Monday, May 29, 2017

New Shop on Facebook!

I have moved my shop to Facebook, and will be adding items over the coming weeks & months.  I hope you will follow the link located in the right column and browse what I have listed so far... and don't forget to let your friends/family know!  Here are a few of the items I have listed so far:

Elegant Drape Jacket

Ladies Tie-dye tank top

Infant Short Sleeve Tie-dye Romper

If you go out to my facebook shop and "Like" my page, you should get updates whenever I add new items to the shop.  Let me know how you like it, or if you have any suggestions for items you would like to see listed there!



Sunday, May 14, 2017

So many new things, so little time!

I have been in a flurry of activity lately, and really enjoying it, but have neglected to write about it! Let me see if I can remember everything and make note of it now.
First off, I have been working over the past year on several coiled vessels, such as this one:

I wanted to make a vase-like structure, then decided to make some flowers to go with it.  The flowers I made for this one were out of fabric scraps, and they took a long time to complete, but they did the job.  
Other vessels were embellished with dried arrangements, but I wanted more options.  So my next step was to try making paper flowers.  Here is one of my first attempts:


I like these, but they are limited and size-wise are fairly large.  So out to the internet I went on a quest for information, and I ended up ordering this book:

This of course let me to start gathering various papers, stem materials, etc. to begin learning the fine art of making paper flowers.  I will be reporting about this in future posts... have yet to find time to get into it, but hope to clear the worktable off soon!

Meanwhile, I recently joined a Facebook group of fellow bowl and vessel makers, and have been truly inspired by all their beautiful work!  And I have finally begun to learn how to make vessels with necks, such as this:
I just finished this one yesterday, and hope to have flowers to go with it soon!

So while all that has been going on, I also joined another Facebook group on Alcohol Inks... a very exciting medium, and one I have wanted to explore for awhile now.  While I was waiting to order some supplies, I reached back into my cache of saved inspirations and decided to revisit using permanent markers and alcohol to color silk scarves.  I had a few Chiffon scarves that I had bought to dye with regular Procion MX dyes, but the first few I tried last year came out horrid (in my opinion!), so I decided I would experiment on Chiffon with the markers & alcohol.  I drew some simple designs on the first one, and thought it would end up in the trash can until I applied 91% alcohol to it... I wish I had made a video of the transformation, but here is the end result:


That sold me...  I had to try more!  And I have written about it on "...And Then We Set it on Fire", scheduled for later this month.  I'm guest blogging this month, so check it out. 
Needless to say, I am now shopping for more permanent markers... only thing is I need to wait to get back to this until I can open the windows to air out the alcohol smell, so stay tuned on that!
And most recently, I have added a new summer dress to my clothing line:

This is a flat-weave rayon, cut for a loose easy fit with side slits... takes the dyes beautifully, and I hope they will be a big seller for summer.  
Okay, time to get back to all these fun activities!  I will do my best to post a little more frequently, but can't promise... just not enough time to do all the things I keep finding to try!