I dyed a batch of mohair fabric this week. It's been a few years since I took out the large dye pot to make my own colours. I've forgotten what strenuous, messy work it is.
First, the fabric is washed and excess water squeezed out.
Then comes stirring in a boiling dye pot on the stove. I was happy to rediscover my special Dodo dye spoon in the box with the dyes :-)
When the colour intensity looks right, the fabric is ready to be drained and rinsed.
Several rinses in cold water to remove all the excess dye, and neutralize the acidity of the dye bath. After this the fabric is lovely and soft, and ready to hang out to dry.
Drying on a line under the trees, away from direct sunlight. The beautiful bougainvillea flowers pick up the colour!
These pieces of fabric will be packed into kits to make a teddy bear called Erika. Everything to make the bear and her little kitten and bunny slippers is included.
I'm still musing about the direction I want to take with the dollhouse. Now that am over my mental block about colour, a whole world of possibilities has opened up. Here are three people who have influenced my thoughts this week:
Claude Monet's home in Giverny. A person who could make colours have a party in every room. Never too bold, nothing clashes. I could live in a house like that.
The Canadian artist Marina Bychkova, whose dolls are commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars. The incredible workmanship and attention to detail in the video makes it clear why her work is so highly valued.
And finally... a blast from the past. Faded photos of my first experiments with fabric dyeing in 1994.
I love the shape of these teddy bear safety noses, like a little flower. Noses like roses? I just uploaded them to the web shop HERE.
To the new readers of my blog, welcome! Many of you are probably dollhouse makers, because that's what I've been writing about a lot lately. So, if you didn't know, for years I've been a toy designer and I have a teddy bear and doll making supplies shop. I took an extended break while I dealt with life issues, but I'm easing back into business, and I'm zealous in my efforts!
This week I added new fabrics to the website. I always start out thinking I'm just quickly going to... do this or that. The end result is a studio that looks like a tornado. Before every piece of fabric finds its place in the web shop, it needs to be cut, brushed, photographed, measured, and held between my fingers while I try to write an enticing and accurate description. Once the touchy feely work is done, it's writing the strings of code that make the picture appear in the right place, and the links take you places when you click on them.
Compared to my studio, the website looks so neat and tidy. Maybe that's one of the reasons I love to shop on my own website! I often think of the internet as a rabbit warren. Alice in Cyberland style. One tunnel will take you to another, and before you know it, you've been in there wandering around for hours. Not that it's not fun. If you feel like a little adventure this weekend, jump down the rabbit hole starting at the Creative Me website.
