February Newsletter

NO. 19 | February 2023

Good morning, my friends! Welcome to February, a notoriously difficult month for those of us harboring in winter climates. There’s so much on my mind; this introduction could go in many a direction. But, this newsletter is big—the start of a small series on the blog, the official shop announcement—so I don’t want to spend as many words as normal here.

Here’s just one thing to sit with as we start the day together. In preparing for the shop update, I found myself working on a big project—designing and naturally dyeing over 30 silk bandanas with more than 10 dyes. I was having lunch with my friend Allison (the lovely model you’ll see pictured below!), and we were talking about the bandanas. I lamented to her—why did I choose to make SO MANY? I’ve never sold these before, and I don’t know if people will want to buy them. I have to remember and execute so many different dye times and processes. I have a high cost in silk to recoup. I was feeling like I had bitten off more than I could chew.

I realized it’s a little bit of a trend for me. I like to go big! And it always swings both ways. Sometimes, I am crying on the kitchen floor with my mom at 2AM because I decided to open a cake decorating business at age 16, and I need to deliver a three tier baby shower cake in just a few hours.

But, sometimes, also, I am pulling three beautiful colors of silks out of their dye pots at the same time, holding them in my hands together and washing them in warm water, celebrating that all this color came to be through me, from me, and at the same time. I am folding 32 soft, shining, and beautiful colored silks into a box until they are ready to reach new homes. I am learning so much about natural dye, in a one-of-a-kind experimental crash course that takes my practice to a new place.

It’s the highs and the lows.

Part 1: In Defense of the Jack of All Trades

This month’s blog post is the first in a three-part series centered around building an art practice that involves a lot of things. A lot of mediums, a lot of time, a lot of juggling, a lot of frustration, a lot of creative joy. Where do we find balance? How can we organize ourselves? How do we handle the anxiety of putting our time in one place and not another?

This has always been a really important area of creative thinking for me, and figuring this stuff out is instrumental to my practice. I’m very excited to be sharing these thoughts. I’d love to hear what you think too!

If you prefer to read this blog post on Substack, click here.

The shop update is coming this Friday, 2/3!

You, my lovely newsletter subscribers, will be receiving a password to shop 30 minutes EARLY. So, watch your inbox: coming 10:30 AM CST, Friday, 2/3

The shop is primarily full of two things: ceramics and naturally dyed silk bandanas. Both collections are made up of absolutely unique and one-of-a-kind objects. This is just a little preview—there is so much to see! Look forward to Friday for the full update! Know someone who might want to shop? Please:

Jillian Tamaki is a superstar in the illustration/comics/book world and I’m honestly surprised I have not featured her here yet. I have read many of her beautiful books, which include short comic collections (Boundless), graphic novels (This One Summer), and picture books (My Best Friend). Her work carries incredible levels of detail, impressive color limitations, and the ability to draw combinations of realism and magic that keep you looking for a long time. She can also convey a lot of humor, movement, and simplicity in her work.

I learned so much in this little natural dye sprint. Natural dye is a cool part of my practice because it’s such a long and integrated part of my life. Growing plants, foraging, saving, pressing, extracting—it happens over an entire year and energizes you for starting the next cycle! I focused on silks for this update, and now have a lot of plans for starting to dye cottons and linens for garments and quilting in 2023.

These are snapshots from my dye journal. Crazy and disorganized notes and swatches that are both next steps in natural color and pretty fun to look at.

☆ I think this is the only argument you need to put one of my naturally dyed bandanas in your shopping cart.
☆ This month I was featured on the Fabrics Store Blog for their Curated By You series. See the dress I sewed up in their wisteria linen through film photos from the Dominican Republic!
☆ I bought my 2023 seeds from Grand Prismatic Seed. They have a ton of dye plants, cool flowers, veggies, herbs, etc. I think they’re a lovely company and their website is also just full of nice photos!
☆ Emilio & I made these chocolate chip cookies and they might be the best from-scratch recipe I’ve ever used for this classic dessert
☆ In January I started volunteering at PAWS Chicago (an animal shelter), and I’m having the best time. If you’re not in a position to adopt a pet right now but you love animals (me), it’s a really great way to help out and also microdose owning a cat.