Yesterday's Ride

About 25-30 bikes showed up for the Cowgirl Roundup Ride yesterday. We had 3 groups & more than 6 women who had volunteered to be road captains or sweeps. For this reason, my group, 1st one out, had 2 sweeps. Right away, we had a bike with trouble. She was right in front of me & started looking down to the back right side of her bike. "You go where you look" is the riders' rule she forgot. She veered to the right & I just KNEW she was going into the bar ditch! She caught it in time, but slowed & motioned me on. The 2nd sweep stopped with her, & I kept going with the group.

We made all our turns, then it began to rain. We pulled over onto the shoulder of Hwy 21 & put on our rain gear. I left off my gaiters (boot covers) but did don my jacket & pants. Then we all saddled up & went on our way. The roads were wet but manageable, but we had slowed enough that group 2 caught up with us. We reached the gas stop & that's where trouble hit. A trike was right in front of me so I didn't see the crash, but I heard it. A new rider, less than 600 miles under her belt, was making the turn into the gas stop, hit a slick spot with gravel, & down she went! She bounced up fast, which was a relief, and I pulled over close to her to check on her. She was okay, & she & I and another woman picked her bike up. It's a Honda Shadow & pretty light. She bent her right-side mirror, broke off her right blinker, dented the pipes, & REALLY bent the pedal for the rear brake. We coasted her bike to the front of the station where I found a guy in a pickup with a tool box, explained the accident, & asked if he could help. He bent it out with a huge wrench, the rider started it & rode it around the parking lot. She decided it wasn't braking properly, though, & called for a tow truck. The rear brake on a bike gives you at least 30% of your braking power, & it isn't safe to ride without one. As the sweep, I told the others to go on & I would stay with her. The rain had stopped & it was sunny & steamy.

Just about this time the 2nd sweep & the gal she stayed with caught up with us. The sweep was a little ticked, because the gal she stayed with stopped in a dangerous spot to put her cell phone in another place! WTF!? There are no cell phones on a motorcycle!! She didn't have trouble with her bike, just wanted her cell phone on her person rather than in her saddle bag. What a ridiculous reason to make somebody else stop on a narrow, winding, heavy-traffic road! At least I missed half the ride (& lunch) for a GOOD reason.

We waited about 2 hours for the tow truck (we were in east BFE), 45 minutes of this time spent with Cami listening to dead air while on hold. At last the guy got there & they drove off. I got back on Caprica (my lovely purple Harley) & rode north on a road I hadn't traveled before. I intersected Hwy 21 & eventually got back to the starting point. I waited there another 30-40 minutes before the 1st group got back in. Just as the 2nd group arrived it started raining again. So back on with the rain gear & out into the rain for the 30-mile ride home. The day didn't go as planned for me or Cami, but she wasn't hurt & I still got to put 172 miles on my bike & travel a road I hadn't been on before.

Scrapbook Convention

Went to the scrapbook convention in San Marcos yesterday with my 2 daughters. It was lots of fun, and worth the 1-hr drive there & again to get home. We practiced restraint, as proved by the fact there was still lots of stuff left when we drove off! I bought a printer's tray to put my seashells in from a trip to the beach. I had this type of display in mind as we collected seashells. Now I just have to make the display. I'm real good about gathering all the stuff for a scrapbook page or some other type of display, but I don't always get the page or display done.

Tomorrow I go on an all-ladies motorcycle ride. I will either lead or sweep a group of 10-12 bikes. A leader is pretty obvious, making sure to point out any and all hazards, signals turns, etc. A sweep has to know the route as well as the lead, because if someone has to stop during the ride the sweep leads that rider to the common stopping point. So I did a pre-ride last Sunday, & put 215 miles on my bike. I will probably put more than that on it tomorrow, as I will follow the ride to the end tomorrow, and I didn't last week. This will be a fun ride, & I look forward to it greatly. Woo-hoo!

More Business Busy-ness

I got a lot done today for my business, Chromatic Creations. I listed 2 more scarves in my Etsy shop and ordered business cards! The site I went to, vistaprinting.com, had a spiral tie-dye background which is just perfect for my business, so that's the one I chose. It's uber-cool, with the printing following the spiral shape of the color design. The site also offered a month-long trial for a website, so I bit. I haven't put anything on my new site yet, but the URL is http://www.chromatic-creations.com/. I foresee myself spending lots of time working on that. I'll be busy with lots of other activities in the next several days, so Monday may be the 1st time I get to really work on it. I also ordered more scarf blanks from Dharma, & they shipped today, so I'll have more tie-dyeing to do when it gets here next week. I'll expect it about Wednesday, so I need to get busy on the website so I can do the colorful work with my new materials! I'll have to dye by myself, as my friend & her husband leave for Colorado on Monday. It's always more fun when we get together, as we exchange ideas on techniques, colors, patterns, and on and on. Here's one scarf I tied & dyed Monday at Melissa's, and the newest addition to my Etsy store.

I must say, I've learned more about technology & websites in the last month than I did in my last year or so of teaching. I've started this blog, opened my Etsy store, used Google AdSense, and now started a website. I haven't had time to stagnate in retirement! So I hope all this activity keeps me mentally agile PLUS brings in some money at the same time. I really enjoy working with the dyes & the silk, so I'd like it to help pay for itself to some extent. Otherwise it'll just be an expensive hobby. Hobbies are great to give us an outlet for our creative urges, and it's also nice when they can bring in some money.

Time with a Friend

I spent most of today with my friend, Melissa. I got to her house about 9:20, & we mixed several colors of fiber-reactive dyes, some hers, some mine. We dyed some silk scarves, ate lunch, then logged on the computer to join a webinar training session from Scholar Chemistry. We spent 1.5 hours training to present some workshops for Scholar. We will present 2 on Oct. 23 in Galveston, and 4 at CAST (Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching) in Houston Nov. 11-13. Great fun for us! We love working together, whether it's tie-dyeing or doing science experiments. We also learned we will be paid to work in Scholar's booth at CAST, so our day was a good one. I tie-dyed 5 scarves, shibori-ed another, & then dyed 2 baby items, too. Melissa had 5 scarves on the shibori pole & dyed them, then tie-dyed 6 more. We both tried out new color combinations, and just enjoyed our day all around.

Frustration

Grrrrr. I drove my car without incident to Curves this morning, but when I got in it to leave, it was absolutely dead. No click, no dash lights, NOTHING. My remote key click got me in the car, but then it wouldn't work at all. I called my insurance. I don't have roadside assistance, but they could get me a quote on how much it would be to add it. No thanks. They did look up the # for the local Toyota place, & I called them. They switched me around to a couple of places, & ended up giving me yet another # for Toyota's roadside assistance. I should be covered under the "3 year, 36K miles" as my car is less than 2 years old & has just under 15K miles on it. I called that one, & they had some totally random phone # on file as mine, PLUS I was told I didn't have roadside assistance under that one. I repeated what the Toyota people told me, & was asked if that was under Toyota or Gulf. Gulf?!? I told her I had no idea what that was, & she put me on hold to check it out. A guy pulled up next to me & I asked if he had jumper cables. No, but he found a woman who did & we popped my hood to attach the cables. I ended the holding call & the good Samaritan found my battery cable was loose, & that was the only problem. He tightened it, I started it, & drove away. The last # I called rang back & said, Ooops, sorry, I AM covered under the warranty, & she was ready to send a tow truck. I told her I didn't need one now as I had gotten help from a local. It was a wasted hour, & just the most recent in a long line of things that go wrong with my car. Its color is apparently a magnet for others to hit--it's been backed into 3 different times, & a guy plowed into it while it was parked in front of my house. The radio volume quits working at random times, & when I filled it last, the low fuel light didn't go off nor did the guage move to show it was full. Also, when I tried to open the hood time before today, the plastic panel pulled loose & I can't get it back in. Just little nit-picky things, but I will never buy another Toyota. And I haven't even had the acceleration problem it's been recalled for! But it's paid off so I don't have that payment anymore. Ugh. I just wish it was reliable.

Heavy Weather

Being retired I haven't watched the weather much lately. If I wake up & it's raining, I don't ride my Harley. In August, if I woke up & it wasn't raining, I didn't ride (usually) because it was too hot. It's rained the past few mornings, & today it's rained all day long, thanks to Hermine. It was pouring when we came home about 7:45 pm, with water running several inches deepin the street. It was up to the curb, & almost completely covered the street. It was pouring down the hill to our place so fast I was afraid it would wash my little car away. Funnel clouds were spotted south of us, headed in our direction, & now, at 10:10, I'm seeing lightning flashes & hearing thunder. The water level in our street has dropped somewhat, but things will be soggy for quite some time now. I don't know how much rain we got, but it's a LOT. Estimates are 7-8 inches in our area, which means flooding is eminent.
I didn't ride Sunday because I had the stomach bug that's been going around our area the last few weeks. It kept me house-bound all day Sunday & most of Monday. Not a good way to spend a holiday weekend. I still felt poorly today, but am now better. I am 2.5 pounds lighter than I was on Saturday! I don't recommend this as a weight-loss program, though. Now that I'm feeling better, I hope the rain moves on so I can ride. It's finally cool enough so I won't have heat stroke.

Finally-I Scrapped!

I went to Hobby Lobby today with my daughters & bought a new paper pack plus 4 single papers. I scrapped 4 pages, 2 with only 1 picture each. I had some 5 X 7" pictures, 1 of me with my grandson, & those I placed on the page all alone. I did add journaling to each, along with a few embellishments. I also wrote my "10 in 2010" list & attched it to my book, "10 N 2010." I also added embellishments to the page, and some ribbon that hangs over the edge of the book. I have several things that extend beyond the book's boundary. I didn't think I'd like that look, but it's kinda cool. When I got home, I found a wire butterfly that WAS attached to that little book. I don't know if the cat pulled it off or if gravity & poor adhesive was the culprit. I had to find the page it came from & reattach it. Here are 2 lively cats helping me with scrapbooking. Boomerang is on one of my totes & Solstice is using a scrapbook for a pillow. I caught her mid-yawn.

Frantic Friday

At the urging of the other Curves attendees, I took my dozen hand-dyed scarves for them to look at, & sold 2 of them! Woo-hoo! My first scarf sales! I also uploaded another scarf to my Etsy store (http://www.etsy.com/shop/chromaqueen) It's another shibori scarf, but in purples & pinks this time. I love the ripple effects shibori gives to the scarves. The tie-dye/microwave method is faster, and really pretty, & the shibori is more labor-intensive & longer. I love how scarves turn out from both methods, so I'll continue with both (as soon as my new shipment of scarves comes in.) Melissa thinks maybe we should charge more for the shibori scarves since they take so much more time & effort to make. We're still undecided about that.

After Curves, I took my oldest daughter to the oral surgeon to have some teeth removed. She was unsteady on her feet because they put her out to remove the teeth. My other daughter came, too, & helped her sister walk from the office to the car for the ride home. She came out of the anesthesia before they expected her to, so she got to come home about 30 minutes earlier than originally planned. She spent the rest of the day dozing on the couch. She could eat soft things, like banana pudding, by late afternoon. It may be several days until she can eat real food. She tried some Ramen, but the noodles aggravated the stitched wounds. It's a sad day when you can't eat Ramen! She did learn she's tied for #2 on the promotion list at work, though, so the day had some good points.

Met Melissa for lunch, and we didn't discuss school ONCE! We are maybe to the point of being able to "letitgo!" Instead, we discussed techniques we'd like to try with our silk-dyeing. We would like to paint the silk, use resist, salt, & a frame. We went to JoAnn's to see if their quilting area had stuff we can use. They had wooden fabric hoops which would snag the silk. One item gave us a few ideas, though. They did have a kit to make a small frame from PVC, which we had already discussed. It's too small for our uses, but we can make our own. In fact, I got home & took apart a PVC physics item I made 5 years ago, restructured it into a length more in line with what I need now, & it's done! I do need to figure out a way to clamp the silk to the frame, so that may be the sticking point. I'm waiting on a new shipment of scarves, so I have a few days to figure out the clamping system. I may sacrifice 1 scarf to cut into smaller pieces so I can practice these new techniques & just ruin 1 scarf instead of maybe lots of them. I am eager to get the new shipment(s) as I also have new dyes coming in. Oh, boy--more colors!

Weary Wednesday

I got up earlier than usual today & got to Curves at 8:45. Went to oldest daughter's house at around 10:30 & the Direct TV guys were there. An upgrade was in progress, 2 lines so 1 station can record while another is watched. The entire system had to be redone, because it's been there since 2001. Code no longer allows the dish to be attached to the chimney, the dish they had wouldn't link to the new wires required. The last guy left at 5, after making sure the dish would pick up 2 stations at once. I spent the day there, reading & vacuuming when a piece of furniture was moved for the guys to work on the system. I did read a lot, but didn't get to do any creative work with my tie-dye. I missed that, but there's tomorrow! At least the system is now up & running at my daughter's house. Ah, no longer at the mercy of week-end drag racing!

Books--I Need More Books!

I started a book called Poison Pen because it claimed to be a "Forensic Handwriting Mystery." I only made it to p. 82 because the author, who claims to be a forensic handwriting expert, has junk science instead of REAL science. She says a handwriting expert, who she calls a "graphologist," can tell someone's personality from their handwriting. No scientific basis for this--it's Junk science! What a real expert can tell is if 2 samples are written by the same person; s/he can see hesitation marks; tracery; and compare samples to authenticate authorship. I really couldn't finish the book because it offended me so much. Having taught forensic science for 2 years & actually spent time talking to handwriting experts who do their work in labs & get paid for it, I know the author's claims simply aren't true. I'm sure the publishers jumped on this book to capitalize on the "CSI Effect" which means the eagerness of the public to have forensic evidence solve murder cases. This author has also written another book about the same character. Please avoid this series, as it paints a false picture of handwriting analysis experts.

More Mania

I just finished posting my 1st item on Etsy, and it was exhausting! I had to figure out how to resize the photos, come up with a shipping fee, and let's not forget changing my Paypal from buyer only to seller, too. I hope it gets easier from this point. I put up the scarf I pictured in the previous post; my only shibori one so far. Whew! I hope it's all worth the effort. More will be put on Etsy in the coming days.

Here's the link to my store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Chromaqueen

Manic Monday

Shibori Scarf

I tie-dyed 4 scarves today, plus I did another with the shibori technique. They all turned out really pretty, and I will order more on payday! The vinegar/microwave method is so quick; the longest part of it is the 15-20 minutes the scarves have to soak in vinegar. I fold them, pleat or swirl them, tie & apply the dyes, then microwave for 2 minutes. Then I rinse them out, let them dry & they're done! I do wait until I have several & wash them in the washer in hot water to set the dyes. I have a new product to wash them in, called Milsoft, from Dharma Trading Co. I haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to make the washed items extremely soft after they're dried. Because I heat them in the microwave very little dye washes out when I rinse them. Surprisingly, yellow is the color I see most when I rinse the scarves. Dark colors stay mostly in the material, which is the opposite of what you'd expect. The red/blue scarf was dyed using the shibori technique. I like the wavy, ripple-like patterns left behind on the silk. This is my new obsession. I love color!

Sunday Art

I woke energized & got to work on dyeing scarves. I soaked 4 scarves in vinegar, then got busy dyeing them. I made a rainbow scarf, 2 with lots of green in them, and one black/fuschia scarf. I also did shibori for 1, plus a baby shirt & 2 onesies. I'll run out of scarves at this rate! I only ordered 1 dozen, so I've dyed more than half of them now. I do want more dyes, so after pay-day I'll order some dyes & maybe more scarves. I simply have to sell some of what I've been dyeing so I can continue to feed my addiction to color!

Chromaqueen Introduction

I'm new to this site, although not entirely new to blogging. My daughters got me interested in this site, and I'm finally getting started. Here goes with my first blog to the site!

I enjoy the art of tie-dyeing different fabrics, as well as marbling & shibori, a Japanese method of dyeing material. I started out with cotton items such as T-shirts, then moved to bib aprons, tote bags, infant onesies, socks, & jackets. Tonight I added 100% silk scarves. I work with a good friend, and we play with dyes, fabrics, & techniques. We also give workshops on our methods of dyeing fabrics. We sell our items at science conferences, and my daughters convinced me it's time to branch out to the internet.

My fingers are frequently various colors, and tonight they're fuschia, purple, & turquoise. I have gloves, but I usually forget them. I did manage to keep my t-shirt & pants dye-free tonight, which is rare. I used the shibori technique on 2 onesies, then microwave-dyed 2 silk scarves. I won't be able to tell how the shibori items look for 24 hours, but the scarves are instant-gratification, and look great! When they're washed & dried I'll share pictures of them. One is a mixture of my 2 favorite colors-pink & purple, done in a slanted stripe pattern. The fuschia & turquoise scarf is in the swirl pattern.

I buy my dyes & supplies from Dharma Trading Company and from Pro Chemical & Dye. I use different sizes of squeeze bottle, rubber bands, foam brushes, pipettes, shaving cream, and thickeners. My knowledge of chemistry comes in handy sometimes in my art, so I combine 2 interests in my products. I'll never get rich money-wise from this, but I enjoy it & it liberates my artistic side.