Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Pleater - neat & neater

Sorry, just felt the need to rhyme. Anyhow, it's amazing how much better the pleater works at 5 PM than 10 PM. Got the first scrap test done, and it is awesome. Heather might never get it back! (Thanks so much for the loan!) I do have it until the end of January - maybe I'll have money and she'll want to sell it then?

Enough for now - gotta go pleat something!

Monday, December 12, 2005

Progress, I hope

Well, it’s now been two weeks since posting here. At least I have some dyed goods to show off. I also made some bead necklaces that my sister bought, but no pics of those.

The textiles include dyed broadcloth, cheesecloth (first picture) and muslin, painted sheers plus some green cheesecloth that is in the midst of an appliqué block under construction. The orange and blue (third picture) is for the commission – I hope they like it! The other items are for sale – I planned to deliver them to the appliqué classes at Ladyfingers on the 9th & 10th, but the weather and other problems interfered. I was also going to get alum in bulk to try marbling, since I found I have good fabric paints, but that shop (Echo Hill Country Store) was completely parked up on Saturday. The first experiments will end up with grocery store stuff.

Picked up more sheers to paint today – JoAnn has them half off this week! Just standard white and ivory fabric, not sparkly stuff like the blue. The detail (second picture) shows a couple starfish – they were printed with a Goyutaku rubber mold from Dick Blick – neat stuff, and not stinky like the not-so-recently dead creatures would be. When I got it, it had been handles so much that it was grey - they're very tactile objects. Some dish soap and spray cleaner took care of the hand prints, and gave it surface tension again.

The green cheesecloth and detail is in the appliqué block – the reverse shows the all-over stitching I used to tack it down. If you try this at home, use a rubber eraser to manipulate the cheesecloth, and also do prepared edge appliqué on top, *not* needle-turn. I also made up a sample using machine stitching to hold down the cheesecloth, which will probably get used for foliage. Both work.

On the job front, had two offers I turned down - they both wanted someone for less money than I'd like (until I'm desperate) as well as starting tomorrow, which is tough when it's two weeks before Christmas. Plus I have an interview for a 'real' job Wednesday afternoon, and I DON'T want to mess that up!

Here's the cheesecloth in the appliqué under construction. The left picture shows the back side, and the right picture shows the front in detail.

Well, that’s it for tonight, but better than nothing! Let me know what you think – thanks!