Day Six: A Week at FabricDesigns.com

Well you knew it had to happen eventually since this is a slow time of the year for Fabric Designs...a day where it was actually kind of boring.

There are a few things I wanted to show you today but not a lot of stuff. First of all I forgot to include this detail shot of the silk velvet I dyed yesterday. The two colors are red and green - no surprise there - but there are portions where the dyes "wicked out" meaning they traveled in interesting ways leaving beautiful colors along the trail.

Green is a notorious wicking color and the places where the yellow and blue separated a bit and blended with the red made some purple streaks that cannot be seen from far back but up close...zowee! Love it! And the red separated in a few places to be more orangey since I used Scarlet Red which is gorgeous as well.

If I had wanted this piece to be ONLY a straight red and a pure green then I would have taken it out of the dye puddles in about an hour. Remember that I left it overnight on the plastic? That gave it all the time in the world to separate and roam around on the threads. I know my customer is going to love this so it isn't a problem as she is a free spirit and a color lover.




So today I did a few things that I usually do on Fridays such as clean up my messes and hang up the plastics used in the week that have dye still stuck on them that I haven't rinsed, dried, folded and put away for the next dyeing session.

Here I am multi-tasking. Not only am I rinsing off the dye but I'm watering the lawn at the same time. I DID pick up the dog poop before starting this project but didn't think you would want to see pictures of me doing that. I don't know though...maybe you DO want to see it all.

Okay this picture is a great one that even makes ME laugh. I'm doing the "cardboard recycling dance". Anyone watch Seinfeld?? You know the episode where Elaine dances? That's me when I have to squash up the boxes that contain my bolts of fabric. See the thumbs? That's SOoooo Elaine! Hahahhahaaa. Glad no one except you guys can see me doing this.

Steve is going to be happy with me because for once I squashed it tight enough to get it IN the toter and there is room for other stuff. Most of the time, he has to pull everything out again and do his OWN cardboard dance because I didn't break it down well enough for him... I have never seen him do this by the way.

Here I am working on my art piece. I said somewhere along the way that I thought I was going to need to make 30 rows of strips. Nope. Not going to happen. What was I thinking? Maybe 100. We'll see.

Making art for art's sake is really important to me because most of what I do involves teaching, dyeing for someone else's projects, or sending out supplies. I can lose myself easily and that's not meant in a good sense if you know what I mean. I am an artist. I often forget that fact in the business of making art fabric for a profit. When I find depression setting in or boredom or anxiety, it is usually because I have forgotten who and what I am about which is color and design and creative expression and releasing that tension through a chosen medium. Thank you Myrna and my "Mighty Men" for reminding me OFTEN to go make some art.

Here is how it looks now that there are about 15 rows packed in tightly together. When this entire piece of raw silk backing is covered I will have a shag rug piece that will be attached to a set of wooden stretcher bars.

In the back of my mind, I am gathering pieces that will comprise a show of silk and cotton pieces that will go in the county administration building here in Woodland. The focal point will be long silk hangings that will be suspended in the open center of the building from the third floor down to the first floor. There will be quite a bit of movement from the air flow so they will flutter a bit and rotate. Each piece will be 120" wide by about 480" (40 feet) in length. The open area can contain at least eight in the center portion alone.




I have wanted to do this show since the building was constructed but have had things block my flow...until now. Next week I am going to go over and set a date for the event with the arts commission and get permission to hang the work from the wooden beams. The hardest thing is going to be getting the "cherry picker" in there to hang the pieces. You know what that is, right? You see linemen working in the trees and on power lines riding in those bucket things not necessarily picking fruit... Our neighbor Joe has access to one so that shouldn't really be an issue. The issue is going to be getting it in the front doors and getting Steve to agree to go up in it to hang the things. This idea keeps bumping around in my head and needs to get out soon. So in the meantime, I sew, and think, and plan, and plot, and squash up cardboard boxes and shovel dog poo...

Here are the colors used. The small one from the QU class needs to be photographed and put on this blog so you can see where I am going with this. I'll do it Monday.

Saturdays and Sundays I don't work at Fab Designs. I do check my classes and answer email but I try not to dye for customers or do transactions until Monday. I used to work whenever it came to me and a lot of you know where that got me...sicker than a dog...for a long time. Rest is important. I'm learning. Breaks are important. Not working until I drop down dead is important. I want to be in for the long haul and not be such a sprinter in the race of life. Live and learn!

See you Monday for Day 7.