Cool!

Blog? What blog? I know I haven't written much lately, and I may not be around for a while. I have moved and don't know quite what to do about studio space. All in good time I suppose.

I did want to pass along this little treat.

My work is on the cover of a local weekly paper:

That's my display at the Oasis gallery, my art glass with my dyed scarves, there is a corner of one of my dyed skirts showing and a portion of one of my art quilts on the wall above. I have asked my friends who live in the paper's coverage area to save me copies of this paper. I'm very pleased.

And this excellent article is inside:
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/rocktown/focus.php?AID=3961

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Hand Dyed Wearables

I wanted to share some photos of the new skirts, scarves and handbags that came from Studio B.  I've moved to a new house since making these, so once I get settled into my new digs I'll be showing you new stuff.  Stay tuned, but first:  The SKIRTS!

Each of these color sets features a long skirt, a short skirt both in Rayon.  Then there is a silk scarf and a matching small purse in cotton.  The different fibers take the colors slightly differently, which makes some interesting effects.  This first one I call "Spring" and it's a combo of turquoise and lime graded platter dyed.

I call this set "bluebird."  Now the colors don't really match a bluebird, but that was the inspiration for the combination of colors.

This set reminds me of the sky at dusk, so I've named this colorway "Dusk."

My Mom loves to wear lavender and a pale lime green together and it's a charming combination.  These colors aren't quite true on my monitor but maybe it looks ok on yours.  I call this set "Violet Blossom."

This is one example where the silk and the rayon took the color differently, very little of the black actually came through on the scarf but they'd still be beautiful worn together.  I call this one "Smoked Fuchsia."  The name is inspired by one of my new favorite spices: Smoked Paprika.

Another example of the difference between rayon and silk, one took the black as more charcoal and the other one went brown.  Very interesting.  I call this one "Cool Strata" and the short skirt is sold.

This is a favorite color combination, I call it "Spice" just because it's vivid and vibrant and that's what spice does to food.  Now I'm wishing I'd just called it "Vibrant" but the tags are already made.

I call this one "Blaze" because it reminds me a bit of a forest fire with a smokey sky.  It's orange, red into purple with charcoal gray.

I call it "Autumn" of course, I really love how that olive turned out on the Rayon, on the silk it went more taupe.

This one is "Jasper" with the graded strata of chocolate and olive.  The purse is sold.


There are more but I sold parts from them before proper photos were taken.  A while back I dyed up some skirts for the "Art of a Woman" project and I wear many of those skirts still.  It is not uncommon for me to get stopped by a stranger to compliment my skirt.  And a number of my friends encouraged me to make them available for sale.  So, I have and I'm really pleased with the response so far.  They are now in a local gallery, I sold two skirts and two scarves when I took in samples for approval.  Then as I was putting them on the display rack a short skirt sold and since then a bag sold.  It's been less than a week since they've been in the gallery, we will see how it goes.

I think "Bluebird" is my favorite, which one is yours?

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

The New Skirts

Here are a few of the hand dyed skirts I recently dyed at Studio B.  I'll post more info on them soon, they are going pretty quickly.  In this photo #2 and #7 are both already sold.  More photos coming of the rest of the collection as soon as I get a chance.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Eat, Pray, Love... and then Create

Once again an exceptional message from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat Pray Love." I believe I posted this before but it's still an exceptional commentary on what it means to be a person who does the work to show up and create.  Count me a fan!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

A Find!

A friend of mine came across this, don't ask me how:

http://k-silent.livejournal.com/2909.html

It's a blog in Russian discussing three necklaces, the first one shows is a necklace I made in 2005 that won some awards and was published in a variety of adds and catalogs by the good folks at Fire Mountain Gems.  It was FUN to get this link from a friend and realize they were talking about my work.  Some friends and I tried a variety of online translating services and from those we were able to piece together the general idea of the text.  I don't speak Russian but the general idea of is some rather nice compliments about the work and then the comments responding to the blog are even more lovely compliments.  

The second necklace shown is one that bears a striking resemblance to mine, same materials and colors.  This work was made in 2009 by Natalia Walton.  I think it is lovely!  

Anna, a friend who speaks Russian (along with a couple other languages) said this about it:

Hi, Carmen, I read all that comments, in all of them, commenters just admires how beautiful they are, mostly pointing on the first one. One person was asking how she can get them, . The other person answered. You should ask Carmen Sh... M...  I like how they describe your designs. They are using very beautiful words describing them. There was one person who said , she has in her mind to make one like this for herself. The other answered It's OK if you do just for yourself. The first person replied "Anyway it will turn out differently"

Another friend checked with someone with a BA in Slavic Linguistics who summarized:

She's talking about how she often looks at the website firemountaingems.com and how she doesn't like to close the window and how she always wants to buy the jewelry because of the colors, etc.

Compliments are fun in any language!  I am very grateful!

What a lark!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose