a few tidbits ...

This was my first 10 minute mock-up of a garment that I made three weeks ago. Note I only do accessories so if this was real life, those flowers would be fantastic but the model would be naked.
So I made another attempt. Well, something else begged a place on my workspace (as if I ain't wasn't doing so much already). This is my new marquette.
This doll came from the exhibition at the Dowse last week. I created her outfit with all the pieces that came in a pack for around $3. My theme is urban pacifica meets domestica. Something like that. With a lace 'ei, flowers in her hair, a piupiu attachment to her little black dress, with a touch of vintage in her apron. She's beautiful, artistic, professional and cultural. Just developing my concept for a later purpose. She is, however in real life, plus sizes too!
See, accessories, she had to have a bag (a big one) made of white on white, for all her books and important art accessories. I wanted to show you my few humble purchases the other day at the Craft 2.0 Fair in Lower Hutt. First, my fingerknitted chain necklace $15, it is too cool. Definitely my favourite piece. A crochet necklace, so divine and textured and yet, simple and handmade. All my favourite elements in there although the white is too bright, I will chuck it in my next dye pot to knock back those bright colours.
A glitter tiki badge - $5, a text badge with the word "wretchedest" highlighted (I wonder why I bought that particular one!) - $2.50, the wee screenprinted character cushion which I will convert into a holder for my cell phone $6.
Below is my little bird badge for $10, an original illustration by a nice lady I forgot the name of (if you know, could you please leave a comment).
Here is a basket made from a frond that I came across. I want to make baskets, not Maori weaving but giant woven baskets. Can anyone help me?
Here is the bottom of the basket.
My friend Josephina left to travel back to Columbia. Brave girl, she travelled here to study carving in the Maori department and was one of only two female students. She left me one of her prints from her woodblock carvings. I will post it later.
Lunch with my son today, he went on a walkathon, although he called it a "power walk". We have no idea where that came from. He was worried about the power part, he does come up with the randomest things, just like his mother.

And a wee sneak peek at my completed dye sample and research book that I finally completed. It took me three days, and then I decided to have one final go at dyeing with eucalyptus cinerea as all my other attempts failed or had poor colour.
One of several silk or felted merino wool bundles to go into my one pot today.
That bright orange is what has eluded me up til now. I was stoked. I think I had taken it off the element too soon because the initial 10-20 minutes, the water is a insipid pale green/diluted yellow, like pee. But look, after 30 minutes this spectacular orange. Anyone know where I can get a cauldron? I had to do half a piece and then tip it up to dye the other half as my pot was too small, and I came up with the idea to put something heavy in to lift the water level to immerse more cloth.
Here it is where I am starting to take off the string. Can you see the shibori marks left by the string which acts as a resist.
Marbles, rubber bands and silk velvet, plus cinerea leaves.
Tip the silk over and this effect was on the back.
Some of my beads I picked up on my trip to Rotorua a few weeks back, a big bag for $2.
If you are trying this, I definitely suggest rubber bands. Having handtied lots of these before, this is definitely a more effective way to tie the fabric and create an instant resist.
So you can see the scale, here is my forearm.
Something lurked on the fence. I love textures.
I redyed my onion nuno-felt merino wool/silk tissue piece again and look at my results.
Here is the first piece that turned orange in the pot a few photos back. This is a deep red/orange colour all from eucalyptus. Because it is wool and silk, and I used a stainless steel pot, there is no need to mordant the fabric. This colour is here to stay. An old remnant of my woollen blankets, vintage, cut up for sample pieces.
I didn't get to the beach. instead I stayed home and played with my dye pots and camera. After spending three days compiling all my dye samples, research and downloading some articles from my blog, then cutting and pasting, and adding my workshop notes, plus sewing a cover on this workbook, I needed to do something else. So seeing as how I had spent three days immersed in self-reflective bookwork, what better than to test my ability one more time. I think I could almost be a dab hand at this.
My secret self, secretly formulating interesting concoctions in my kitchen.

Each time I lifted a leaf off, I got this bright orange/pink colour. Remember, this is all natural but still very technical.

This was a cool discovery. These gum tree leaves left a resist/print, like a negative.
Off to bed now, I am wasted. Hit the books again tomorrow.