Just What I Needed, a New Obsession

I've been throwing sidelong glances at silk painting for a long time now, and a couple weeks ago finally decided to take the plunge and order supplies. Oh my. It's really, really fun. I got the Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow paints, which work on all different kinds of fabric, some resist, and a bunch of silk.

After some initial practice, I started to get the hang of how the paint moves on different fabrics (and it is hugely different for various weaves and fibers), and was able to sketch a fish on some silk habotai with clear resist and then paint it, for a decent result. Lia liked it so now I'm quilting it in the lines to make her a pillow.

Feeling more comfortable, I moved on to painting more silk habotai to make a bodice (you knew it had to turn to historical clothing at some point, didn't you?) I outlined the pattern then made a pencil sketch of a dragon and drew it in with resist.

Unfortunately, the resist started to clog the bottle, clumping in places, and the lines are thicker than I wanted them.

Next I painted the background.

I love the way the colours blend.

And then the beast himself.

That's as far as I've gotten yet. I think I'll quilt this too, with just very thin batting, because I like the effect it makes on the surface. Then I'll make the lining, bone it, and piece it together into a bodice. Maybe after I finish Sarah's gown, though - that was supposed to be last year's birthday present, to be completed by this year's birthday, which is coming in a couple months. It has to be ready for her to wear at Stitches East at the end of October.

Lia really enjoyed the painting as well.

But about yarn. We've had a bit of a kerfuffle with the latest batch of Bugga! - it's not quite all the way up to our standards. There are rather more knots and misspun sections than usual, and all of it is ever so slightly less tightly plied than it should be. A few skeins went out last week before we caught the problem and we have sent partial refunds to those people by way of compensation. The rest we'll be offering on the site at a 15% discount. It's still really lovely soft Bugga!, but it's not all the way top notch, so we don't feel comfortable charging full price. We're combing through it to weed out all the skeins with more serious problems, like knots and misspun parts, but if you do receive a mutant that slipped through the checks please notify us and we'll rectify the matter.

But! As you may know by now, we like to throw a little fun into everything, so we've worked a game into this. All the skeins from this troubled lot have a stamp on the tag: 'IRREGULAR' - all but seven of them. These seven have a different stamp on them. These others are the golden ticket stamps, worth a gift certificate of $28 to our site for the lucky recipients. Any yarn listed on the site with the irregular discount might potentially have the odd stamp - if you receive one send us an email telling us what the stamp says and we'll send you the prize gift certificate.

For the first kick-off of these irregulars, we have an unlimited run of an old favourite from the vaults tonight: Fiery Searcher Beetle. I don't generally proclaim the depth of my love for particular colourways, but this one just might be my all-time most beloved. It is (of course) a murky brown-green, and I created it at my dear friend Kate's (Dragonfly Fibers) house in the very early days of my dyeing, and I love it beyond all measure. I hope you'll love it too.