Phew!

OK I did it.

Moreover my work was well received and I managed not to stutter or drop things!

Yay me!

I have been asked to check back around Mothers Day as that will be the next time she will be changing things up in the store and looking for some fresh work.

She liked the stick and stone pieces the best. That is kind of exciting as they are such a new subject for me.

So now I'd better get busy and finish a couple more of them.

Tomorow I will post on the overdyes... interesting results.

This is a huge weight off of me

it also makes me feel more ready to try to push my boundaries in some other ways.

Sales Call

Tomorrow I will be visiting a local artisan gallery to show them some of my work. I have been trying to get to this point for 3 months. Missed calls, schedual conflicts, you name it, plus some minor breakdowns on my part...

You might say I'm not a natural salesperson, in fact I regard the breed with a bit of suspicion. I've experienced too many who are callous and mercenary.

I am uninterested in developing either of those qualities in myself.

I also tend to take rejection personally even when it clearly isn't.

Add to that a tendency to undervalue myself, and a lack of clarity regarding my objectives and you can see why this isn't my strongest suit.

So sticking this out and finally getting myself an appointment is a Big Deal to me.

I've been warned that they aren't presently buying but I want to get myself positioned/available for the next seasonal cycle if I can.

So my objectives are clear for the moment

1 show the items I have that I think fit in their array

2 find out when they do the next round of purchasing so I can send them an update of items they might like

3 smile and be engaging :)

Thats it,

I think I can manage, sort of the Kaizen approach to dealing with salesphobia...

And in other news I did the overdye tonight so we will see what happens with that too!

Nothin to Lose

Going back into the dye with this one...

It can't get uglier,

can it?

Missed a post

Well I missed posting yesterday. I was a bad combination of busy and lazy, so I don't have much to show for myself.
For the moment I thought I'd just post a link to Fiber.Art.Wales. an incredible group of artists weavers, felters and shiborists
Very inspiring!
Maybe I can get myself a bit more inspired too!

It snuck in there...

I didn't realize until this evening that this stone I started wrapping the other day is sort of an ombre too...

The Beauty of Numbers

OK I admit I grew up math phobic. Not exactly unusual amongst the arty set. For a long time I thought I was kind of limited in that regard. As I've gotten older I have developed a respect for math especially algebra, and I use it alot in recipes and planning designs. I'm over it, I know what I need to know and I have an inkling of the abstract beauty of numbers. I really think I just need to learn math in a different way than it is commonly taught in our public school system. I seem to require visual aids, I resist memorization (massively) but I have no problem with the abstraction and am rather intuitive in some regards.

I think it is one of the reasons I'm attracted to patterns especially naturally found ones.

I grew up with a dad who was a chemistry PHD, and fascinated by computers and electronics... he was not math phobic. He was also the person in my family who shared my love of animation with me... He is still with me but far away and unable to get out to animation festivals, Parkinson's disease is slowly taking it all away from him.

so I give you this link in honor of him.

http://www.etereaestudios.com/movies/nbyn_movies/nbyn_mov_youtube.htm

I found it over at Lines and Colors (highly recommended)

Experiments in Ombre Part Ugh

Have I mentioned before that the Dye Gods are capricious?
I was all confident that I pwned this Ombre thing... Ha!
Here you will see my folly

This piece was folded at 3 angles I was hoping for an isolated motif that diminished into white.
I got an UGLY symetrical blob


This was straightforward, vertically pleated fabric. The dye didn't wick into the fabric far or evenly and it haloed jarringly. I used leftover burgundy dye for these and that is probably part of the problem. Reds can be "stiff" with a resistance to penetrating the fabric at the best of times. Week old dye is not the "best of times". The true yuck of the haloing doesn't truly show in this picture, the red is ugly, like crime scene ugly, and it is surrounded by vivid blue and stained white... Burgundy is a complex mix of colors and the blue in it obviously has a greater affinity to the fabric than the other colors in it.

Here I thought I would try to get a diagonal line fading to white on either side. This is what is called a waste of fabric or a learning experience depending on your mood.

I'm not done yet though... however I think I will try to approach this again with a little more care, fresh dye, and a different color choice.
Tomorrow.