Category — Blogging

Please bear with me as I test out a new-to-me plugin. If you click on the image, you get a larger picture overlay, which is an improvement to my old method of linking to a different window. Any feedback about how this works out at your end would be greatly appreciated.

Here is “Am I Blue” hanging on Bambi. The patterning is exquisitely detailed and I’m having a very hard time deciding whether I want to sell it or not. That seems to be happening a lot lately!

Your patience with me is appreciated while my blog undergoes some maintenance and tweaking. Simple is best, but simple isn’t always that simple. The for sale page may look especially funny … for some reason that I haven’t been able to figure out yet, but it works … somewhat.

Yes, I am. Frenzied, that is. If I’ve been a bad, quiet blogger, that’s why. It’s not just because it’s the middle of a very long winter that takes its toll on my energy levels either.

Twice a year I go through this. Dye every piece of silk I possibly can so my local dancers can get their pick of the crop. Try out new things, pull out some old but loved techniques. Run the gamut of every colour scheme possibly imaginable. By the time I hang every thing on the rack ready to go, I’ve bewildered myself with the available selection.

Last weekend, I had an attack of the oranges. Orange makes me happy. It’s not a colour that people first think of, but when you see it splayed out in an interesting combination on a fine piece of silk it can be more than a little glorious. In costuming, it goes through phases; a couple of years ago I spent 3 months solid dyeing nothing but custom veils that were orange based. I didn’t like orange for a long while after that. I do very little custom work now so I don’t get caught stuck inside the box. The whims of fashion can be creativity killers.

So yes, I love orange, and I love mandalas too though I haven’t made very many veils in this technique for a long while it seems. I only made a couple so far, but damn … I’m good at it! I needed a reminder it seems. Somebody on eBay started selling mandala veils and the like a few years back for a disgraceful pitance, so that pushed my interest away from this technique. A shame really. There should be more of these beauties gracing the stage. Done well, they look like stained glass rose windows; quite stunning really.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, if you’re wondering why the blog nor the for sale page are being updated right now with the new pieces : it’s because I’m busy making and hording. For those of you in the region, do please come and see me Sunday, February 22nd at the Ottawa Dancer’s Bazaar. There’s lots of other vendors and artisans too presenting their wares for your sparkly shopping delight. Just follow the “events” link in the navigation bar for the where and when details.

It just dawned on me that I’m a terrible blogger. Nobody please count on me offering up daily pearls of wisdom or long winded accounts about the daily grind. I don’t think that’s what you’re here for, in fact, if I base it upon my own experience reading many other blogs … some people blog too much. Some people should be cut off. Not all thoughts are worthy of public consumption. I’m not that interesting.

Suddenly, I’m not feeling too guilty about not having written anything in a couple of weeks. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

If you’re wondering what’s happening here, let me warn you — in case you don’t know this — that it’s belly dance high season : year end recitals and many, many public performances before the sultry lull of the summer. Which means that those of us involved in dance in some way, shape or another, are running off our feet trying to deliver costume pieces to make those dancers shine.

I am lucky at this point of my career that most of my clients realize that if they want something unique and custom that this takes time. Even when I make a reiteration of a previous pattern, I try to make that new piece unique in its own way. This takes time too; sometimes the creative process involves much thinking time. I’m not so much in the business of selling veils as I am in the business of making them, making something special. It’s the art of dyeing that moves me and I don’t mind going that extra mile, not so much to make the sale but to please the craftman in me. I like to see the end results evolve and I like to see myself continuously learn: from my last piece, from reading and studying anything and everything about dyeing and from watching my product and others move on the stage.

Speaking of which, one of my babies is making an appearance on a new video about to be released produced by Michelle Joyce and her Cheeky Girl Productions. It’s entitled By dancers for dancers, volume 3. At about 00:34, there’s a flash of Bahaia veil dancing with one of my babies, the original “Peacock Strut” actually. You can check out the clip on Youtube when you get the chance. (if you click on Youtube, the video should open in a different window; if it doesn’t, let me know!)

Oh my. Look at that. I’ve blogged too long! Picture in this post is from this weekend’s bumper crop of greens. A truly stunning rendition of the aurora borealis, if I may say so myself. I’m tickled pink by greens!

I am really good at getting sidetracked. I gave myself an official snow day on Wednesday so I didn’t have to risk killing myself trying to drive through the storm, managed to dye a few new pieces, but ended up getting sucked into the black hole of the computer for most of it. I started working on my own website shopping cart that I don’t know if I’ll ever use, but it looks fantastic and works perfectly as far as I can tell. I amaze myself sometimes that I can look at something that’s totally greek to me and decypher the language just enough to coax it into what I want. Mind over matter, I say.

I did have one of those ooops! moments last night though when I made a few modifications to a new blog widget that I wanted to add to the sidebar and everything else went blank in front of my very eyes. I screamed out loud. Words that will not be repeated on this blog. When I started breathing again, I remembered that there are safeguards built-in just in case of such stupidity. I’m going to lay off the widgets for a while. They are apparently addictive and hazardous to my health. Mind over matter doesn’t always work in one’s favour.

Speaking of getting sidetracked, here is a lovely place to get lost gazing at beautiful things, website of Melody Johnson, art quilter extraordinaire. If you’re not into keeping up with the great work that’s being done in the world of art quilts, it doesn’t matter. I know you like colour – or else you wouldn’t be reading my blog. Melody Johnson’s colour palettes will blow your mind. She’s got a great blog too called Fibermania; the link to that is under “Textile Stuff” in the right sidebar. But first, go have a peek at her website here:

http://www.wowmelody.com

Even the URL is a hoot!