Beginning

I bought this piece of watercolour paper at the art shop this week. It was a promotion: a discount sheet of paper with $30 spent on other items. Strangely it wasn't hard to spend $30: what with supplies for class and a few other craft items which I had to have. The paper has been sitting on my table in a loose roll for several days... enticing... intriguing ... inviting... I've chosen it as my blog pic this morning because there's so much to say about my first day at the Textile Art course that I don't really know what to say. The buzz of excitement hasn't faded overnight, even though I know I'm tired. There are beginnings of ideas, relationships, opportunities... And the thought that this is a three year course, just reinforces the thrill of newness.

Not Pink

My red merino and white tencel fibre sat patiently on the table until yesterday afternoon. It was hard to ignore its brightness, but I had a few other tasks demanding my attention, so it just had to wait. Late yesterday afternoon I got to carding it. I wondered how the red and white would combine--it was 70% red merino and 30% white tencel by weight. Initially that looked like a fair bit of white to mix with the red, but here's how it looked carded: Definitely still red and white, not pink. I'm glad to say I kept up the momentum and got through the spinning and plying before bedtime. The skein is washed and hanging on my rack to dry. Now to get my folio in order and handed in. My spinning wheel is conspicuously vacant! It's so tempting to launch in on something new, but I'm going to discipline myself to do a bit each day on sorting and presenting the work I've done. Then I can really heave that sigh of relief.

Anyone for Tea?

Here's an unusual textile challenge--and rather more personal than what I usually post about. The background is that I'm well over my healthy weight range, and that hasn't changed for several years. One of the associated hassles is that my choice of suitable bras is pretty limited. I have a style which I've been wearing, and while I wouldn't call it a favourite, it works for me. Since my shape has hardly changed in the last year, I figured I could at least eliminate one of life's chores and buy more of the same. Now for the textile challenge . . . I can get the size and style I want, but only in white or purple. Neither colour looks good peeping out from the edge of a summer top, especially not when a lot of what I wear is basic black. Now what?

Well this is where the tea comes in:
I made up the strongest pot of tea you could imagine. Then I soaked my white bras in it. Now they are not white--they're a basic beige colour. That's a definite improvement. I've also bought a black textile ink to try on the purple ones. That's my next challenge.

Potential

There's something particularly exciting about white: Here I have two widths of silk ribbon and a stranded silk yarn suitable for embroidery. Two of them I picked up at Beautiful Silks the other day, the third was already waiting for my attention. They're here for colour and testing. I get to do the dyeing and then my friend, D does the testing. She loves silk ribbon embroidery and I love colour. It's a good combination. So, here's the plan . . .

• I need to find a way of securing each of these little packages of fibre so that they don't go berserk in the dyepot
• They need a good soak to help the colour to penetrate properly
• I need to find the right pot to dye them in, I think I can use the smaller of my two dyepots with as little water as possible
• Meanwhile I'm desperately running around the colour wheel in my head--like the proverbial hamster--what colours shall I add?
• I'm going to put the three different fibres in the same dyepot, then they'll easily work in together for whatever project D comes up with.
• Rinsing and drying and then deciding whether to pop them in the mail, or have the pleasure of handing them over in person.

Right, I have a plan! As usual there's a small snag--yep, the kitchen sink. It's currently full of dirty dishes. Clear those and I'm on my way.