Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Update on Pole wrap experiments



I re-wrapped one of the tanks I posted about last night, and overdyed to see if I could get a better image on the back. Here are pix of the result:
If you compare these to the pictures from last night's post, you won't see too much of a difference on the front, but the back has a much more distinct design, particularly on the right side of the back. I'm pleased that I was able to add more design, but I think my next experiment is going to be using either a bucket or a large circular trash can to try and avoid the overlapping fabric. I know there is a way to do this! I'll keep you posted...

Monday, June 29, 2009

Pole Wrap shibori

For several years, I have been trying to use the pole wrap method of shibori to create designs on my clothing items. It is a challenge to wrap a shirt or tank around a pole, wrap with twine or sinew, and 'scrunch' the garment down to create ridges in a manner that creates a striped design. I have seen examples where people use large sewer piping and fabric, and the designs are beautiful. But trying to replicate the look on a shirt using a smaller diameter pipe has not netted the results I have been trying for. But recently, I have begun to try again, making adjustments to how I position the shirt or tank, how I wrap with the twine or sinew, and how I apply the dyes. Today, I got some interesting results, at least on part of the garments:



The pink/dark one is a little different than what I usually get because I folded it down the middle, matching the armholes, in order to get a 'mirror' image.
Here are the backs:
The pink/dark came out weird because part of the back was covered over and the dark dye didn't penetrate. It's not so bad on the black/camel, but notice that there is like a 'ghost' image of the armhole and strap on the right side of the image.
I am in the process of overdyeing the pink/dark, wrapped to expose the under-dyed area, so I will post an update tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Market Phair

Yesterday, I set up my booth at a small parking lot venue downtown, to see if I could shrink my massive tie-dye inventory a little. There were about 8 vendors there, and we were taking advantage of the foot traffic from the local Farmers' Market. There was a music festival going on at Heritage Square in the afternoon as well.

Here is my booth:

As you can tell by the position of the clothes, the wind was doing it's thing, but I had weights to hold the canopy down. Don't know if you can see it, but there is a pink plastic bag at the base of the clothing rack. When I went to put the rack together, I discovered that one of the castors was missing! Found it later in the garage. Then, when I put up the canopy, I discovered that one of the plastic connectors on the top had broken, but later found some duck tape in my supply bin, so I used it to hold the cross-piece in place. Then.... THEN, my almost new folding chair broke! Luckily, we were set up in the parking lot of a restaurant that has some patio furniture set up outside, so I was able to borrow one of their chairs, or I would have been standing all day... too much!


Here are pix of a couple of gals who came by and 'Hoop Danced' using hula hoops, while a young man was beating a drum... very cute!

The gal on the right was really into this... next time I need to figure out how to use my video on my camera!
Well, after a slow morning, things picked up and by the time we broke down at 3pm, I had more than made rent, and plan to do it again July 5th.... shades of yesteryear!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Missing in action?

I have been a real piker lately when it comes to posting here... needless to say, I have been in an endless cyclone of activity... nothing new there! But most of it has been filling a wholesale order for my tie-dye biz and beefing up my inventory. This Sunday and July 5th I will be setting up in a new venue downtown, which is hoping to take advantage of the crowds who come in for the Farmers' Market a couple of blocks away. I have put off going to try and wait until the weather warms up, and it is looking good so far for Sunday. Meanwhile, here is a picture of one of my recent shirts:

I liked this one well enough to keep it for myself, but dyed some more for the rack yesterday.
On the fiber arts front, I am working on a project I have wanted to try for a long time - a blue jean purse. The other day I went to our local second hand store and got a cute pair of jeans for 99 cents! Can't beat that! I cut off the legs and removed the back pockets... I'm in the middle of embroidering a stylized heart on one of the pockets, and plan to add flowers to the other -- 'Hearts & Flowers' don't ya know? Then I plan to do some more embellishing on the sides of the purse, line it with some cute fabric I picked up awhile back, and add a strap. Then I still have the legs to play with! Woo-hoo! I'll post pix when I finish it.
What else? Well, I've been working for ages, off and on, on an art quilt that has a lot of beading and hand stitching. It sits for awhile, then I remember I need to get cracking on it and get back to the handwork. I am also starting to work on a tie-dye quilt, which will have a 'sampler' look with dyed squares bordered in hand-dyed fabric. Not sure how big, or even what the overall look will be yet, but I have wanted to do one for a long time, so it's on my list! Funny thing about that list... every time I scratch something off, something(s) gets added on and it continues to grow!
Someday, I need to put my toys aside and do a little on the house, too... like cleaning, window washing, seal the deck (didn't I just do that?), tend to the plants... It never ends, does it?

Monday, June 1, 2009

Livin' in the country...

I looked out my window at about 5:45 this morning, and saw this:


There were about 8 of them, slowly passing by our neighbors' garage two lots down. They took their time, grazing along, then the newspaper lady drove in and they high-tailed it across the road to another property. There they decided to snack on whatever those people have growing in the back yard. What a magnificent sight! Any wonder why I love livin' in the country? Here are some more shots: