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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
I can't believe I am dying... again. I thought I was all done dying when I helped make Qua-Fiki's Fish silks for "Fish or Cut Bait" (Wizards' Journal #20), but then he came up with this neat idea for a Halloween routine (Mismade Jack - Wiz J #21)and then immediately went back to school, so here I am dying again. For those who make their living by dying, I have a question about dying the rolled hems of the silks. The dye seems to be uneven when it spreads out to the edges. It may smooth out later, but it looks splotchy right now while it is drying.
I let too much time go by between doing the Fish silks and working on these pumpkin silks and I have had to relearn the processes all over again. The Fish silks were easy by comparison- just one big colored fish in the center of a white silk, but now I have to make an orange pumpkin with a green leaf in the center of a black background. I think next time I will try making the center design first, leaving the edges white, then when that process is complete, applying the resist on the inside of the colored center design and making the outer edges of the silk black. Any hints from those who know from experience?
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
hugmagic Inner circle 7655 Posts |
Just leave a small white line from the resist on the silk. It is too risky to set the dye and then reresist the silk.
As for the rolled hems, run a straight stitch through them as they are lying. It will flatten them out and strengthen the hem. BTW, Black is one of the hardest colors to dye on silk and get a true black. The dye I use has been discontinued. Richard
Richard E. Hughes, Hughes Magic Inc., 352 N. Prospect St., Ravenna, OH 44266 (330)296-4023
www.hughesmagic.com email-hugmagic@raex.com Write direct as I will be turning off my PM's. |
Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
Thanks for the response, Richard. I thought as long as my first attempt wasn't "good enough for show business" I'd use it to experiment on. I set the colors and washed and dried, then I did a second resist from inside the pumpkin to the black edge and the black dye crept up right to the edge, with no problems, so I guess I may keep that in my repertoire.
But you are right about black being a tough color to work with; it just looks splotchy. I may put some cobwebs in the corners just to break up the black. A side effect was when I set the experimental silk out to dry. We've been getting a lot of rain lately, so instead of hanging the frame outside to catch the breeze, I put the frame in my front window to catch whatever heat from the sun it could to speed up drying. Since then, I've been getting compliments from the neighbors on my new "Halloween display." So I figure I can always use my factory seconds as window dressing for the holidays. From the street, they look great, which is why we stand far back from the paintings at the Art Gallery, I guess.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
Although Richard didn't mention it, he does make a commerical Mismade Jack-o-lantern silk set, for those who don't want to make their own. It's on his website.
http://www.hughesmagic.com/catalog/silks/special.html - Donald P.S. There was also a Mismade Jack-o-lantern silk routine many years ago on a video tape ("Spooky Goofy Magic Show") put out by Ohio magician Rick Allen. After demonstrating his routine, he was encouraging other magicians to make their own. The video, and this trick, was discussed on some other threads over the years. Everything old is new again.
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
It's a good thing that neither Qua-Fiki nor I knew about Richard's silks before we started in on our project, or we might have taken the easy way out. Instead, Qua-Fiki came up with a Mismade Jack with a self-contained change bag blendo that splits apart at the end into two large (30") silks that say "Tricks And Treats For Halloween" between the two of them, stretching out 60 inches. But it IS a lot of work and I wish someone before me had written an e-Book telling me what to do, instead of my having to work it all out for myself. Qua-Fiki's show will also be called "Tricks and Treats for Halloween" and so far we've got two bookings for it already or I'd give the whole thing up in a minute.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
Just a follow-up. Qua-Fiki had no school for a few days because of Columbus Day, so he got seriously to work on rehearsing for his Halloween shows. Jim Gerrish was assigned the task of sewing the whole thing together, since with my eyes, I can't even see the needle, much less the hole through it. It's a good thing Qua-Fiki was supervising the whole process or I would have had to make a whole new set of silks; neither Jim nor I understood his plan for the "blendo bag" and based our understanding on the ones we have worked with in the past. Qua-Fiki really has a whole new outlook on things, and his Blendo Bag reflects that creativity. But he had a clear picture in his mind of how it should work and despite our arguments as to how it was all upsidedown and backwards, when Jim sewed the last stitch and Qua-Fiki showed us how it worked, our flabber was gasted.
Some photos from this past working weekend: Make faces like your pumpkin. The Jack O'Lantern Blendo complete with its creator.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
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