Generations Tie Dye

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade GenerationsTieDye.etsy.com

In about one month I will be participating in the Artisans at Artway Trunk Show along with 9 other Etsy artisans. This will be held Sept 6th, 2008, 11AM to 4PM at Polymer Clay Express in Damascus, MD. I will be bringing an assortment of plants of course, but what of the other exhibitors? What WONDROUS GOODIES WILL THEY BRING!? hmm...let's see... Oh! Well one of the sellers with pretty unique stuff and something for everyone you know is Deb of Generations Tie Dye. She's a wonderful, energetic woman who loves her craft and I have enjoyed chatting with her. I asked her to tell us a little more about herself, and this is what she had to say:

Generations Tie Dye provides an outlet for my tie-dyeing addiction, allowing me to sell what I make so I can buy MORE stuff to tie-dye! I pride myself on doing tie-dye in my own style, trying to create both garments that are fun and pieces that are unusual: tops for the office, layette sets, pillowcases, up-cycled second-hand items.

Tie-dyeing started as a way to create baby gifts for all my pregnant friends and as my own children have grown, I've begun dyeing garments for toddlers, older kids, and adults. Along with the usual assortment of classic spiral and heart patterns, I enjoy trying new patterns and color combinations I haven't seen anywhere else, and dyeing different garments and accessories.

Custom orders are probably the thing I enjoy the most. Working with someone to match their specifications and co-creating pieces is deeply satisfying to me. I love the process of starting with a "blank canvas" and creating wearable art made just for its new owner!

I have to agree with you Deb, it is great fun to play with color and you certainly do have some great colors and patterns in your work! 3 Hearts Up!

Fighting off a 'Case of the Mondays'

This post is a reprint from a post I put up on the EtsyPHAT blog yesterday. Thought I'd cheat a bit and reproduce it here. ;-)

A study published in Feb 2008 cites keeping plants at your desk may result in more satisfaction with your job. Based on surveys, the study finds that employees with live plants or windows in their offices had more positive and mellow responses to a range of questions vs. those who lived in a basic cube. Basically, they tended to feel more like people with good jobs rather than rats in a maze with bad food.

This makes me wonder if the move Office Space would have gone differently if the plant on Milton's desk wasn't dead. (check out this clip on YouTube, upper right hand corner)

Moral of the day: fix up your desk with a snazzy new plant and have a better day!

Read more about it:

The original journal article:
Dravigne, Andrea, Waliczek, Tina Marie, Lineberger, R.D., Zajicek, J.M. The Effect of Live Plants and Window Views of Green Spaces on Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction HortScience 2008 43: 183-187 [link]

Science Daily Report

LA Times Article

Be on the lookout for seed grenades!

This past weekend I mixed and packed seeds for EtsyPHAT's Guerrilla Gardening campaign. Guerrilla gardening is not a new concept, but we don't think it gets enough press. So we've set out to begin supporting the idea of randomly sprucing up neglected spaces, plus just the fun of planting seeds and seeing if they make it and how others react to the sudden appearance of veggies or flowers in what was recently a dirt pancake. For more information, checkout one of our member's great article in Etsy's Storque, as well as the EtsyPHAT blog. And also- be on the lookout for our seed packets! You might find one hanging out on a park bench, in a package you just got in the mail, or any number of other random places. Take them and find them a home where they can enhance your town!

Tomorrow I'm heading to FL for the Redland orchid festival and a general flowery tour. I'll make sure to post photos when I get back!