responses to comments

Pat Dolan made a couple of comments which I figured I might as well respond to: "discharge paste??? tell us more." Ah, discharge paste which I used on my faded black t-shirt. Jacquard makes it and you can buy it anywhere they sell dyes. You paint it on and then steam-iron it, using parchment paper or newspaper (if you are using wax). It smells absolutely vile when you are steaming it and you really should do it ouside and/or wear a darth vader mask. As you steam iron it, the color comes out, and you can control the way it looks by how long you iron it for. I did this on my kitchen table after I opened the entire sliding glass door to the deck and the front door. It still stank. Or stunk. Or smelled awful. But it worked. The alternative is Thiox, which you mix yourself and which smells just as bad - so don't bother. Another alternative is bleach, which will destroy your fiber unless you soak it in cold water and then anti-chlor which you purchase from ProChem or a similar product from Dharma, or a chlorine neutralizer from a swimming pool supply company. Do NOT even think about using bleach or a bleach pen without anti-chlor or your fabric will ultimately be in shreds. And no, vinegar is not a substitute. Anti-chlor is inexpensive and lasts forever because you use only about 1/2 tsp at a time. Off my soapbox, now. Most of my stained t-shirts are printed, either with thermofax screen images or gelatin plate prints or screened with found objects -- or a combination. The first time I dyed/screened a white shirt we had been to an Indian restaurant and I had gotten a yellow stain on it. Dyed the whole thing yellow and screened on it in purple and I was off and running. So, yes, I advise you all to do the same. What the hell - otherwise they'll be rags for washing the car. "Hey, move your dyeing studio upstairs, outside or to the garage and just keep on going! " As my late mother-in-law said, ''tell it to the marines." Hahahaha. Come visit me some time, Patty. Actually, I wash all my equipment out in the kitchen sink because my sink in the basement is in the guest bathroom and it is too dainty. OUTSIDE?? I live in a townhouse condo, so that would be my teensy deck, most of which is taken up with a gas grill. If I lived in a warm climate, maybe. And the garage? We have the smallest one-car garage on the planet and my husband's car lives there. So, if I am to become a famous fabric designer I will have to be single. My dear husband claims that he lives with 3 other people and they are all named Rayna. He also claims that he has 3 feet of space in the bedroom (not true, he has 2 feet of space). His work surface at night and on weekends is the kitchen table. But enough about this. On another subject...I guess I've joined the fabric postcard brigade. I was up till 2:am working on the 4"x6"s and I think I'm finally getting into it. I made a postcard for laura cater-woods' Art Doing Good auction and now I've made a few more. Not all the pix came out -- I have had this digital camera for a few years and still can't take good close-ups. But here are a few that did come out ok. I am taking these and a few others to Houston with me. But over this weekend, before I leave, I really need to put facings on a couple of other large pieces I may need for my solo exhibit, which I am hanging the day after I get back. Not the greatest timing, but what can I say? 11:15 p.m. and I have work to do.