Willow, Indigo, Discharge And Free Shipping

The turkey carcass isn't cold before thoughts start turning to the holiday after Thanksgiving. If you'll be doing some shopping over the next few days, I want to let you know about what's happening in my Etsy shop.

You can use coupon code 2REDTHREADS to get free shipping on willow, indigo, and discharge dyed scarves. If you're in Wisconsin (as I am) and want to support a Wisconsin artist, I've added another coupon code for you: Enter SHOPWIS at checkout and I'll pick up the shipping and the state sales tax.

You'll find indigo-dyed circle scarves, discharge-dyed silk scarves, and more willow-dyed scarves in my shop (including the 35"x35" square silk scarves like the one shown above).

I've also added a few scarf pairs to wear separately or together, like I showed in this post. 

You can find it all at www.etsy.com/shop/donnakallner. Happy shopping and have a great weekend!

Boy Gifts Again

Yesterday I had a major yikes moment when I remembered our godson's birthday is Friday. This was in the car on the drive home from delivering 17 pieces for a show that opens on Friday. You know how it is: Once one thing is done you start mentally checking the list of new priorities. As I said: Yikes!

So there were two priorities for today's trip to town: Haircut (desperately needed) and birthday gift (must be in the mail on Thursday) for a 12-year-old boy. No idea what that might be, and no time to poke around, mull, search for inspiration.

So I exercised my flexible values went to Fleet Farm instead of thrifting. There, I found a $5 blue T-shirt in a men's size small. I wasn't 100% sure how this color would discharge, but it was better than the alternatives -- bright orange and lilac.

When I got home, I put a pot of water on the hot plate in the studio. While it was heating, I made 12 quick lines of stitched resist, wet out the shirt, and threw it in a simmering Thiox discharge bath. After a rinse, a vinegar soak and a trip through the wash, it's ready to wrap.

The front had stitched resists going two directions.

The back had three lines of stitched resist going one direction.

With the dark thread, which I didn't expect to discharge, it looks just grungy-cool enough for a kid. I don't think he'll care that it didn't take me hours to do.

Now I have to come up with something for Father's Day and my dad's birthday. Yikes!

I'll get information about the show up tomorrow and start posting some of the backlog of photos I took while making pieces for it. In the meantime, gotta go wrap a gift.

Getting Rid Of The Blues

You know what happens after a stretch of days that are overcast with maybe drizzle or snow flurries: Everyone seems to get the blues. We'd almost prefer the drama and adrenaline of a full-on winter storm to those gray patches where the sun doesn't shine.

Some people exercise like mad to combat a dismal mood.  Others hole up. Some fly off to distant, sunny lands to shack up with relatives. I've decided the best way for me to get rid of the blues is to discharge them with Thiox.

This is a before picture of a top I made in January during my Wardrobe Reboot. I used fabric from my stash given to me by a friend who was whittling her stash in preparation for a move. The fabric was lovely, but if I had been paying for it I wouldn't have picked that color.

The finished top was 100% workable. But that solid bright/dark blue seemed a bit overpowering on me. I had a bit of fabric left over, so I did a quick sample to see how it would discharge. The sample looked good, so I popped the top into a discharge bath.

It's definitely more "me" now. And as Bill says, when (not if) I spill stuff on me it won't be quite so obvious. That alone is enough to cure a case of the blues.