Adventures in T-shirt land:from the workbench

So, maybe adventures in tee shirt land isn't the right title for my workbench post since I do more than make shirts... I dunno.

Just a thought.

Speaking of tee shirts, on Monday I posted a drawing that I turned into a screen. Screen-printing is a different way to convey an image than most of the art I did before I started screen printing. Things can be complex, but are also simplified. Now that I think about it I could surely write a whole post just about this... I always love how something that looks very basic on paper can be really awesome on a shirt. I think my robot is pretty cute :)

I hand dye my tee shirts, which is an interesting and fun process, and I mostly do it so I can offer a wide variety of colors to my customers without keeping a ton of shirts in stock, which I cant afford to do and don't really have the space for. Unfortunately it can be a little messy, and I really need to run to a thrift store one of these days and pick up some cheap pots. Adam snapped this picture of one of the pots I've used recently for printing.

it reminds me of growing salt crystals... and that is pretty much what is happening here since I add salt to the dye bath.

I am working on a couple of dress projects for friends. This is part of the top of a wedding dress I am making for my good friend Missl Command. I couldn't find white leopard print fabric... so I screen-printed it. I am almost out of white ink so I am at a bit of an impasse. I still have to print most of the skirt.

This is the other project I am working on. I these are damas dresses for a quinceanera. I have to make seven of them, and all seven of them are almost to this point and I will be fitting them this weekend. It was fun to make the first one, but I have reached the point that I really am ready for this project to be over.

Besides, I want to be able to work on my own designs.

Most of my time this week has been spent filling current orders and getting ready to hand over a bunch of stuff to Stilo Lifestyle for my consignment section in her store.

I have four sets of coasters that just got sprayed with some stuff that makes the design permanent, which is awesome, but it is also flame retardant. I think the thing I like best though, is that it makes my shiny tiles matte.

This is what my serger looks like right now... totally covered in projects, organized by what color ink I want to use. Right now have pillow sets, bibs, scarves, card holders, arm warmers and a few secret items. Up in the front is my notebook of screens. I use photoez paper for my screens, which I absolutely love, and one of the reasons I love it is that I can keep ALL of my screens in a notebook since they don't have frames. Although, If they had frames I suppose Autumn couldn't flush them down the toilet... (and yes, she has flushed a screen down the toilet. )

and as always, it is nice to have autumn as my helper when I am working, even with screens occasionally getting flushed down the toilet.

See you later!

♥Erica

Coming Soon to Acrylic and Steel

Sorry I missed my daily treasury last night, I fainted, so I decided to go to sleep. I have been feeling dizzy and faint (all part of the same yuck I have been feeling for months) and I know I NEED to go see urgent care, but these things are not interfering with my life enough for me to want to take the time to go.

I am going to be listing some coasters soon in Acrylic and Steel. This store has not been getting the attention Caustic Threads gets. I did finally list Adam's new knives and all of those bearing necklaces, and I need to list some art prints as well.

This is a new product that I am excited about:

Coasters!

These are unfinished, I still need to put the felt base on them.

These two are done.

When I was making these I learned that "fast drying" spry on polyurethane still takes about 6 hours to dry. Oh well.

so, what else?

Well, things have been busy, I need to figure out the best way to photograph the skirts I made. I also bought a whole bunch of rit fabric dye. My previous (and first) order with Next Level Apparel was cancelled due to stock levels. Then I dreamed up this Idea of dying shirts myself, and now I have a pretty big order of plain white shirts to place, and the best part is that I can also dye fabric, baby body suits, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

I have still been unwell, as mentioned earlier. It feels kind of like what I think it would feel like to have a brain tumor or parasites. It doesn't hurt, but a few times an hour, even when I am sitting still I get the spins, feel faint, and then cant remember what I was doing. It's like I have a brain chip and someone hit the reset button.

Roller derby is what it is. We are trying to decide if we want to go to regionals. We are ranked high enough, but we are not sure we have enough skaters to play 3 games in two days. I didn't want to go because I want to have another baby. My Birth Control prescription expired recently so I am not renewing it. As long as I am not pregnant I am happy to go if we have enough people.

Well-

Until next time♥

xoxo

Erica