My final project for my Dye & Print class this semester is to take one of my paper designs & apply it to fabric. We’ve been assigned six colour samples & one final piece, but I can’t seem to stop printing …

It’s not exact, but I’m really happy with what I’ve printed so far. For the dots, I stamped acrylic paint onto a sheet of mylar to expose my screen with, to get, well, a “stamped” effect! I used a technique called polychromatic printing for the coloured backgrounds, where I painted a silkscreen with dye water. After it dried, I pulled cellulose reduction paste across the screen to reactivate the dyes & transfer them to the fabric, as seen in another sample below:

As the final part of our project, we were asked to use our samples & create something out of them. I sewed up some lined canvas pouches or accessory bags! They’re really fun to make, & I hope I can add a nice line of them to the shop very soon.

Even though all that yarn that I order gets knit up & put straight into the shop, it still feels like opening up the best present when I get my shipments! I’ve been using EatSleepKnit.com lately & I really recommend them! Quick shipments, easy payment, & you get a neat little scratch card with every purchase, where you can win a skein of yarn, a mitten kit, or a credit to the store.

As for Madelinetosh, I cannot get over how gorgeous their yarn is. They use silky soft merino wool with a springy ply, & handpaint it in layers. I’m completely obsessed. They even give their colourways clever & pretty names; some of the skeins I ordered recently include Stovepipe, Nebula, & Betty Draper’s Blues.

Of course, I dove right in (after my classmates finished their oohs & ahhs — it’s so nice to be understood, haha) & have started another seed stitch cowl for the S&B shop. This colour makes me think of mermaid scales!

(That title sounds like a mystery novel!)

A week or two ago, the awesome F. of Sister Valentine left me a beautiful tin box at my workspace in the studio. She found it at a thrift store, & said she couldn’t pass it up. It’s possible that I squealed a little, when I saw it:

I just had to take photos to share — isn’t it perfect? Look at those painted ships on the lid! The sides of the tin even come in S&B colours! I can’t wait to fill it with crafty goodies or take it with me to a craft fair. A huge thank you to F. for picking this up for me! <3

The Paper Place in Toronto is one of those shops that is constantly raved about at my school. Though I’m studying Textiles & fabrics, we work with paper very often (it’s a lot cheaper to sample your designs on paper, of course!). Art stores often carry small samples of beautiful Japanese silkscreened paper, but I’ve never seen any collection like that of The Paper Place.

one, two, three, four

This month, the store is holding a fantastic giveaway: 700 sheets of Chiyogami paper. Seven hundred! From the Paper Place:

Three years ago we began our annual tradition of a holiday giveaway with The Great Chiyogami Giveaway.  When trying to decide what to offer this year we thought – what can really top hundreds of sheets of Chiyogami?  Our answer was…. nothing!  So we are proud to announce The 2nd Great Chiyogami Giveaway!!

I’m a bit late as far as Black Friday excitement goes (I’m Canadian, you can’t blame me, haha), but if you’re interested …

Enter the coupon code “FRIDAY2011″ ALL WEEKEND to receive 15% off your order! Happy shopping!

xx