Making Madder Redder

some people will love this color!

Just 18 more days until StashFest!

Still trying to get a good rich red from natural dyes. Will madder work? The sample on linen at Botonical Colors was exactly what I want. Only, I want it on silk. With MY water.

So far, the madder gives me the one color I that makes my skin crawl. It's the orange of my dad's flight suit during that very scary time the U.S. faced off with Russia over missles in Cuba.

Some people, who don't have that memory, will love this color, but for me, please, please make it redder! I tried adding calcium carbonate, and the vat nearly bubbled over! It didn't even change the color much, though the slightly pinker shade is one I can live with more easily. 

Do you have any ideas to make madder redder?

Cochineal purple? Who Knew?

I was trying for that rich cranberry red--I got purple!

22 days until StashFest, and I'm spending every waking moment in the studio. Every available space has silk drying, Some are dyed in natural dyes such as madder, indigo, cochineal, weld, onion skin, and madrona bark. Some were stretched and painted with a brush, using commercial dyes that are then steamed.

 Surrounded with the rich beauty of color, design, and texture, I am in heaven! And OMG am I learning!

For example, I learned that, yes,  cream of tarter will make cochineal less purple and more red, but don't leave the cloth in the vat overnight. Cream of tarter crystals were stuck all over my silk and would not wash out! It's like they were glued on! They wouldn't brush off either. Finally, I soaked the silk in hot water in an attempt to dissolve the crystals. That worked....but..... the color turned back to purple or a brownish purple in some cases.

It seems my water has a lot of iron and perhaps other minerals in it, and that's what made the cochineal purple.

What do you do with a Fat Quarter?

these are dyed with onion skin and madrona bark

Such beautiful pieces of silk! They are for StashFest, where they will be sold to benefit the Quilt Museum in LeConner.

Some shimmer with the colors of water and sky. Some are dyed with onion skins, cochineal, madder, or indigo, then dyed again with another of these natural dyes after folding and blocking them itajime style. I'm using the luxurious charmeuse, the more wabi sabi silk noir, and the oh so luscious silk velvet. 

Working in fat quarters and half yards I can create special pieces of silk for your enjoyment. What will you do with them?

I am collecting ideas.  Do you have favorite projects using a piece of cloth 18" by 22", or a half yard?

Count down to StashFest-just 28 Days!

scarves and yardage dyed with indigo, cochineal, and madder

I am so excited!

Indigo, cochineal, and madder-- scrumptious colors!  Every piece is one of a kind.  Scarves, 1/2 yards, 2 1/2 yard pieces, fat quarters (18" by 22")....You can look elegant in a charmeuse scarf, sew a special pillow, or even sew a lovely jacket or make a luxurious lap blanket!

You can see them first at StashFest in LeConner, WA March 28th and 29th, where sales benefit the Quilt Museum.  If there are any left, they will be available on line or at venues to be announced.

Unique fabrics--including mine!--at StashFest

StashFest 2014

 I met Patricia Belyea of Okan Arts at a Surface Design Association meeting last fall. When I showed her my hand painted silk scarves she invited me to be a presenter at StashFest! in LaConner the last weekend of March.

The purple is cochineal.
 I must have a lot of minerals in my water to
get purple instead of red.

 My goal is to have $5000 worth of hand painted silk scarves and yardage, many dyed in natural dyes. I am learning as I go; tomorrow I plan to make my first indigo vat!

So what is StashFest? Well, if you sew, if you adore quilting, if you drool over unique and wonderful fabrics, you will want to come to StashFest. StashFest is:

"A two-day sale of remarkable and unique fabrics--for quilting, fashion, and home decor--with thousands of yards to choose from. Plus gorgeous wearable items. And a Sponsor Shop filled with enticing products from major manufacturers. And lots of door prizes--given away every hour!"

Patricia came to Vashon to see my show at the Vashon Tea Shop, and to visit my studio! She took some lovely photos and wrote about it here.

Celebrating the Light in the Darkness

Last night, Christmas Eve, I went to bed thinking, Christmas is a lie. Jesus was not born on December 25th. Santa is a myth created for children and to enrich people who make and sell useless things. 

It never bothered me before. I loved the pun: Birth of the sun/Son.It seemed totally appropriate to celebrate the birth of one who brought us Light right after the solstice, when the sun returns with her light. We need a celebration in the dark of winter, what ever the excuse. And Santa is a jolly old elf who lives in us all.

This year, the realization of wars--declared and undeclared--that my beloved country is waging with DRONES!! and the damage to civilians this brings, seemed to pull the rug out from under my joy. Plastic santas and snowmen just drove home my sense of falseness.

I did not get a Christmas tree. We just finished hanging evergreen boughs last night. My gift giving this year is uber simple; almost everyone gets a special Christmas tea blend I made up. The one expensive (for me) gift I had made special for my grand daughter was rejected. She did not like it!

Sometime in the night I woke with an awareness that all over the world people are celebrating Christmas. Wishing each other good cheer. Giving each other gifts. And I remembered that one Christmas--was it World War One or World War Two?

The Germans and the Allies faced each other across enemy lines, dug into trenches, guns aimed at each other. Then someone --I think it was the Germans--started singing Silent Night. The Allies joined in. All along the lines, carols were sung in German and in--English? French? Men crossed the battle lines to shake hands. A soccer game was organized. All along the front, enemies played together, sang together, celebrated together. Thousands of men had to be transferred from the front lines because they could no longer buy into the hate stories their leaders told them.

About 4 am I thought about what people were doing all around the world. Would the English have opened presents already and be eating dinner or high tea? My brother in China would be eating lunch on the 26th, I think. In New York, the children would be waking up, excited to open their presents.

If on one day people all over the world can remember One who brought us Hope, who asked us to love our enemies for God's sake! Whose Love still resides in our bones and hearts over 2000 years later, if people all over the world remember this wonderful teacher on this one day---Wow! That is Powerful!!!

May this Christmas bring you the remembrance that Love is the most powerful force in the universe and Love never dies. May this knowing bring you joy this day and all days. 

Love,

suzanna

Why Make Art?

Putting resist on Baochu and the Golden Phoenix

Twice a year, this question comes up for me. Why make art? Why do I make art? Why would anyone

buy art? Why would anyone buy MY art? What do I want my art to accomplish? I write pages in my journal while sailing in the summer with my Love, and again around Christmas time when I review the year.

The dream of supporting myself through my art sales kind of went by the wayside. It is so much easier to dig ditches, clean houses, or teach squirming young children, than to make a living selling my art! Still, the dream won't quite die.

Baochu and the Golden Phoenix

So, Last night I researched selling art. Two different masters at selling art, both passionate about helping artists to succeed, gave me two very different approaches to selling art, based on their different views about the purpose of art. And you know what? Both views--opposite though they are--kind of resonate with me.

Clint Watson, whose articles on selling art appear in his blog Art Marketing and Life, says the purpose of art is to amplify ideas. He advises starting and feeding conversations about art, and using your art to illustrate the conversation. Become the leader of your conversation, he advises. Build a community, a tribe, a clan of people around you who participate in the conversation. Begin with your existing fans and make them feel included in an exclusive group. Read his article, Art Marketing for Artists Who Want to Change the World,  in Fine Art News, for more on this.

Tulips

Jack White writes books on selling art. I bought his book The Mystery of Making It, and began to glean some ideas from him. He says the purpose of art is decorative. If people buy your art because it goes
with their couch, don't knock it. Paint what sells. Of course, that assumes you have sold enough work to tell what people like.