dinner break…

a break right now between wrapping poles and discharging on my way to overdyeing and steaming. had to come in to check the inventory for colorways and make some decisions on what was going to get dyed what color in the overdye stage and what was going to be discharged (or not). this decision is based on me eyeing the ribbon and scarves on hand and making a list based on what i feel my “eye” is missing, what i think will sell at the show…blah blah blah. it’s a crap shoot basically but i do like to see a nice well rounded selection. basically, there is a person for every color i dye and part of the best part is seeing who chooses what color and helping them decide if they do in fact want help (many do!). often colors i personally love are the last to sell but that’s been true of the things i make and sell for a very long time. i try to think outside myself and also think about what moods and feelings the different colors and their combinations evoke as well as how they appear visually-which is of course how we take in this information in the first place. sorry, rambling a bit.
interestingly, there has been a conversation going on here that went in an interesting direction and reminded me that i DO in fact make to sell but with other intentions as well.

on another front (there are many), the following piece of silk (an 18 x 90″ scarf) will be going to one of the video subscribers as a gift. to qualify, subscribers who leave a comment on the video page will have their name thrown into a hat (once for each week they leave a comment) and at the end of the month i will pull one name out to receive this piece. it is just a sample of something that was done on the video- a shared quickie technique using the colorhue dyes. it’s not pleated but could be.
this piece feels pretty strong-stormy almost.

also, as promised- a few quick clips of last year’s Silk Study Tour. sorry, don’t have time to do a formal edit on the clips-just too much to do. but you get the idea. on this day we were with the Tama Silk Life 21 group at the Metropolitan Research Institute. we spend the full day there and everyone gets to try their hand at everything from reeling, spinning and making silk caps and mawata. both classes exampling what we learned here are sold out at the Houston show. i will be assisting in one of them.

some traveling money will be required so i restocked the shop with some indigo boro packs (selected indigo fabrics for a new stash of them last night) and as soon as i get some more ribbon scrap bags organized i will be putting them in the shop as well. be ready, they always disappear quickly! might also offer a scarf or two-as soon as i get the beads sewn on…
back to work, it’s gonna be a long night.