not wrapped yet

three wait

mad scientist dyebox

dye

lots and lots of salt

i'm so happy with the way they turned out, exactly what i wanted

organza will be layered over lots of other stuff

sample from previous day that inspired the unbunched ones above

hand stitching sample

practice applique for my quilting project

smocking after being bleached out

smocking dyed green after the blue

i am tired

I'm really sorry you haven't heard from me this week. Maybe you're not? Haha! Anyway, I've been really busy and also just so tired. This week has been intense, in some good ways and some bad. Physical therapy is good, but I think it takes a lot out of me. I'm doing a new project for basketry. I can't do basketry, it hurts too bad. I think I'll do a post just for that. I'm pretty excited! It's so cold in here. I opened this morning and got to make two french presses, it was fantastic!!

I've decided I'm going to sell fabric on Etsy (silkscreened and shibori). I think for now, during the semester, I'll stick to that and probably jewelry because I don't have the time to make finished products out of that fabric. What do you think? I would like to make another pattern or two. I have a banner type thing in my head. One long row. I don't know what that would be used for, so it's not really practical...

I can weave! There's an open loom and that's part of my Tuesday project. I can't wait to get on it. Yummy!!

I went to a yarn store yesterday, Have You Any Wool in Berkley, MI. I love it. They have such a nice setup, almost all the yarn is in big baskets on the walls! I got a skein of Euroflax (I've been lusting after it for a long time now) in a luscious yellowy green and two skeins of NaturLin, in a sprout green and a gorgeous blue. I'll have photos of those maybe tomorrow, if you'd like. I can't wait to knit them. The linen will be a scarf for myself. The NaturLin may be a scarflette, or maybe spring wrist warmers. We'll see. I have to knit very slowly, though.

I kind of have a sewing nook now! I cleaned all the stuff off the floor around it, there was quite a collection of stuff I didn't feel like dealing with. I got a couple more boxes from Ikea and have almost all of my fabric stored in them. They look great! Now I just need a new desk. This one is so teeny and too short for me. My legs jam up against the bottom of it. I would like to get a giant piece of cork and cover it with fabric so I can have a nice inspiration board/area.

I hope I'll have more time to spent with you this week, I've really missed it. I keep narrating blog posts in my head, thinking of all the stuff I want to tell you. Withdrawal, right? I have been taking the time to try to read most of my blogs. Sorry if I haven't gotten to you yet this week!

I'm sure you're sick of reading so I'll stop. I'm posting another post right away that is full of photos, because I feel like this one would just be so intense if I shoved in a ton of pictures, too!

Plato's Closet

me

pretty print in the wrong size

new dress

dirty window looks nice in the sun

I went to Plato's Closet with Chelsea today. It was fun! Poor Grace was sleepy, though. I managed to find a dress and two shirts! Yay! The one I'm wearing is a cotton buffalo plaid in navy and black. I wear a size small and it's a medium, but I prefer the way the bigger size fits. It has lots of room and I want wear it always! That print is the dress I got. It's yellow and gray!!! I'm in love with yellow and gray right now. And I got a tank top that is too big for my, ahem, bosom, but it'll be perfect as a cover-up for the beach. All in all, a successful trip!

I think I'll start planning for my next Etsy update now. Well, really, my first ever REAL Etsy update. Either way, I'm going to think about/plan for what I want to list come spring. Expect it to involve, shibori, scarves, wall pieces, jewelry, and perhaps more! Oh yeah, and seed packets :) I think I'll make a couple runs of new spring colors and hope that my hands don't die. If they threaten to, I may have to do not very much... I'm hoping...

many sorries

I didn't get to do a dye bath today. I forgot I had the portfolio workshop in the morning, then I had to conduct and inkjet printing demo. in the afternoon. Boo. But, I did do a couple of layouts in the morning portfolio workshop that I am pretty happy with them, more with the second one. I did that one second. The first one was a layout that she gave us, just because almost everyone is totally unfamiliar with Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign. The second one I just made up. I like it. This week, I need to come up with a layout for my entire portfolio. Eek!

Let me know what you think about them, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Theoretically, I'd be sending these out to people who are looking at my work, galleries, employers and the like.

I can't wait to do more of these! I love putting the images together to tell a story.

birds

Aren't these breathtaking? I have always been super fascinated by swarming birds. I want to know how they know where to go all at once and if there's math behind the flight patterns and all kinds of other stuff. They're just beautiful. I seriously gasp when I see a group of birds take off on my way to school or anywhere else. Love love love.

From Richard Barnes' website.

smocked smock smocking

I really like this technique! I would like to experiment more with removing sections of thread and messing it up a bit more. I think there's a lot of room for experimentation. I'll show you the results soon! Probably tomorrow, but obviously I'm not good at keeping short-term promises... I know I'll be dyeing the fabric tomorrow, among lots of others. Can't wait! Please do enjoy the video below. Sorry for the background noise of class, haha!





Oh and physical therapy went well today. We talked about when it hurts, why it hurts, how it hurts and the like. We did the paraffin thing! You were totally right, Jan! It was fun and felt really good. She didn't massage them though. Maybe that's later. I have another appt. on Monday, so the next few days are for testing the stretches and techniques we discussed.


I just want to say thank you to everyone who comments (and those of you who just read), and tell you that it means a lot to me that people are interested in my work. Sorry that sometimes I don't post as much as I would really like to. You guys mean a lot and thank you! I will be having a giveaway in the near future to really say it in true blog fashion! I'm thinking a scarf probably :)

xo
Brittany


P.S. I just watched that video again and I'm sorry it sucks so bad! I'll make a better one, I just want you guys to see how cool it is!

Sale and Question

Yup, sale! Hooray! I'm putting everything in my shop at 25% off. Until it's gone. Really I am. I know there's hardly anything in there, and some of it isn't really my style anymore. But that's why I really want them gone. In the spring, I want to put a bunch of new jewelry in and also shibori scarves and stuff (maybe pieces of fabric for you to make stuff with!) and some other things I have plans for. You'll have to bear with me, as me getting this stuff made will be a slow process. I really do have to save my hands for school as much as possible. I've just gotten such a huge response to my shibori work and some other school stuff, I really want to make more of it and be able to sell it. Of course, selling things requires buyers, and I'll have to find some of those!

The photos below are just a couple nice ones I picked out from the shop to show you here. You can see I was looking through the Japanese woodcut books a while ago when I was taking photos of those earrings! Everything cyclical.

Tomorrow I'll show you the crazy process I went through today! I even have a video or two, cool huh? My first one :) I can even post it on Flickr since I have a Pro account! Woo! And then I dyed that piece of fabric, and it's a lovely color. More tomorrow, my dear friends!

Small survey, if that's alright? Out of curiosity, what would you like to see me offer in my Etsy shop? I really like to get other people's perspective, because really, I'm not my own market! And it's so much fun to hear other people's ideas. I love critiques in school, too, which isn't always the case with a lot of people. OK, I'm really done. I've missed you guys lately, I haven't had the time for longer posts. I really don't have the time now either!

A use for my scraps

On Thursday, we had a quilting workshop in class. It was fun and I brought some of my fabric scraps to play with. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! Everyone else used stuff from the storeroom, which was pretty funny. I think I'd like to do some more stuff like this. I ended up composing it pretty intuitively, which was really nice, just to go with it. Hmmmm, what should I quilt?

I also bought batting that is 50% bamboo and 50% organic cotton. It's the softest stuff ever. How could I stand to encase it in fabric? I just want to use this stuff as a blanket!

What have you been working on?

I promise I'll post something nice later

There is a really great multimedia show on The New York Times' website today about Pontiac, MI. Obviously, this struck a chord with me, as I'm seeing these things happen not just in Pontiac, but in other parts of Metro Detroit as well. Not to mention Detroit itself. I think this is a really well put together show. It's not just the photos that you probably would get in the paper, but they have a layer of sound of all these people talking about what the city is going through. First, they talk to the owners (husband and wife) of a Coney Island.



Then they talk to people who work at GM.


This is that guy's son.





My good friend Noah is doing his senior thesis in photography about Port Huron, MI which is having similar problems. They have a show up right now and I'll be going to the closing (instead of an opening) in a few weeks. I'll be anxious to see how these two bodies of work are similar and different.

Sorry to dampen your Sunday (or Monday), but I'll post something nice after this to make up for it. I really do suggest you go to the show on the Times' website (link on top) and watch at least the first two segments. The third is about a church, so if you want watch that too. The first two were much more powerful to me, probably because I'm not a churchgoer. The pastor does have some good things to say though.