Like It.

 I totally wish I could do all of this social media on the treadmill or something. I'm terrified that I'm going to get a squared ass from all this typing. Anyway.  This is the week of photoshoots and displays.

I feel like a Christmas Elf delivering all the sparkles to Chicago.

(Don't ask. It seemed to make far more sense than "Easter bunny".......meh.)

Tomorrow I see Mr.and Mrs. Digz in Andersonville.  Super cute store. If you're local you should totally check it out.

Most of my beaded necklaces will go there. I launch the larger metal worked mixed media pieces soon too but will probably only do so online initially.

By the way, readers.  Like my blog. Send it to other people.  Like my Tumblr and my Facebook page too.  I try to keep things interesting now that I've actually got stuff to talk about. hahaha.



Towanda!!!!

Today Chicago...Tomorrow the WORLD

So.  Today is all about displays, displays, displays.  I am doing a small batch consignment run here in Chicago.  Making my list, checking it twice.

I find this sort of thing exciting actually. It means that the business part of  this business is slowly starting to work.  Which is pretty cool.

Looking forward to spreading the love of Erin Rose Design around the city.  First, Chicago, tomorrow the world!  LOL

Photoshoots~

Every once in a while I do photoshoots.  Oh yes.  Make the inventory pretty....with pretty people.  The lovely ladies from the Kiss Kiss Cabaret here in Chicago are helping me out.  Should prove to be super fun.  Stay tuned.

Motivation Nation

So.  I've been insane. Running around like a total lunatic.  Things are good.  Been doing the artfestapalooza recently. It's been a retail fail...but that won't stop me. I cannot NOT do the festivals.  They are an incredible marketing and networking opportunity.

Today is all about digital marketing.  Full steam ahead.

Let the Games Begin

So inspired by the Olympic Games, I've been making jewelry as if I were going for the gold!

Greg Inda (http://www.greginda.com/) took about 500 photos, and edited them so that they'd be groovy for my Etsy and Shopify sites.

Now...I'm competing in the Post Entry competition. The collection is vast, the words to type are many.  But I am making stuff in America and hiring people who live right here in Chicago.

Cue the theme music.  Here are a few delectable eye candy treats (thanks again, Greg!!!!):

The League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen

So.  I’ve always been a fighter and warrior woman type - even if I do wear heels. 

After being utterly decimated by “bridal season," I decided to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the flame:  I will be launching two product lines at the same time.

Handbags and Jewelry in various collections will be featured at the Ravenswood Remix (September 1 and 2) and Ravenswood ArtWalk (September 29 and 30) events here in Chicago.

I am a designer who gives credit where credit is due.  I could not have pulled off this Herculean effort solo.  I have a team of local craft artisans, of whom I am fiercely proud.  They are all supremely talented.  I am lucky to know them.

Here’s what I put in our company brochure:

“We are local to Chicago and therefore everything is produced here and we strive to support local businesses for our supplies. Each piece in every collection is hand crafted from re-purposed product by either myself or members of my team.  Each piece is done individually as we believe that quality is more important than quantity. Our products are created in a pet free, smoke free, hate free environment.”

None of my successes would be possible without them.

They are, hereinafter, the League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen.

On Period Dyeing. Part Two.

I've been a fiber arts geek for as long as I can remember.  Textiles have always intrigued me.  How to make them; to dye them; to recycle them; to wear them; to use them; to see the art in them (e.g. historically or haute couture) to build them....this list could go on ad nauseam.


One thing I've always been interested in is the dyeing of fibers in all of the ways from ancient to modern. My mother has always been so kind.  She allowed all kinds of dyeing experiments in my home to the tune of several ruined copper pots and battered plants. 


So yesterday - I ripped apart my shop to find all of my Elizabethan color theory.  Primarily...why I use the eggshells to dye clothing.  I'd been doing it so long - I no longer had an organic chemistry basis in fact or even in recollection.


In respect of the lovely organic cage free wonder creatures, I decided nothing would do but I had to find the reason.


Here's what I got for those of you playing Fiber Enthusiast at home [with citations since this is research and not me, Lord knows]:

"Discarded eggshells are often used as a plant fertilizer and are effective liming sources. This is because eggshells contain calcium that raises, or neutralizes, the pH level of overly acidic soil. Chicken eggshells can be used as an alternative soil stabilizer like lime since they have the same chemical composition.

Eggshell membrane consists of collagen as a component. Collagen is a type of protein, fibrous in nature that connects and supports other bodily tissues, such as skin, bone, tendons, muscles and cartilage. Collagen has been isolated mainly from bovine and swine skins and bones Collagen used in medicine, biochemical, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industries.

Eggshell membrane collagen is very low in autoimmune and allergic reactions as well as high in bio-safety and is of similar characteristics to other mammalian collagen.

Eggshells/shell membranes have multiple uses in nutrition, medicine, construction and art works"

[International Journal of Poultry Science]

Yes.  Apparently, there is an International Journal of Poultry Science. LOL


 Fascinating.  I then, found this:

"Brazilwood:
Origin and History: Brazilwood dye comes from the Caesalpinia tree, and was named "brazil" even before the discovery of that country. In its natural state, brazilwood is a light, brownish red; mahogany in appearance. It is sold nowadays in blocks or chips, and sometimes in scrapings or shavings (as of 1960s).

In the Middle Ages it was always sold in blocks, and the craftsman was obliged to reduce the solid wood to powder by scraping it with a piece of glass, or filing or pounding, as the finer the powder the more easily the color can be extracted from it.

Making the Pigment: When the brownish powder of brazilwood is wet it turns reddish. When steeped in a solution of lye it colors the liquid deep, purplish red, and hot solutions of alum extract the color from the wood in the form of an orange-red liquor. Most medieval brazil lakes were made either from the extract made with lye (a weak solution of potassium carbonate) or from the alum extract, as these solutions get the color out of the wood more thoroughly than plain water. Just what the shade is that is extracted depends on how acid or alkaline the mixture of solutions is made. The more alum: the warmer the color, the more lye: the colder the red. The precipitate is collected by settling and pouring off the liquid.

The pasty mass is smeared on an absorbent surface such as a new brick or tile to dry. Then it is ground, and has the same degree of transparency as the alumina of which it is chiefly composed. When chalk is added to the alum, a more opaque pink rose is produced by the resulting admixture of calcium sulphate to the alumina lake. When white lead was used, it had no other effect than to give substance to the lake and slightly less transparency, rather than to make it opaque.

When marble dust and powdered egg shells were added to newly formed lakes, they further controlled the color produced by reacting chemically with any excess of alum which might give a brown cast instead of rose. In all these cases the brazil color was mordanted upon the white material, so to speak, dyed with the brazil, and the pigment so formed was different from a mixture of a finished lake with a white pigment.

Artistic Notes: Brazil lakes are not very permanent.  

[Pigments:  Historical, Chemical and Artistic Importance of Coloring Agents]

 I'll investigate further.  LOL