i mentioned some time ago i was taking a class at the san francisco art institute, on screen printing. what fun that is! it brings back fun and fond memories my undergrad days, when i took many a printmaking course toward the completion of my art degree.
i am planning on making my own fabrics, perchance. this quick and dirty test print may be the beginnings of a fabric print. for now it's just play. ideas abound...there are so many possibilities with this process.
the granny square blanket is coming along. i've decided to use goldenrod/mustard yellow to border each square and join the blanket. it is sort of my homage to the yellow woolen granny square blanket i thrifted a few months back (and dearly love).
the blanket will be 12 squares by 12 squares. i have the center portion of the squares finished, all 144 of them, plus a few extra, for testing purposes. i used up almost all the lamb's pride bulky yarn i had hoarded for years...the amount resident in my stash, as i have mentioned numerous times before, was pretty sick. i need to get more of the goldenrod/mustard yellow yarn to finish the blanket, about 14 more skeins worth. i'm telling you: after this blankie's done, i am never using lamb's pride bulky ever again. not because it's a bad yarn or anything, but because i am sick of looking at it. i must use other yarns. i must buy enough for an actual garment, instead of one skein here and there.
a question for you yarn wrangers: do you ever find yourself buying the same yarn over and over again? out of habit? compulsion? insanity? something else? or do you spread the love and just buy all sorts of stuff?
so much work got done on the granny square blanket this past week because...my beloved iron broke. the third one of this type (a rowenta continuous steam iron with a big old water tank) that's bit the dust in the past 7 or so years. i get several years of REALLY HARD USE out of them, and then they just bite it.
the iron is a necessary tool in my fashion design, craft and artmaking practices...so when one dies, it's a major thing! i use it for EVERYTHING: ironing paper, ironing my clothes, pressing fabric, pressing seams, everything, everything, everything. another one is on the way, but...is not here yet.
what is with products these days? everything is built for eventual and swift entropy. planned obsolescence. why can't anything last? why are companies so greedy that they have to make something crappily with cheap materials so we'll dish out more cash at a regular pace to line their pockets with profit? what ever happened to ethically making a product so it lasts at least several years with good care and good use? or is everything just destined to break down? i know it will eventually, but sometimes it seems like manufacturers hasten the process with their chosen materials used in said products or in the way they are constructed.
do you like that things break down? would you rather have them last? do you mind that things are becoming increasingly disposable? fashion, home products, and everything else? where does all this disposed of stuff go?