Time to Dye

There are many books and websites that give you more thorough instructions and explanation. I will give you quick and dirty directions (again, not an expert. At all).

1. Gather your supplies. Pits, pots (I recommend that large soup pot in the back of your cabinet that you never use but keep just in case you want to make a big batch of soup, but let’s face it, you live alone and are never going to make a big batch of soup), and fabric to dye.
2. Fill the pot (save the pot for future dyeing and not for cooking) with enough water to cover your fabric. I almost always never use enough water and still have decent results.
3. Add your pits to the pot. There is some ratio of pits to pounds, but I don’t know what it is. I just take a guess. The more fabric, the more pits. The more pits, the more color.
4. Boil your pits. I bring my pits to a boil and let simmer for about an hour before I add my fabric.
5. Wet your fabric and add to the pot. Simmer for about another hour, then turn off hear. Let your fabric soak. Depending upon how dark you want your fabric, you can soak an hour or you can soak overnight.
6. Rinse and dry. Once you have achieved the color you want, rinse your fabric until the water runs clear and hang it to dry. If you want more color, put it back in your dye pot.
7. ​Wash your fabric with a gentle soap (I use a few drops of dish soap because I’m in the kitchen and it’s handy). You could also throw your dyed fabric in the washing machine.​
8. Let dry and bathe in the oohs and aaahs from your friends and family.

Experiment with different fibers. I’ve tried cotton gauze, raw silk, and a scrap of dropcloth. The raw silk turned a dark pink, almost maroon. The cotton gauze turned a lovely, delicate pink. The dropcloth.. well, it just looked not so great. I want to try dyeing a cotton knit next time. I see lots of pink tee shirts in my future.

If you want to learn more about dyeing, these people know a lot more than I do.

Books about Dyeing
The Modern Natural Dyer by Kristin Vejar
Botanical Color at Your Fingertips by Rebecca Desnos

Dyeing with Avocados
Rebecca Desnos
Apartment Therapy
CUESA

When we left off, I had just purchased the materials needed to build a table.

Step 1: Stain the tabletop. 
I lightly sanded the surface of the plywood, then applied a layer of stain. Allowing the tabletop to dry overnight, I then lightly sanded again, wiped with tack cloth to remove dust, and stained again. This part was easy.

Now, the dilemma of the other side. The unstained side. Do I half-ass it and leave unstained? I am lazy and impatient. An idea comes to me. Let the kid paint the underside. That way, she can be involved in the process and I don't have to wait two more days to complete the table. The one mistake I did make was having the kid use tempera paint and not acrylic. Still, it's good enough for me.

Step 2: Put together the pipe base 
Assembling the base was surprisingly easy. Too easy, in fact. 

I attached the tees between the 30" and 10" pipe. I attached the 10" end to each flange and the 30" end to a cap (I should have done the reverse). I then attached an 18" pipe to the tees to connect two legs and repeated on the other side. Ta-da!

Step 3: Attach base to top
Only one more step and we are good to go. My work table will be done and the creative magic can begin. (insert screech sound effect here)

Not so fast.

I found a simple stool at the Reuse Center (one of my new favorite places for basket hunting). It's too short, only it's not. The table is too damn tall. I want to be able to stand and work but not all the time. It's also a bit wobbly. Because it's too damn tall. And because I didn't add any support pipe along the length. What do I do? 

Feel free to skip the next paragraph as I ramble and rant about my many subsequent trips to various hardware stores.

I return to Lowe's and return the 10" pipes and exchange them for I don't even know what at this point. Nope. I return to Lowe's for more pipe. This has quickly become a running joke of "that's what she said" between Lefty and me. I bring the kid with me to Lowe's this time, and a lovely older woman compliments me on her behavior (#humblebrag). As a frazzled mom dragging my 4 year old through a big store, I really needed to hear that. Thank you, kind lady. Alas, this trip was also unsuccessful. I finally think I have it figured out. Where do I go? You guessed it. Lowe's. They have everything I need, except one goddamned pipe. I head down the street to Home Depot. No pipe. Time to pick the kid up from school. Drag the kid to another hardware store. The kind, and quite amused, worker at Agway suggested I just have my pipe cut to fit. If I give him the measurements, he can do it. Do I have the measurements? No. Are you still reading? You really can just skip ahead. I won't mind. After arriving at home, I enlist the kid's help to disassemble the table. I have enough pipe; certainly I can figure something out. One more trip the next day for 4" pipe. The kid helps put the table back together and ta da! No, really, this time. Ta-da!

Step 4: Use the table
Thank the DIY gods above (or whoever you pray to).  It is not perfect; I may tinker with it in the future; but the table is done enough. And isn't that the case with a lot of our life. We just need to be enough. Done enough. Good enough. Happy enough.

I couldn't take a very good photo of the completed desk because the other side of the garage is full of junk and bikes and snowblowers. But this little area is mine. I can sit at my desk, open the window, and look out into the backyard and "decompose," as Lefty says.

And I did it all by myself. Well, with a little help from my assistant the kid. She used her screwdriver like a pro. Proud of that kid.

I love to hear about your failed and almost-failed DIYs. How did you save/salvage them? How do decide when to scrap a project and start over? Share in the comments.

For the past few weeks, I have been cleaning out our garage to create a little corner to serve as my "art studio." My husband has reminded me that I will only be able to use this space for about 2, maybe 3, more months, and then it will be freezing for the next 6 months. Still I push forward, (And I have a plan for my "winter studio," but let's not get ahead of ourselves.) 

In my studio, I needed a worktable. Something to use as a desk for blogging and also a spot to take photos of smaller works. A full studio tour will come later. For now, let's get to the table.

Since the space is, ahem, rustic, I needed something rustic and industrial-looking. I got the crazy idea that making my own table would be cheaper than buying one (not necessarily, I would soon learn), and it would make a good blog post. Since I began my venture into macrame, I've become more comfortable at the hardware store with trips to purchase copper pipe. What about a table made with pipes. So I googled pipe tables and found several DIYs, from House by Hoff, Designer Trapped, and Apartment Therapy. Looks simple enough. So I sketched a drawing and set off for Lowe's. 

Of course, I brought measurements with me. Unfortunately I did not know what were the standard measurements for pipe and board. Learning as I go here. A year ago, I would have given up. Hardware stores made me itchy. But post-med me had her anxiety in check. I can do this. So...

I bought

• a piece of pine (I think) plywood, measuring 2' x 4' x .75"
• 4- 30" (.75") galvanized pip3
• 4-  10" pipe
• 2- 18" pipe
• 4-  iron floor flanges (they did not have enough galvanized pipe floor flanges. I am impatient and the flanges will be on the underside of the table.)
• 4-  pipe caps
• 4-  pipe tees
• Minwax Polyshades in American chesnut
• Miscellaneous staining/cleanup supplies

I would return to Lowes (and Home Depot and Agway) several times before completing the table, which I am now sitting at. It is still not right, but it is close enough for now.

Join me tomorrow as I conclude the saga of my table.