Today

It was gorgeous out today, the humidity finally fell off and there was a very nice breeze. Right now I'm exhausted, which I guess I should be since it's after 11 pm. My eyes have been bothering me for two days now, i'm going to see the doc tomorrow. I keep seeing a shiny whirlygig in my left eye, it's bad enough I can't drive. I'll post an update, dh thinks it's floaters, I don't.

Green rusted silk

This piece of silk crepe de chine was rusted first and then dyed with acid dyes to achieve a wonderful sage to avocado coloring. I'm using it in my extreme embroidery samples.

Green Ribbons

Here's a half pound of wool boucle as well as a half pound of 7 mm silk ribbon. The top picture is a bias woven sheer silk ribbon, which I really wish I could get more of as I absolutely love this stuff for embroidery - but alas it was an italian knitting yarn, not a true ribbon, for knitting sweaters, scarves and the like.

Rust Dye Ribbons

Here's a before and after rinsing shot of the silk ribbons and silk fabrics. Then a post dyeing shot, I'm using an acid dye, that for once doesn't make me sick, to get the green and no I know don't the formula as this was in the pot post dyepainting some rovings and I just had to use the color for something! I'm finding it difficult to photograph the ribbons while they are in the dye pot so bear with me, I have a skein that is in the exhausted vat that should come out lighter.

I'm using these pieces in an extreme embroidery class I'm teaching this fall which I'm making into a zine with DVD. I am looking at duplicators, my computer will NOT burn a DVD to save it's life for some odd reason (and it's on it's second DVD burner but just doesn't like them for some odd reason). I'm hoping to get all of my previous DVD's burned and shipped out to former students and soon. Until now I've been using the neighbors laptop to burn DVD's.

The oragish fabric is commerical cotton that was rust dyed and then painted with seta color paints. The back side of the fabric is the most interesting part of the fabric

Silk Ribbons

I dyed some 7 mm silk satin ribbon with rust this weekend and then overdyed with acid dyes creating a sage color. Will post pics in a bit.

Silky

I got a fairly good shot of her yesterday, and half of Angel. I don't think Silky is going to be with us much longer, she has cancer and is having difficulties getting around these days. She'll be 10 soon and from what I've been told this is "old" for a large dog, especially one that has had cancer before.

The New Guy

We decided to change the new guy's name from Charlie, since he wasn't anwsering to it, to Thomas! He likes that name and actually comes to it, so Thomas it is. Here he's playing with Peppers tail on my old drafting table. Pepper is in front, Thomas to the back, they look a lot alike in the face, but that's where it ends, Pepper is more Orange than Thomas is, though I suspect he'll get darker as he gets older, just as Pepper has, Thomas also has the typical Maine Coon hair, very hairy and very large paws, and lots of hair on the tail and backs of his legs. Oh and I might add his tummy is deliciously fuzzy, which he absolutely loves being rubbed, he's like a big ole teddy bear.

They both like playing in my studio, so now I have even more company when I'm working there. Yes it's always this messt in my studio! I need to clean it, deep clean that is, seems time always getting away from me, lots of other things demanding my attention these days. Plus the commerical studio still needs a lot of work as does the new classroom space.

Little Studio Horrors

I had the bejeebers scared out of me today when fumes and smoke started billowing up out of the basement today - which is inhabited by other businesses - all is fine and the damage is mostly in the business next to mine. It turns out it was concrete dust and a piece of equipment that was overheating (oh and there was NO one around to oversea the equipment the workers just left it unattended).

I'm not sure what all was going on in the basement as the smoke/fumes was too much to be down there but the fire department was on top of it all. I'm still contemplating, however, calling my insurance agent in the morning though I've never had an experience like this before, and just as I was finally beginning to feel comfortable in my new space! Not so much now. Looking back I should have gotten my digital camera out and took pictures but hey the Fire Department was there so there ARE witnesses to the fact that there was smoke/dust and fumes everywhere.

John and I went back later this evening to get my shoes, I forgot my shoes in the rush to leave the building (ok I take two pairs with me so I can change out during the day and these were my fav's) and the stench of chemicals was overwhelming so I'm glad we left early.

More tomorrow.

The New Guy

Like I said if I can ever get him to sit still, but here's a picture...

The New Guy

Like I said if I can ever get him to sit still, but here's a picture...

It's late and an announcement

And I really want to go to sleep but can't as I'm waiting on the washing machine. DH put a load of his work clothes in last night, maybe the night before I'm nto sure but they were putrid smelling so I rewashed them. I'll be glad when the washer is done so I can throw them into the dryer.

If he ever sits still!!!! Tada. I will take a picture of the latest member of our family. His name is Charlie, he's 10 months old, orange with a lot of spots and stripes, and is a Maine Coon, we got him from the animal rescue league tonight and he's absolutely beautiful and a true alpha male. I think he will work out just fine, the dogs are already pleased with him and in true beta form Pepper sat in the corner and pouted. After speaking with several animal trainers about our situation, after Barley's unexpected passing last February, it has been decided that he was an alpha male and the rest of our furkids were beta's and were very lost without him. Angel especially has been lost, she seems to have figured out what was going on the quickest and gave me a dirty "you didn't do what I think you did" look tonight. Yep I did it, I went and found them a leader! He's also super affectionate which I really love.

Rusted Silk Carrier Rods

I know I know I promised pictures and trust me I wish I had taken some because the bulk of the rods now lie in ruin on my drying screen! I put them in the washer, with a bit of soap, to neutralize them and clean the tree guck off of them and forgot to turn the washer off after it filled. Well lets just say that the agitation cycle is NOT a good for the rods. So I'm thinking that while I can make some constructed cloth with the remaining rods, and there are some that are wonderful, the rest I will make paper *think silk fusion* with this week.

So here's a picture of some silk paper, or silk fusion, seeds that I made circa 1995. And a few silk fusion bowls I also made. I should really find the box these are in and bring them up to the studio for the Silk Fusion class I'm teaching this fall. In the meantime I will try taking a picture of the rods, damage and all, with my cell phone camera - need to find the digicam again - but can't promise a quality image.

New rusted rods

I rust dyed about a pound, or more, of silk carrier rods, they are currently sitting out on my skirting frame oxidizing. After the last piece of constructed cloth I've decided to overdye some rusted rods to achieve an even greater depth of color and texture. I so love rust dyeing it's easy and convient, and by convient I mean I can leave it for awhile unattended, I don't have to brood over it like an immersion dye vat.

I'm still recovering from surgery this past Friday, and now have a cold. I think I may have broken my fever, still feeling dizzy though. It's the constant coughing I can live without, no it's not a bloodclot. I thought of that but I had a bit of a sinus drip before I went into surgery but everyone was "it's ok" well... it's not so ok now. I'm treating it, I found a tried and true anti viral product that really is helping with the symptoms, save the fever, and I'm feeling much better today. Sleep and rest will help with the fever, so I'm sitting here anwsering emails as I can only sleep so much and I get really stiff from lying down.

Rusted Carrier Rods

Here I'm making constructed cloth with the silk carrier rods. I've plans to rutst more rods this evening and do some further experimentation with them. I have more rusted rods that I'm making a evening bag out of, will post pictures later.

Working on this small project has helped me to resolve a quilt I've had on hold for a very long time. I will be overdyeing some rusted rods with cutch and adding them as embellishment to the quilt surface. The top photo is a detail shot of the constructed cloth.