Mother's Day

Me and my Mom. I was the first of a swarm so there are very few pictures of just the two of us.


As I looked through my own extensive collection of photographs I wondered why there were so few pictures of me with my own when they were babies. Everyone else had them it seemed.



Then I remembered what every nursing mother knows. You are wearing the kid like a corsage for most of your waking (what sleeping?) hours so when someone else shows up you say, "Here. Hold this for a minute." and you take the pictures.

1980 with Colin

1986 with Jake

some early returns.

Couldn't resist some early returns. On the left, a dry damask napkin. Center, a woven cotton sleeve still wet. On the right, some very kinky, fluffy cotton gauze also dry.  Below, detail from the center piece. I think the black will stay strong even when it dries. It's that kind of cotton. Grabby.

Mother's day on the burning dye deck

It's hot and breezy and we're in high gear here at the Lawrenceville Frankenstein Dyeworx.

It's texture time so the buggy oatmeal was dug out from the depths of the pantry and the Magik is underway.

There were cottons, linens, silks and damasks in the sauce after the great dismemberment (several skirts, blouses, and coats work taken apart rather roughly) .

Alas, the day job beckons and a nap is a must so the great reveal will have to wait until tomorrow. All this stuff can just poach out here without my help.

Hoarding

Looking around the studio, I realize that's what I've been doing by not finishing, marketing or advertising these pieces. I've been over-invested emotionally in the whole black and white series and just don't want to really let go.

This little one, Karma VI,  in particular, the last of the series. Looking at it here, I'm convinced I want to change the orientation by one turn to the left. There's no sleeve on it yet, so no big  deal.

It's unfinished for the same reason I'm having trouble facing up to the last chapters of my book.  I just don't want this part, the making part, the fun and rewarding part, of the work to be over.  That's going to have to change and soon.

            I'm hoarding a lot of things that I'll have to set free.

representing

I've been so inspired lately by seeing what amazing things other artists are doing with my cloth, I've added a page over here so everyone else can see what's possible. Humbled, I am.

If you've used my cloth in your art and want to be listed, email me with the linkage you'd like and pictures even!

past lives

This  came in a box of treasures gleaned here and there by someone who knows what I like.

It's a ladies blouse, all pleats down the front, linen calling for an hour of careful ironing using a pressing cloth to prevent shininess.

Not going to happen. Based on the tag I'm thinking it's quite vintage, but  still heading for dismemberment and the dyepots.  It has some exquisite details. Aside from my rude handing in the washer and dryer, it's flawless. If you'd like it as a garment, let me know and I won't chop it up. But you are going to have to iron it yourself.

it's Fling time

                                           After a few more false starts with the fish and leafy looking chunks of green
damask, I've put them away for now.

While I was looking for something else, I stumbled across one of the first flings I made a few years back "Stories in the Garden with Monkey Teeth".

Flings are lightweight quilts with no batting. There will be a new nephew coming in August so it's time to get busy.

The charm of making flings was all about ease and lack of rules. I used torn strips of random widths of muslin to build foot square base blocks on the machine. Sort of log cabin without all the fussing. Once I had enough blocks to make the size quilt needed, each on got its own little hand appliqued picture. I kept the pallet broad, used fabric that could take wash & wear use, more of the

same muslin in this case. Hand dyed. Then the blocks were arranged and the front and back machine stitched together poking the two-sided monkey teeth (think prairie points gone wild) in random location along all four sides..not too many. Snaggly.

Then the whole thing gets stitched together with some more loopy, random lines of hand quilting.

I got a peaceful, easy feeling just looking at these pictures.

frittering

A pink moon and that purple rain has me dislocated in time.

Trying to quiet the buzzing and humming of my life with a little stitch, but it's not happening. I guess four stitches is not enough. I'll try again tomorrow because  I really like these little fish and don't want to waste them.

The rest of the second dye lot has been cleaned and processed and is good to go.

This has pretty much taken over my life.

tales of woe, cont.

Grace, here's your Sun. It was a woven tea towel at one time and I swear it came from your thrift shop years ago, white and pristine.

 I remember now that the soy wax just doesn't work all that well on wovens. But on the harder fabrics, like this Kona cotton, Pow!

Hard Lessons...

....relearned. Beyond dye and soy techniques, it's important to pay attention to the hand or character of the various cloths when you are salvaging vintage or otherwise castaway cloth.

Every single one of the pieces from Round Two has been machine washed and dried twice. The water in my washing machine was still not hot enough to dissolve the soy wax. It left the cloth happily then floated to the surface to clot around the inside of the upper regions of my washing machine. Hand picking and scrubbing was the only remedy. Then, there's a big problem with the cloth.

There was a piece of flannel and two sections of something really nasty I can only describe as silk (?) noile (?). It took the dye, to be sure, but it left a residue of tan, fuzzy sludge over everything else. The only solution has been to hand wash each and every piece in a shallow pan, twice.  This is going to take some time.

that was Monday

It's pool cleaning time. None of the tough stuff (and it's tough down there, folks) is on me, but it's still an all-consuming process for a few days.

 If it wasn't for Colin, I'd be running a heartbroken in on Craigslist, "free  pool. Come and get it."

I keep this picture in the front of my thinking....

Yesterday was Charlie Monday for real, even if I didn't make the FB post -something I'm going to be phasing out anyway.

 I spent the morning with him because he's been fevery and unable to go to daycare. Happy that the doc said it was just
A Thing, no ear infections and he'll be on the mend in good time.

All other concerns and activities go by the boards, family comes first, always.