Thank God it's Tuesday, another work week for me is done and Tuesdays I begin working for myself. I started my morning with coffee and my favorite biscotti. I found out that biscotti is a good alternative to some of the heavy pastries and breakfast things I've been eating. They are very satisfying with coffee and lower in fat and calories. Winter makes me want comfort foods and I always gain extra pounds. I'm not justifying weight gain but all mammals are heavier in winter to keep warm. Am I not a mammal?
Now, I have a natural craving for lighter foods. Fruits and vegetables are coming into season and salads and steamed vegetables are so-o-o good to me right now and I can't get enough fresh basil, grape tomatoes and olive oil.
Cre8tiv Glory is beginning to become a small business. I've been given some great suggestions that will allow me to create my dolls and textile projects and share them with a wider audience. What's that saying...'if you work at something you love you never work another day in your life'...
With artists and designers, the creativity, the commitment, the focus and the desire are always there but we kind of get lost in the nuts and bolts of business. This blog will be one of the places that I will record my progress, successes and failures, so I will be accountable to all of you.
Last week I tried a new technique for dying some fabric for one of my dolls. In the second picture above you can see where I took a piece of pale, baby pink cotton fabric to a deeper flesh tone. Instead of the regular Rit dyes I used a product called "So Soft" fabric paint by "DecoArt". I can't give you exact measurements at this posting because I was still experimenting but I started out with about 2 to 3 cups of water in a plastic tub and diluted equal parts of 'Baby Pink' and 'Brown'. I mixed the water and paint with an old immersion blender until it was the consistency of milk and the color was kind of a dusty rose.
I added about a third of a yard of pre-washed and dried cotton fabric that already had a pink tinge to it but I'm sure white or beige would also have a good result. I squeezed out the excess solution and stored the paint and water solution for another project. I towel dried the fabric in a old terry cloth towel to get out as much of the moisture as possible and then ironed the fabric between two rags until dry to set the color.
The result is a deeper color. It almost looks like dusty peach tea staining. The flesh tone is darker than the ready made flesh colored fabric that I've been buying and using. When the dolls are stuffed with white fiber fill they tend to be very pale. My desired outcome is to have a doll that is not as pale after it's been stuffed.
I started stitching the body together last week and will stuff it today. I will share the end result here.
I did something similar with Folk Art brand acrylic paint. I wanted a bluey-green for a mermaid. So I mixed a pale blue and pale green together....just enough to saturate my piece of polyester cotton. I left it for a bit and then I rinsed out the excess paint. It turned out perfect. The texture of the fabric was very different though and I think it made a firmer doll. Anyway, good luck with your plans:)
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