I’m a little behind in recording this project on the blog, so I’ll try to catch up as best I can. In order to make this readable and because I think and write more clearly if I divide it up in stages, I’m going to do this chronologically.

I am fortunate enough to belong to a wonderful organization called the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, a group that provides many stellar services to its members, including an “Awards Program.” This particular program provides grants (Yes, grants. You don’t have to pay them back unless the project doesn’t get completed) to craftspeople looking to engage in community partnership projects, undertake further arts or crafts education, run workshops, set up a first professional studio or, in my case, develop a new product.

I applied for (and received) a grant to cover part of my living expenses and my materials expenses to start developing my new product line in a coherent and cohesive fashion. Over the next couple of months, I will be systematically organizing my dyeing procedure, controlling the results I get and recording them so that I can replicate them and use the dyes deliberately rather than relying on serendipity.

Truthfully, I really enjoy “Serendipity Dyeing.” It’s fun to just whack colours together and see what happens and then to make something truly unique from the results. At the same time, if you ever want to make that “unique something” again, for sale, perhaps, you’re pretty much out of luck. I want to control the process and therefore put my own creative stamp on what I make. Recording the process and results of my experiments will therefore feature greatly in this project.

The first three stages will involve the procuring of materials, the testing out of my cold soak dyeing technique, and creating a master colour chart for myself using the acid dyes that will be used for the production line. Stay tuned!