Mid-Week Breather

Today had a little less stress attached to it (yes, getting back into regular studio routine and designing is stressing me out a bit). Before I can proceed with the Bubble Reboot, that teal hand-dye needed treating with Retayne - a quick check showed it was loaded with spent dye that the least bit of moisture would send bleeding where I didn't want it. Usually I do this in the machine when I have 2 or 3 yards of fabric to set, but I didn't have anything else to go with this half yard of fabric, so I did the 20 minute wash by hand while watching an Antiques Roadshow episode I'd recorded - enjoyable yet productive time. Later, this fabulous piece of marbling arrived in the mail from Mary Stori. It is one of several pieces she did with her fiber group during a day of experimentation, and she used a portion of it to create this lovely piece which was not without struggle. I blatantly announced I coveted the balance of the fabric. It vaguely reminded me of some of the real marble I saw in one of the Mayo Clinic buildings in Rochester. Never dreamed Mary would be so generous as to offer it to me, but she did. Thanks so much - not sure how I will use it yet but I am excited to discover a way to incorporate it in the new work I'm creating this spring.

I've been doing my daily Zentangle® after lunch and was delighted to find today's lesson was about one-stroke patterns. I've struggled a bit with some of the patterns, actively disliking a few and thus not always benefiting from the meditative aspect of the discipline, but not today. I was so in my comfort zone drawing feathers - I mean "fluxes" - and stippling - oops, "amaze" - it was pure pleasure. Actually, I was so excited to see something I was familiar with that I got carried away with those fluxes and strung them into a "vine" which is covered in tomorrow's lesson. I didn't really get the hang of that other thing that looks more like an ear than anything. It's a "mooka" and to be fair, the examples look much more appealing than mine. Guess I should have spent more time practicing it before incorporating it. Have been wondering if I'd do a better job if I tried free-motion quilting it - I think it would make an interesting filler pattern.

And now I should get to the studio and start cutting bubbles. I have to say I don't quite know what to make of the "I don't see the problem" comments that showed up on the last post. I get your point about airiness and subdued being ok, but what I don't think is coming across in the photos is that effect (which I was going for) is totally lost - the bubbles really do not show up, just disappear unless viewed from very close or from an angle. The digital camera is doing its best to fix that for me, bless its heart. It doesn't reflect the reality (no pun intended). I guess you're going to have to trust me on this. I'm not chucking it yet, but I am going to try to improve upon it.