Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Dirty Threads

I'm trying to not take too many. Only what I'm lacking for the work in progress.


These have been over-dyed and spent the night outside in a thunderstorm. Still waiting for a good wash. It will be days before they are ready to go. Even inside, it's so humid drying will be slow.


Bailey lending a paw from the bottom shelf of my herb/thread dryer. Right after this picture the rain resumed and I had to bring it inside. 

Friday, July 16, 2021

High Summer Dirty Threads




Even damp, I can tell these dirty threads are going to be riotous.

Got all those green to blues I was looking for and then some.








I speed-dried this pair last night. 

Thursday, July 15, 2021

High Summer Thread

 I was in the pool scrubbing algae yesterday and had to get out. Not because it was raining, but I was waving a metal pole around in some fairly emphatic thunder. It's been like that for days. Tropical.

I know I said I'd have a dyefest rain or shine but who wants to deal with that? Something about being outside in the rain always makes me feel rushed. Not how I want to feel facing this many skeins of thread waiting for color.

Today was the day. I mixed colors right after coffee. Check that, I did not mix colors. For the first time in memory, I used colors straight from the cans without blending. A dozen of them.

The mixing came as a matter of eye and hand. So something different this time. Maybe. If the dye gods were properly appeased. I won't know until late tomorrow after everything is washed, rinsed, and dry. 

The High Summer Threads will be in the store by the weekend.







Let's not forget the cleanup crew. 
Two pieces of pretty old cotton sheeting. Not vintage, but well broken in.

Always while looking for something else


This is just the center of it. 24 x 36, I think. Oak tag, we used to call it. India ink and a speedball pen and my beloved Rapidograph. FM radio and pot. On the back "Electric Circus" Aug. 20, 1967. D. Useted. I remember that night in the city and the days making this so clearly.


And this. I was interested in reading palms. I would ask people to let me trace their hand on paper, then I'd duplicate their lines on the drawing. Then trace the drawing onto Shrinky Dink plastic with a black Sharpie, cut out the hands with scissors, and bake them in the oven. I had quite a collection of shrunken hands but never learned to read the lines.
This kid who was hanging around had paws like a mastiff puppy. He grew into them.



Because you asked.












Saturday, July 10, 2021

I feel the need for....

 

..color and some fun in territory that I know well. 

Between the house stuff and the book marketing that I'm supposed to be learning about, I've been spending a lot of time feeling cornered, which is a bullshit waste of time.

Rain or shine, I'll be dyeing thread and some cloth tomorrow. The whole process may take longer than usual, but the Dirty Thread store will be restocked soon. 

Baby needs eight well-established crape myrtles come fall. I still haven't seen the house from the street, but I have seen the shocked look on Jake and Colin's faces. Two more groves like the one up by the mailbox will be perfect. A tree planted on each point of the compass in a circle about ten feet apart will give us the privacy back. Eventually. 

My thread stash is packed tight, and yet, something is missing. Greens to blues? Somewhere in that neighborhood. I need to weed this box the way I did the River Basket. I feel a giveaway coming on.

In a few, I'll be suiting up to be the waterbird when we pull the tarp off the pool. All the rain is on top of the tarp and will have to be siphoned off. Will the pool water be cold or warm? I'll find out soon.