Good stuff past week!
The wife and I placed a prochem order and we were very excited when a big box containing many ounces of new dye arrived. I splurged (I kind of hate that word...it sounds gross) .... I treated myself and got 2 oz. of Mx intense blue. Seriously, my favorite dye of of all time. Well...that and now discontinued rit neon pink (*sobs*). I also got some new greens, black, peach, a really fantastic gray and turkey red.
I also got a bit of corn dextrin and print paste. I've never used that stuff before so, I thought I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately, space is limited in the apt. and I'm worried about another dyed cat situation. Eventually, I'll get to it.
More excellent news is that I had my first wholesale-esque order! How exciting!!!! I have 56 shirts to dye for a local shop in Brooklyn. I was already a professional dyer but now I'm a professional business! Part-tay.
Finally, my new etsy store is up and running. Thanks to my lovely wife for dragging me kicking and screaming through the complicated etsy store setup and for taking many pictures of my quilting fabric.
Come visit me at www.perhapsshelldye.etsy.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
I know an old woman who swallowed two cats.....
Let me preface this by saying that I have been on a serious dyeing kick the last few weeks. There is always some stuff in the dye pots which I keep in the bathtub. I am super anal about shutting the bathroom door to keep the cats out of the dye. So anal, in fact, that I have been known to rise from a sound sleep just to make sure I shut the bathroom door.
So, that being said, this morning, I was in the bedroom making the bed when I heard the Wife's lilting voice call to me from the living room.
"Honey....I think a smurf has been sacraficed!"
She said it so sweetly that I thought she was joking.
"Ha ha, Wife. Clearly you have been watching too much Xena."
"No dear....You need to get out here. We have a problem."
I whipped out of our bedroom and peered around the corner where I found my beloved standing outside the bathroom door. Behind here, was a scene that looked like the aftermath of smurf genocide. However, smurfs are not real. Real were the blue paw prints sprinkled quite liberally across the entire bathroom.
Though we have four cats, we were able to quickly identify the guilty parties. Douglass and Divino were caught blue-footed...
...and blue-tongued.
Being the calm, level headed individual that I am, I began to scream hysterically at the sight of the blue tongues.
"Oh shit they're gonna die! I've killed them...oh god I've killed my cats!"
Ok so maybe calm isn't one of my strong suits. The Wife thankfully pulled up the materials safety data sheet for mx dyes on her computer and after some feverish reading, announced that the cats might just pull through...the dyes are not toxic. Not that you should enjoy dye as a beverage...they are toxic in large quantities.
I thanked the powers that be that my cats were not going to die. Then, I set off to kill them.
I got my revenge when I placed the cats in the bathtub and turned the water on full force. Can't have blue footed cats running around. What would the neighbors say?
Now, the bathroom is clean, the remaining dye has been disposed of and the cats, though their toes are stained, have not suffered any permanent damage.
No smurfs were harmed.
-Corncob
Dye of the day: Pro Chem MX Sapphire Blue.
So, that being said, this morning, I was in the bedroom making the bed when I heard the Wife's lilting voice call to me from the living room.
"Honey....I think a smurf has been sacraficed!"
She said it so sweetly that I thought she was joking.
"Ha ha, Wife. Clearly you have been watching too much Xena."
"No dear....You need to get out here. We have a problem."
I whipped out of our bedroom and peered around the corner where I found my beloved standing outside the bathroom door. Behind here, was a scene that looked like the aftermath of smurf genocide. However, smurfs are not real. Real were the blue paw prints sprinkled quite liberally across the entire bathroom.
Though we have four cats, we were able to quickly identify the guilty parties. Douglass and Divino were caught blue-footed...
...and blue-tongued.
Being the calm, level headed individual that I am, I began to scream hysterically at the sight of the blue tongues.
"Oh shit they're gonna die! I've killed them...oh god I've killed my cats!"
Ok so maybe calm isn't one of my strong suits. The Wife thankfully pulled up the materials safety data sheet for mx dyes on her computer and after some feverish reading, announced that the cats might just pull through...the dyes are not toxic. Not that you should enjoy dye as a beverage...they are toxic in large quantities.
I thanked the powers that be that my cats were not going to die. Then, I set off to kill them.
I got my revenge when I placed the cats in the bathtub and turned the water on full force. Can't have blue footed cats running around. What would the neighbors say?
Now, the bathroom is clean, the remaining dye has been disposed of and the cats, though their toes are stained, have not suffered any permanent damage.
No smurfs were harmed.
-Corncob
Dye of the day: Pro Chem MX Sapphire Blue.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
"I think I know why the dog howls at the moon"
There's no getting around that awkward first blog post. So, I'm going to embrace in and revel in the cliche-ity!
A bit about me:
For the purposes of this blog, I will answer to the name Corncob...a nickname given to me by my younger brother. I am 24 years old and I live in Brooklyn.
I have been dyeing fabric for about 5 years now. I started dyeing when I was in college majoring in theater. I was the resident prop master and after having to dye muslin panels for a large show, I found that I really loved the art of color match and dye mixing. Anytime I could throw a prop into a dye pot, I did.
After college, I was hired by one of the top NYC fabric studios to work as a hand dyer. During my time there, I honed my color match skill and I am proud to say that there is virtually no color that I can't match. I also got to dye a variety of fabrics and use tons of dye. Silk, nylon, cotton, acids, acetate/nylon, mx, direct, union, basic...I got to try it all! But, the best part of my job there was the clientel...I got to dye Emril's aprons! Whoa. We also did dresses for J-Lo, Sienna Miller and Helen Mirren. I dyed for the world renown Broadway costume designers Willa Kim and Santo Loquasto. Other big clients included Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Vera Wang. I dyed shirts for A Chorus Line and fabric to be used for the giraffe in a touring production of The Lion King.
The downside was having to deal with the disgusting greed and self importance festering in the fashion world. While I loved the skills I was learning, I had trouble justifying working for an industry that sells jeans for more money than I spent on a months tuition.
Right before Valentines Day last year, I went through a messy breakup (really, it was a divorce) and the stress of that compounded with my growing hatred for fashion. I quit my job and now I find myelf trying to make it as a self employed dyer.
Currently, I live with my fiancee (we met a 366 days ago) and our 4 cats. My fiancee (I'll call her the Wife) is, in my opinion, the best yarn dyer this side of the equator. She owns Brooklyn Handspun and currently has about 600 pounds of yarn padding our craft room. There is always a dye project happening in our apt. We thankfully have a separate shower, as our bathtub is now a rainbow of colors from our ever ending dye experiments. It never even stood a chance. I have started two business. Digger and Dweezil is my hand dyed clothing line. Perhaps She'll Dye is the name if my hand dyed quilting fabric.
A bit about the blog:
I'm starting this blog because if there's anything I love more than dyeing, it's talking about dyeing. And also, I wanted a place to record the antics that take place when two hardcore crafters merge their art supplies, plumbing and cats.
-Corncob
Dye of the day: jaquard MX Carmine Red
A bit about me:
For the purposes of this blog, I will answer to the name Corncob...a nickname given to me by my younger brother. I am 24 years old and I live in Brooklyn.
I have been dyeing fabric for about 5 years now. I started dyeing when I was in college majoring in theater. I was the resident prop master and after having to dye muslin panels for a large show, I found that I really loved the art of color match and dye mixing. Anytime I could throw a prop into a dye pot, I did.
After college, I was hired by one of the top NYC fabric studios to work as a hand dyer. During my time there, I honed my color match skill and I am proud to say that there is virtually no color that I can't match. I also got to dye a variety of fabrics and use tons of dye. Silk, nylon, cotton, acids, acetate/nylon, mx, direct, union, basic...I got to try it all! But, the best part of my job there was the clientel...I got to dye Emril's aprons! Whoa. We also did dresses for J-Lo, Sienna Miller and Helen Mirren. I dyed for the world renown Broadway costume designers Willa Kim and Santo Loquasto. Other big clients included Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Vera Wang. I dyed shirts for A Chorus Line and fabric to be used for the giraffe in a touring production of The Lion King.
The downside was having to deal with the disgusting greed and self importance festering in the fashion world. While I loved the skills I was learning, I had trouble justifying working for an industry that sells jeans for more money than I spent on a months tuition.
Right before Valentines Day last year, I went through a messy breakup (really, it was a divorce) and the stress of that compounded with my growing hatred for fashion. I quit my job and now I find myelf trying to make it as a self employed dyer.
Currently, I live with my fiancee (we met a 366 days ago) and our 4 cats. My fiancee (I'll call her the Wife) is, in my opinion, the best yarn dyer this side of the equator. She owns Brooklyn Handspun and currently has about 600 pounds of yarn padding our craft room. There is always a dye project happening in our apt. We thankfully have a separate shower, as our bathtub is now a rainbow of colors from our ever ending dye experiments. It never even stood a chance. I have started two business. Digger and Dweezil is my hand dyed clothing line. Perhaps She'll Dye is the name if my hand dyed quilting fabric.
A bit about the blog:
I'm starting this blog because if there's anything I love more than dyeing, it's talking about dyeing. And also, I wanted a place to record the antics that take place when two hardcore crafters merge their art supplies, plumbing and cats.
-Corncob
Dye of the day: jaquard MX Carmine Red
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