It all started when I thrifted a really cool skirt in an odd color combo and needed a pair of earrings to go with it. The search was more difficult than expected, but I eventually found just the ticket. The irony quickly set in: I was seriously considering spending $56 on baubles to go with a three-dollar skirt.
So I inspected the earrings more closely. They were actually pretty simple: three beads, two wires, three loops. The fact that I could appreciate this at all without glasses speaks to how long ago it was. Then, I said to myself the five words that set me on the path from wannabe to working artist.
"I could make those."
Nearly ten years and many multiples of fifty-six bucks later, I'm taking it on the road. After years of sharing, donating, and occasionally selling my jewelry and later, dyes, I have a business card and a booth at an actual art market. At six o'clock in the evening on Friday, May 23, Little Lotte Studio will go live for the first time.
Consider yourself invited to the All Arts Market at the Neighborhood Theatre. If you're in the Charlotte area and don't have plans for this Friday evening, come on out and support your local artists!
Follow me below the orange mandala for a preview of the goods...
My booth is a mere 4' x 8', so I'm limiting my offerings to t-shirts, bandanas, and a selection of healing stone earrings this time. A few samples:
Carolina spiral, inspired by my second-favorite football team:
Traditional rainbow spiral:
Rainbow ice dyes:
Detail:
What is ice dyeing, anyway? It's my latest artistic obsession. Instead of applying dye directly to the fabric, a layer of ice is spread over the crumbled or folded fiber. Powdered or concentrated liquid dye is placed over the ice in stripes and/or layers. The whole parfait sits for 24 hours (I place my covered containers in a hot car all day -- dye loves heat!)
There are four child's shirts under this berry blend:
And the results:
Ice dyes fresh from a sunny day in the car, ready to rinse out.
Top: Navy, Emerald Green, and Celadon powder
Bottom: Primary color stripes topped with New Black
Top:
Blue Green Ice
Bottom:
Primary Black Ice
The other shirt from the bottom container:
And finally, some bandanas, both traditional and ice dyed:
A word of thanks to Fineena ... she hooked me up with the awesome mesh display racks pictured, as well as some shelves that will come in very handy for the show. Yes, I've got all kinds of butterflies, but I can do this!