Well this is that thing. I used some rusted silk from school, its a vintage piece I think with kind of a crepey texture and some light pink flocked cotton lawn not unlike the old fashioned dotted swiss and some linen bits and some poly textured bits for pop. The wool is merino dyed last summer in an exhast bath of horsetails and yarrow......a very pale colour with a real vintage aged look......kind of reminiscent of the mineral vat dyes I love so much When the scarf was done I had enough left to make a piece of felt that I should be able to construct a hat out of. I am really loving this piece although I definitely need Kats to take the photos and my little digital does not do it justice......but until then here are my shots....one of the scarf, one close up and one of the fabric still damp and hanging over the shower rail.

and the felting machine comes out of storage

and we are off and running.......serious production now...lol.....the felting machine is out of storage and plugged in!!! Susan came over for a felting lesson, this is her laying out her first piece and this is a close up.

While she was doing that I put one scarf in the machine and spent some time compiling supplies for the next:

Inspiration

I have a new foster kid who constantly tells me I have no inspiration......well, I beg to differ.......I have these lovely two bay windows which I use as a sort of and adapted mood board. I have put all my bird decorations in one which is sort of prolonging the bird theme but it is obviously something I have to work through....lol. So lately my windows are my inspiration (take that pfffft)....kidding.

So today I was kid and dog sitting which was quite enjoyable but slightly curtailed the production attempts....I did however finish this hat....

And this flower that needs a hat to go with....

finished money bags

things I discovered:
1) I like the not matching zips
2) I like the loopy thing smaller
3) these little things grow on you
4) I might try and source some kind of keychain doohickey to put on some
5) this kind of shape is fun to work with.....Im seeing some bird purses in my future....I know, I'm not sure what this bird focus is but just go with it ....I am.

I'm going to sell them for $20....which is kind of a lost leader....if I use Mary Lou's formula for figuring pricing they would be $45 but I think I can streamline the process for production in the next run and save myself mega time........we will see how that flies in the next run.

attempting organization

Today is all about bags.....starting with small little 'money' bags made and lined with deconstructed screen printing cotton. I made some little poly\disperse labels and singed the edges to seal......Im quite impressed if I do say so myself....I got a bag of zips from dressew on the weekend.....so in a few hours we will see how it comes together.

Covered Buttons

Madder dyed cotton with embroidery floss......cogitating on a project with buillions.....memories of Nanny Huntstone.

So while I am having a pajama day and sipping tea and taking nyquil I am working on a few projects....my cherry blossom entry which has spring boarded me off into making some millinery type pieces as I look forward to the millinery intensive in April.

Making some room in the studio

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/art/2794314271.html

A great little sewing machine with lots of extras.

Disperse papers waiting to dry.......I have this great plan.....we will see if it comes to fruition tomorrow.....I love the idea of working an image in several types of dye to compare.....well truthfully I just love dyeing all together.

For the Birds....

Some more experimentation on the bird theme......this is done on Ikea roll paper using my newly made disperse crayons.....on gold synthetic satin....I got 5 repeats before the image became too pale to continue.....but the image can easily be re-coloured to use again......I am very excited by the possibilities.

And The New Year Starts

Resolutions? Yep, to start and keep up production.....I have my eye on several shows this spring so its time to expand on the skills learned in the last 2 years......soooo....starting with some deconstructed screen printing for the VFAG Cherry Blossom show....and some disperse crayons.....still thinking leather printing ...To make the crayons you melt some parafin and combine with disperse powder 3:1...suddenly Im back in grade eight making cnadles with Cathy Blackman when we lit her kitchen on fire....ah the warm memories......hopefully I have matured.