Stained Fingers and Silk Painting

Two weeks ago, someone contacted me after seeing my etsy shop and asked if I was interested in doing a Handmade Craft Show that's a fundraiser for a local high school. It was short notice, but I decided to do it. Afterall, it is just around the corner from my house and it's for charity.

I had some handpainted yarns but didn't have a lot of finished products to sell to non-knitters. Since I didn't have time to knit a bunch of items in less than 2 weeks, I decided to dye and paint silk scarves. In addition to the scarves, I will be selling some of my headbands and baby onesies, which still have to be completed.

I've spent the last few days creating a disaster in my kitchen and dining room. My hands, arms and fingers are stained with dye.

I started out painting on my dining room table. Don't worry, there are layers of protective covering on the table. I'm totally Asian in the way that I have a vinyl covering on my table most of the time. My rationale and reason is that I have cats that will jump on it and scratch the finish. I would not be covering it if I didn't have cats -- really.

Anyway, when painting directly onto the surface didn't work out that well (the resist took forever to dry and got really gummy), I built my own makeshift frame. It's just 2 pieces of wood that used to be ugly valances the previous owners of my house put up, some nails and some coated plastic laundry clips. I drilled holes into the clips and then hooked it into nails I drove into the wood. To prevent the clips from moving around too much, I also held them down with some wire.

It has been tiring and time consuming, but nevertheless, I had fun and I am happy with what I've created so far. However, I can't say that I look forward to cleaning my mess. Right after my craft show on Saturday, I am hosting my knitting group's annual holiday party, so I have LOTS to do before Saturday.