Greetings for Clotilde

I think this is going to be my (oversize) greeting for Clotilde. The deadline has been extended to the end of May. So, if you'd like to send a "congratulations on your retirement" greeting to her. Let me know and I'll send you my snail-mail address.

Many wonderful greetings have come in from colleagues and fans. I'm really excited about presenting her with an album of e-mail greetings and a box of cards and letters.

Also, I'll be posting another tutorial tomorrow on transferring inkjet images onto fabric, Tyvek, and Lutradur using Brush and Hand Cleaner from Earth Safe Finishes. It is way cool! Lyric Kinard started me down this path a couple days ago with her photocopy transfer technique, but my local copy shops don't use toner copiers anymore; they are all laser jet. So, Barbara Matthiessen and I have spent every spare minute the last few days working with inkjet prints from dye-base and pigment-base printers and the Brush and Hand Cleaner. I think we've got the winning combination, but it's different for the type of printer.

More tomorrow!

The first cards for Clotilde have begun to trickle in. I've extended the deadline until June 1, because contacting her friends, fans, and business buddies has proved daunting. She touched a LOT of lives and I don't want to miss anyone!


The needle-felted piece above is 5" x 7" and sits an interesting little frame. It is a class sample for my online Extreme Needle Felting class, but was made for a friend who is going through a tough time.

The tactility of the roving, yarns, velvet, and beads just makes me smile! The next step is dyeing the roving and yarn with Earth Safe Finishes Colorants. Initial tests were most successful and I can't wait to dye enough for an entire project!

A gallery has already expressed interest in carrying these for Mother's Day. Yahoo!

This is the next experiment with the Environmentally Safe Finishes (Generation Green) products. A new batch arrived Friday and I've only had a few minutes to work with it. Isn't this yummy? Even in a low-resolution photo you can see the way the colors blended!

This is an embossed wallpaper border with five different colors of Shimmering Gels applied with a stipple brush. The base is magenta, followed by bronze, copper, peach, and white, although I'm not sure the white added a lot. The cumulative effect is really pleasing!

This will be a background in an album to hold e-mail greetings to Clotilde from friends around the globe—maybe even part of the cover.

After church I'll work with the ESF colorants on rust-dyed fabric. Hopefully, the right ratio of water to Fabric Magic will be easy to pin down. Actually, Nancy at Environmentally Safe Finishes says the colorants may be used alone, but won't be as light fast as they are when used with Fabric Magic. I may try just the colorant and then do a light-fastness test (which takes several weeks of sunshine to complete).