My Artsy/Fartsy Life

Hi Sis, I really know what you mean about feeling like a failure. I am
successful at all the things I do I just am having a hard a hard time
making a living at it in this economy. At 62 I seriously am concerned
about if here is anything for me in the work place except the greeter
at WalMart--LOL--probable just a sales clerk or one who keeps a
department straightened out and neat. I relly don't know. I have been
artsy all my life. I used to paint and write and do hand embroidery
and cologue like crazy (I still do a bit of it). I am addicted to
cutting out really good or odd or nature and definately cat and dog
pictures from magazines and the paper. The travel section sometimes
has some wonderful pictures. I used to get the wood spools they wind
wire on--coffee table size and end table size and then we would burn
and brush the wood several times untill it looked like I wanted it to.
Then I would take chickenwire and attsatch it to the top of the spool
leaving and area to put drinks or dishes or whatever around the rim of
the spool. Once I had the shapes I wanted in the chickenwire--making
places for flower pots or candles, I would papermache' the whole thing
with several coats and let dry. Then I would paint it abstractly then
lay out my cologue over the painted surface leaving some areas of the
paint showing--it was actually the base for the cologue. Then varnish
and sand and varnish again several times. As you can see it took some
time to complete one and they turned out really cool. Conversation
pieces in themselves. I still do boxes and my clip board for customers
to sign credit card slips or checks. They always remark about how cool
it is. I did both sides of the board with nature pictures and some
colored strips then lots of crazy pictures and sayings, like no outfit
is complete without cat hair. And a picture of betty boop looking worn
out in the am saying, "I don't do mornings"--that is so me!! Lots of
pictures of cats and wolves and it turned out pretty good. I love to
do whole pictures of roses in all sizes and colors and have a few of
them around my home. I also love sunflowers and have done one or two
of them but it's harder to find sunflowers. I love the forest so I use
alot of forest pictures. I have done regular tables and dressers and
boxes and lamps using the cologue technique. It's also therapy for me
I bet. It's been awhile since I completed one and have several in the
process--thats pictures not the furrniture. I do have one of my
regular tables but none of the spool and paper mache' ones. I don't
think I even have a picture of one--to bad they were cool!!! So are
you injoying the book I an typing to you? All this just to say I have
been an artsy/fartsy gal all my life!!!! I also used to make drip and
water top candles and I also used to do alot of leather work--belts
bags of all sizes and wrist bands and head bands and I did repairs on
thing like the german pants with the leather straps to hold them
up--can't remember the name of them--but I had to match the color
(green) and cut for the button and it turned out a good match to the
other one. Oh yea I also used to sew clothing. I didn't have a sewing
machine at one time so I sewed them by hand. I made big floor pillows
for my home and when I was with the belly dancing troup I sewed
costumes for some of the girls, as well as all of my own. I have made
nomadic afganny dresses (traditional with 10 yards in the skirt) I've
had a pretty fun time of it up untill the past 5 years. I mean there
have been ups and downs but nothing like this. I was homeless once and
pitched my tent on the side of a mountain on friends property, where
we had to prop the end of the mattress up so as to not slide down off
the bottom all night--that was fun and I speak from experience,because
the first night I didn't prop the bottems up and we did slide down all
night---LOL---That actually lasted about 6 weeks and I found us a
place to move to. It was an experience. I had 3 rabbits in cages and a
dog with me and my oldest son and myelf. I got to use my friends home
to bathe and fix food and we co-opped dinners sometimes. It wasn't
really bad. You know I seem to have some bit of gypsy in me because I
have always done most everything outside the box. We kid a bit at the
shows that we are all just a band of gypsys making and selling our
products. I feel more like that when I am traveling around to shows
here and there. I actually love to get out on the road. For this
reason an RV might just be the thing for me. I would just have to find
a place to tye dye. I do have to admit that after some time of it it
seems my van knows the way on it's own and l do I get tired of it
sometimes and want to just stay home and do my home show. But--big but
in the sky- if my home comes with me I wonder if I would get so tires
of it. Or maybe I would just settle for awhile like in winter when
things slow down due to weather. Hey Sis, did you notice that I an
thinking this through as I speak to you? Here's the other problem I
see, if I do go the RV route then my things stay in storage untill I
find a home and that could be years. That is an expense I won't want
to have for and long turm---got to think that one out a bit more I
guess. I have been up for 3 hours now and still havn't eaten
breakfast. I had to place an order for clothing and dyes. The only way
to make money is to have what the people want and I know I lost
several sales of 20 bucks or more just because I didn't have the
product--little girls dresses and t shirts for adults I was just to
low in them. Got to go now, and it will take you the whole day to read
this--sorry but I had some fun telling you all this. Now I would like
to copy this email and put it in my resume--LOL--Big Sis, Christine

Tye Dye

I began to tye dye in the early 70's as just a fun thing to do. I lived in a very creative community and we all bartered the things we made or did. So when I was going to tye dye I would put out the word and everyone that wanted something tye dyed would put their shirts in the basket and I would go to work. The thing I love about tye dye is that no 2 shirts are ever the same. You can use the same exact colors and the shirts will be different in how it turns out. Unique! So I am going to pick my most popular color combinations and post them here with a price list and the clothing items offered in these categories: New Baby--Toddler--Youth--Adult. Coming soon!