Speed Dried Silks

Tuesday afternoon I dyed up a bunch of silks. I figured I would wash it out the next morning and take it to my lecture Wednesday night. It wasn't nearly dry enough to wash out, so I lugged all the platters out to the deck to dry. It was a very hot and muggy day and it took no time at all to dry this batch out.

Popeye does quality control.

The wind blew off the top layers from some of the platters, so those got draped on chairs and the railing to complete the drying process.

The intense heat makes the silk dry unevenly and forms these really beautiful patterns.

Unfortunately the textures diminish slightly in the washout.

The action shot, of my silk load.

I had a great time at my lecture, and really enjoyed myself. What I mean is, I really enjoyed me as I disconnected and listened to myself talk and heard the audience laff.

I love my job.

I love the audience and being the speaker. Who knew? I was always miserably shy as a kid and my knees would shake, literally, when ever I was called upon to speak.

Now that my level of confidence is raised through quilting, I really relish public speaking. Of course it helps that I have given many awful slide presentations in the past, and learned from those experiences, and now that I have a digital projector, it is sooooo much better, faster and easier to do a good job.

A normal slide presentation usually has about 80 slides and they are pretty static, meaning they aren't animated. I gave an hour talk and had 168 images, and because I use Power Point I have the ability to animate the images and make them swoosh in, dissolve, spin etc. It is so gimmicky and fun. I think this is definitely the wave of the future, and while most of us have our own projector it would be nice if guilds and shows started buying them, so we don't have to lug ours on the plane.

Laura, Frieda, Emily and Moi, the faculty of the Chicago School of Fusing.

Three out of four faculty members have their own digital projectors, and Emily will no doubt jump on the bandwagon once the kidlets are all in school.

I must give credit where credit is due. It was Caryl Fallert who did the legwork to find the very best brand and kindly, no, generously, gave me the information. I have passed it onto you, as I know you will ask. And as is so often the case, this projector is probably being discontinued, and is dirt cheap compared to what I originally paid.

Here it is. Of course you must also have a laptop.
Go for one that is really lightweight while you're at it.
Is this all alot of stuff, and a lot of money? You bet. But sometimes you just gotta invest in yourself. It's showbiz, people!