Tea and spice dyeing starts this weekend!

If you would like to learn how to stain cotton and silk fabrics using tea, coffee, spices such as turmeric, mustard powder, onion skins, cranberry juice, blueberry juice, and on and on then join us at http://www.quiltuniversity.com/ for my three lesson course. Class starts Friday!

Student work above covers the gamut from Easter Eggs to a tea stained table runner to silk ribbons.

While I do not endorse it but we do discuss it in class, students use Koolaid and Crystal Light for some eye popping, nauseating colors if you're into that!

See you there?

Summer Newsletter sent out today!

If you are not on my e-newsletter mailing list and would like to receive The Dye Studio news, please email me and I will send you the latest copy that went out today. My email is marjie@fabricdesigns.com.

I write something about fiber art four times a year- winter, spring, summer and fall.

In this season's e-news I talk about silk- the history of it and why it is so amazing and the end of the world for some of us who dye, sew, wear it, and love it.

E-news is about things I don't post on the blog or talk about in my QU classes. It's only meant for your amusement and brain expanding. If you want it, come and get it.

Dye on, and dye hard.

The most beautiful tie dyed silk

I heard back from the committee that selected 6 artists to participate in an artist in residency program and I was not one of those selected. I must say that I'm not too surprised.

For some bizarre reason I keep all my letters of rejection. I have several from institutes of higher education. I have many from juried art shows. One from a national textile arts group.

In this business of making art the rejections FAR outweigh the acceptances. That's just how it is. I am either too far out or not far out enough. I am either overly qualified or not qualified enough. I am either not understood or not at the right place at the right time.

What I am getting better at doing is remembering the countless superb evaluations that come after each and every class I teach at Quilt University. I am also remembering that every sale and satisfied customer and student represents success.

Today, while I am disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to pursue my project with the New Vision for California people, I AM excited that even in the midst of a recession and my husband's own unemployment drama, I am still alive and well and able to continue working at a job I love.

That said, want to see something beautiful? Here is a portion of a five yard run I made for a fashion designer in Australia. It is crepe backed silk satin charmeuse. Sigh. I love dyeing silk. If I keep running after what I love, the rest will come. So what is "the rest"? I suppose it is simply satisfaction in a job well done. Good bottom liner, don't you think?

Toe, dye pots, fiber art, fabs

I decided not to show you the before and after pictures of my toe. It's been the topic of conversation and focus for me and the fam for a week now. Here it is post surgery. I still haven't taken the purple polish off yet.

I started a fiber art project for the California Fiber Artists' next gig which will be a show in Visalia October 7-31. The theme is "Layers". Here are my dye pots each containing a color and 1 yard of silk organza.

Couldn't fit them all in the shot so here are the others. How many runs can you dye at one time and not get mixed up? My maximum is 17 only because that's as many tubs as I have.

Each layer is 36" wide. When a breeze blows or you walk by, it ripples a bit. Guess what it's called?

Last thing to show you- 17 yards of silk. Habotai, gauze and crepe backed silk satin off to Japan. Next order is 20 yards of crepe backed silk satin to Australia.

Still need to do my final testing on the black silk dye. I am very optimistic that I have finally nailed the formula. If all goes well I will be ready to ask my loyal students who have been dyeing silk for awhile to test my formula and then begin marketing it. Fingers crossed...and toes.

Toe surgery and other awful things-

Well I've been out of the loop for quite awhile.

I had an ugly ingrown toenail that went from bad to worse so I had it "fixed" yesterday.

Before that I had some wild and wacky orders came in to make me hit the dye studio hard. It's all good.

I have pictures of The Toe. My daughter says it looks like a "cartoon toe". True. No one has a toe in real life that looks like this. Don't look at it if you are eating lunch. Or dinner.

I have some pictures of hand dyed silk organza to show you later. When I can stand up and not scream.