’s time to get dreadfully serious about it.  I’m not one to sit still and do a lot of paperwork and all the thinking that goes along with it.  Perhaps I need this exercise.  If nothing else, I am sure I will learn a lot.  So that is my plan for this week…after I go teach (that got cancelled)…and go to the dentist…and bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday party with my 3-5 year olds class at church…and make my nieces’ Christmas presents…and the list can go on and on.  It’s the holidays, right?  If you are already busy, the holidays just doubles or triples it for you.

My scarves are selling pretty well this season.  I’ve sold 4 out of my etsy shop in the past couple of weeks.  And I got a check from the shop I consigned a dozen to…she is selling them too.  I keep them pretty simple with what I do to them, because I am not sure that my current market will support higher priced work.  But when I do the exhibit, I think I will do some that are very special with more surface design on them.

Here is a rose pink silk crepe that I decided to do more to.  I was wanting to experiment with it a bit. It was going to be my play scarf.  I screened some words on it with a Thermofax screen.  Since the scarf was still a bit damp, the words blurred just a bit, not bad.  Not being satisfied with that, I came back with the discharge paste and a sea sponge and stamped it.  Perfect.  I wasn’t sure I even wanted to sell this scarf…but sadly (or happily, depending on your view) a girl wanted to buy it, so I “let” her.  Sigh.  Maybe I can duplicate it.  I really did like this one.

Sunday This ‘N That…

The last few days have been like one loooonnnnnnngggggg day. I was busy finishing up working on silk scarves, getting them cataloged, tagged and priced. Then I needed to pack the car with what I planned to sell at the bazaar Friday night and at the same time pack the car for the class I was to teach on Saturday. My brain started getting tired. There were last minute preparations for the class, handouts, notes, etc. I was so busy I forgot to get a picture of the first rust dyed crepe de chine scarf I made. It was quite lovely and of course, it sold Friday night. I actually sold quite a few scarves and am very pleased about that…so pleased, I am ordering more blanks! My scarf supply is pretty depleted at this point as I then consigned a dozen to the shop in Evansville. But I will be doing more rust dyeing. That crepe scarf was too yummy not to make more…and of course, I must have my very own, right?

When I got home last night after being gone the whole day, there was a message on my answering machine about a dessert being needed for a funeral. Of course, there’s no time (or energy at this point) to fix anything in a pan I don’t want back and I don’t have any discardable pans. I don’t keep a lot of stuff around here for the unexpected events like this, so to keep stress at a minimum, I bought some cookies at the dollar store and put in a disposable bag. We had church this morning and lunch with friends, then home to rest a little bit and “pack” my “dessert”. I usually do try to make something special, but there was too much going on this weekend. So tonight I am placing another pretty big scarf order to build my inventory back up. I have an art fair the first weekend of December, so that gives plenty of time to get more done. I will lose a couple of days with the Thanksgiving holiday. I am also hoping to get new art done.

Here is one of the lovely chiffon scarves I did. It has been dyed and discharged. 44″X 44″ silk chiffon. For sale for $45 if anyone is interested. Email me.

UPDATE ON 12/9/08:  This scarf is SOLD.

What I’m Doing Today…

I am working on scarves AGAIN…I have an opportunity to sell tomorrow night as well as deliver some for consignment on Saturday, so gotta get ‘em done. Since my Deep Black 609 did not work very well (too red), my scarves are mostly a deep red-purple color. I decided to discharge on some of them because they are so dark (some people may like the dark color). Not very long ago I had decided that I would no longer work with discharge paste simply because I cannot abide the odor of it…but after today I guess I’m changing my mind…can you see why?

I stamped the paste on with a sea sponge. What a difference that made. This is a 15″ x 60″ silk crepe de chine (remember it shrinks from that in washing, now measuring about 14.5″ x 56″). For sale for $30 (includes shipping). Email me if you are interested. I am also doing some rust dyeing on a silk scarf and cotton scarves. Stay tuned.