Pre-washing and ironing silk scarves for the MIT and the Celtica! commissions.

I spent the afternoon washing and ironing 40 silk scarves, getting them ready for the dyeing process. Yes, I know. Some parts of my job are so terribly glamorous, no? Well...maybe not so much. But each step is necessary. This one makes sure there is no sizing or gum or oils or anything left on the silk that might interfere with how the fabric takes the dye. I'll start on the fun part tomorrow, which is actually adding color to the silk.

40 scarves sounds like an awful lot to find ideas for...until I realize that 30 of those scarves are for a commission that I'm working on for MIT. (25 grey and 5 coral colored scarves, to be dean's gifts.) And a few more will be dyed in the blue/green colorway for the singing group Celtica!. So that actually leaves me just a handful left over for playing with new color combinations. And, it leaves me a cushion of supplies on hand in case I screw up one of the commission pieces somehow. I don't foresee any troubles, but it is nice to have back-up.

So, 40 scarves, and I'll be painting at least 32 of those over the next few weeks. I'm going to be busy!

Come to think of it...busy is good.