Where have I been?

That's me on the right, waiting at the dentist's office.

Last time it was me waiting for my husband at the dentist's office. This time it was me. Sounds of drilling. Hushed footsteps in the hallway reminding me of a library or possibly the morgue. Scheech! I have had 6 teeth removed in less than a week and am waiting for some replacement teeth to be made. Should be here in a few weeks. I hope the person making those partial plates is an artist. I hope they fit and are comfortable. I hope this is the only thing that needs repair this year. This is about all I can stand, I tell ya! Gum disease is no laughing matter.

However, laughter is the best medicine they say and I have been laughing every time I look in the mirror!

That's me on the right.

That's Mr Husband on the left.

We've both had some pretty miserable luck with our teeth lately. Maybe it was all those pies I baked. He likes to tell me that God smote me for use of bad language but it don't say nuthin bout no cussin in those 10 commandments!

Anyway....I have mostly been laying on the couch reading books like Art Cloth by Jane Dunnewold and Eco Colour by India Flint. I have been trying to learn as much as I possibly can about dyeing fabric and have plans to use some eco printed cloth in upcoming mag submissions.

 

 

I rusted this first and then bundled it up with some ferns and flowers and steamed it for a while. I love the marks from the steaming and you can see bits of faint prints from the ferns. The red hibiscus turned blue and you really can't make out the petals. I am so in love with this technique and have been reading India's website, Blog and joined her Group on Facebook for Found, Stitched, Dyed Junkies.

Mostly it involves preparing your fabric and then repeatedly trying everything and keeping good notes so you can go back and evaluate what works and what doesn't. It's not easy. I have also recently been dyeing using the fiber reactive dyes and have finally gotten to the point that I can almost  rely on what I may get using a prescribed method.

This month's new Quilting Art's Mag has several cool dyeing techniques I want to try including Ice Dyeing- similar to snow dyeing but using ice and it almost looks like the tray dyeing results. I find it all fascinating and I am excited about learning these new things, however I often wonder why I am never satisfied to just stop and get really good at one thing. I have to continue to learn and try new things and it's becoming somewhat obsessive with this eco dyeing. I want an exact recipe and it's just so variable and random based on water, flora, temperature, mordants, pots etc that I am really going to have to buckle down and spend some solid time writing and cataloging my results.

 

 

Oh, I just realized how wordy this post is becoming! I have a friend who tells me to be brief. You all have more blogs to get to and can't spend all day here, right? I am trying to keep a record of my dyeing adventures over at my Facebook account- Calamity Kim-

I'm going back to the couch.

It would really make me feel better to know your best dentist encounter so let me hear it.

xox,

calamity kim