Textile Temptations

Last week I dyed more Textile Temptation Packs in preparation for my upcoming teaching trip. This week I ironed, cut and packaged them. My studio was filled with packages them this morning.

This is what they look like up close.

The packages contain a fat quarter of each of silk-rayon velvet, cotton, silk dupioni, silk organza, and a half meter of cheesecloth. Everything in a package has been subjected to the same dyebath, but each fibre takes the dye a little differently. I've been dyeing these for a few years now and they've been popular. Haven't shown them on my website yet, nor have I made it easy to order fabric from my website. It's great to have the fabric to take on the road with me when I'm teaching, but it would be impossible for me to constantly be filling mail orders when I'm on the road, not to mention that I can't and don't want to spend every day with my head in the dyepots. Most of the packages have food-related names ... can you tell where my heart is?
Here we have the greens, from left to right: 1) Pistachio, 2) Pesto, and 3) Mustard Pickle

Here from left to right are 1) Pomegranate, 2) Raspberry Cordial, and 3) Grape Jam

1) Butter Creme, 2) Creme Caramel, 3) Spiced Pumpkin

1) Des Bleuets, 2) Marine (couldn't think of a food this colour!)

and finally 1) Cafe Mocha, and 2) Chocolatini

One of the things I'm realizing today though is the reason I'm so busy is because I'm often dyeing fabric for a particular class, in addition to preparing to teach that class. I do this, for example, for the In Full Bloom class, to ensure there are a good variety of values for each flower. I need to think about this as I'm not getting in the studio to work on my own work much, but on the other hand I'm making a living from what I love to do. I wouldn't worry so much if I didn't have a joint show with Cathy Breedyk-Law coming up in September. I really need some new work because I'm sure folks don't want to see the same stuff as at my last two shows. Oh well, April should have a little time in it for the studio! Busy is good!