Just A Rambling Update

 The mornings are misty, chilly and still.

 I am still holding off on opening my silk/onion skin cold bundle.

My dye workshop starts this afternoon.  I am looking forward to meeting my students and twisting up some fabric with them!

I think I can wait one more week for the unveiling.

I wanted to show you my black dye comparison from a couple weeks ago.  I will be using these fat quarters for demonstrating discharging with bleach during tomorrow's class.

Sewing for Sanity

My studio week was pretty much chewed up by preparations for the surface design workshop I'll be giving at ArtFest beginning Wednesday.  By Saturday morning, every surface was staging area, despite my best efforts to stay organized.

My students will be working with Dharma Trading Company's 100% cotton print cloth, which is good beginning quality fabric at a very reasonable price.  In addition they have a yard of black Kona cotton for discharging experiments.  I put everybody's yardage in brown paper grocery bags and numbered them to avoid confusion over whose is whose.

It's amazing how much stuff I will be schlepping up to the High School!

With even my work table hogged out by boxes of supplies, I decided to squeeze in a sewing day.  I had this great remnant of batik from yardage I purchase in Singapore several years ago.

I wanted to use the border element at the hem, and create an un-gathered look based on my previous top from last week.

I also wanted to change the neck line to a v in front and add to the shoulder width. I used my Sharpie marker and the old Simplicity pattern to make the changes on pattern tissue.

I dropped the neckline lower by an inch in the back...

..and I HAVE to have pockets in the side seams.

Here is a detail of the back, where I added 2 little tucks to account for extra fullness in the skirt which happened because I wasn't paying attention when drafting my pattern.

 Tah Dah - the front!...

...and the back.

Off to the mother-in-law's for Easter dinner.  Happy Easter to all!

Listing

My list of things I must do today is long in preparation for teaching at the Southeast Alaska Fine Art Fest next weekend.  Are you a list-maker?  For me, if I don't write it down, it doesn't stand a chance of getting done!  Here is a recent sketchbook entry, which sort of speaks to my feeling of being pressured:

Pigma pen in my 9x12 sketchbook.

Scene, Recently #8

Daily Drawing

sketchbook page: pigma pen and prismacolor plus inktense pencils, 9x12

(drawn a few weeks back when I was taking showers in town due to lack of water at home)

 sketchbook page: pigma pen and prismacolor pencils, 9x12

sketchbook page: pigma pen and prismacolor pencils, 9x12

I spent the weekend working at the Lutheran Church Annual Basement Sale.  Around that I also completed my new 'dresslet', and dyed a group of samples for the workshop which I'll be teaching at the upcoming high school art fest.

This photo doesn't do justice to my dresslet - I got requests from my friends for me to make them one in every color when I wore it Friday night.

I took a cue from Connie Rose and was more intentional in my dye process - I did two identical dye runs with two different procion blacks, adding blue, red and golden yellow, respectively, first at 3 black to 1 color, then 1:1.  I will post pictures of the results tomorrow (forgot to take shot of them today).  Too tired to go on, so will say good night and escape into my sketchbook before bed. 

Scene, Recently #7

A bit of a setback...

Imagine our surprise: woke up to a snowy morning.  Of course, the walk must go on...

 The ice is all gone from the creek.  By afternoon, spring was convincingly here again.

  When Flossy and I got home, the onion skins I have been saving were whispering.  I followed India Flint's directions for cold-bundling a silk scarf, using vinegar for mordant. 

The tightly-wrapped bundle, ready to bag up.

Now the wait begins... India recommends at least one week, but I hope to leave it sitting longer, if I can stand the suspense! 

At the studio this week, clothing construction was my obsession, as I prepare for my trip to the SAQA Visioning conference and my folks in Denver in May.  Thinking of Zom, I modified this old pattern into what I hope will turn out to be a versatile 'dresslet'.

Dump Beach

I went with a friend out to the old town dump site on the beach along Frederick Sound. 

The day was bitter

 raw and windy.

Our fingers froze.

I saw root bones, bleached by the tide.

 Drift of all kinds has been cast up on this wild place so close to our little town.

Rags cast off years and years ago perhaps, linger here.

 Rust bones are scattered about, half-submerged in the stones.

The beach is rocky.  Countless bits of beach glass can be found - perfect for the mosaic project I will be working on with our Fifth Grade classes next month.

Braving the cold was worth it - here is my treasure trove.

Scene, Recently #6