Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cafe Rouge du Chocolat!

Here is my latest creation...Cafe Rouge du Chocolat! I had to look up the French terminology on Babel Fish, so I hope I got it right! It's a re-creation of my classic Mocha Java, and it smells just like walking into a super uppity coffee shop! I have only listed the one size so far, but more sizes will be available soon. I can easily make them up now, too, for anyone who wants to shoot me a convo!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Here Comes the Groom!







My poor little Bride sachet was lonely, so I finally did some matchmaking and found her a Groom! He is rather dashing, isn't he?

Here is the final result of my Alchemy Bridesmaid Dresses...each one has a couple of minor spots on them due to imperfections in the fabric, but two of them managed to come out very close to perfection! I have yet to hear from my customer, but she loved the photos and didn't at all mind the spots. I sure hope these add glamour to her special day!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

My First Alchemy Request!





You may have seen the Bride and Bridesmaid Dress Sachets in my shop...I just love them, they are so elegant! I will now admit to you dear blog readers (prepare for a shock!) that I *gasp* purchased these sachets pre-made, and the Rosebud Wedding Throw that comes in them is the handmade by me part. Believe me, if I tried to sew anything like this, it wouldn't be pretty...maybe it could be used as a dishrag or something! Anyway, the sachets are only available in limited colors, much to my disappointment, and my customers I'm sure who have wondered if they could have them to match their wedding party. This exact quandry came up a few weeks ago when I was asked to make some in a deep plum/eggplant purple. Sadly, my supplier only offers Lavender. Somehow, my brain kicked into gear and I decided to try dyeing some white ones!



OK, this sounds simple right? Ummm, no. As it turns out, polyester satin is notoriously difficult to dye! After coming up with some very off-looking lavender ones using Rit Dye, I called up Dharma Trading Company. They gave me some numbers to enter into a computer every 108 minutes, and voila! Nothing. OK, not really....but they did give me some great pointers and I was able to purchase some special dye for polyester fabric (and I didn't have to fight off any polar bears or involve any smoke monsters!)

Sadly, even this special dye has not proven foolproof, but I am learning. The fabric has little variations that can show up as spots or even streaks. The bows are glued on and come off in the dyeing process (insert dyeing humor here!) Fortunately that part is easily remedied! The ones you see above are not the final product...when I give them their last dye bath (they need to be one shade darker), iron them (i hate ironing more than Smoke Monsters!) and glue the bows back on, I will post the photo here and it will show up in my Sold Alchemy Items...woo hoo!!

I am getting braver and I think that I will be willing to try new colors in the future...so if you have a special occasion coming up, let me know if you would like me to create some spectacular sachets for your lovely day! Of course, if your colors are pink, white, light blue, hot pink, maroon or ivory...let me know and they're already a done deal! ;) You can see some of them on my flickr page, in my shop, or in the slideshow on the right side of this page!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Back to Work...I Promise!




Whew! The kids go back to school this week...except one, I haven't received his materials yet for homeschooling, so probably next week for him. Anyway, no more running around means a bit more time at home, so I finally got to work on a couple more potpourris! I started with Mango, so voila! Mango Madness! I also made a new batch of Lemongrass, one of my all time best sellers. My supplier no longer carries some of the ingredients, so I improvised! I will be posting new items over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!