Project Dread head Days 1 through 3

Pretty much since the start of our relationship, Antho quit cutting his hair and started growing it out. That means for nearly 4 years now (our anniversary is in July, and he quit cutting his hair sometime in the fall not long after) he's been letting his thick mane of hair grow... and it's gotten long. Very long. It was hitting his elbows when he'd let it down, though he frequently kept it out of his face with Willie Nelson style braids or a bun (it's hair, people, it doesn't have a gender). It's the longest it's ever been in his life, and he often got compliments on his luscious locks from strangers. He has nice hair, and it's a lot thicker than mine, but that also means it was a lot more to handle. I've had long hair in the past and my hair has grown out a lot since I buzzed it off, but we'd hit the point where he felt he was at a crossroads. It was growing long enough to start to be a bit of a hassle: the pain of your hair getting sucked out the car window / stuck in your armpit/ caught under a strap / suffocating on it when you accidentally inhale it or it flies into your face during a gust / the list is endless... but he didn't want to cut it and basically tread old ground again. What to do... how about dreads?

It was one of the only things he hasn't done to his hair previously, and it's an excellent way to keep the hair that he's grown over these past few years but drastically decrease it's overall length while also improving its manageability. We had originally planned to start the process as a group project on July 10th (7/10), but after obsessing about it for weeks on end, and perhaps inspired in part by some of the beautiful heads of dreadlocks we saw at the Bender Jamboree, Antho started with just one little baby dread on the back of his head and then he just kept going until he'd gotten a rough head of them going. From there he picked up some crochet hooks from the local Sally's Beauty Supply and started going to town, sometimes having to untangle and re-section some of the early drafts he'd started. There's a LOT of different methods for starting, let alone maintaining, dreadlocks and it's easy to get lost in a rabbit hole of endless websites, videos, and tutorials. The method he settled on was backcombing to create the initial baby-dreads, then going in with a crochet hook to tighten them and pull in loose hairs. It's made a big difference, though they're still baby dreadlocks at this stage. It takes time for the hair to adapt and tighten, and because Antho's hair is very straight and thick it's harder for the knots to take. 

The above was all taken within the first 24 hours. You can see a lot of wispy ends peeking out and the hair is still very long and loose. Fluffy, fuzzy. 

Art: February 2018 Ice dye round one

We're always creating, churning out new designs and experimenting with new techniques and color combinations. Tie-dye has been illuminating for us, and it's become something we do whenever the opportunity avails itself to us. We've really been cranking out an outstanding amount of product these last few months compared to some of the earlier days. This may have something to do with the fact that I've been trying to push towards buying in bulk more so that we have ample back stock ready to experiment with instead of ordering piecemeal one item at a time. Having such an abundance of blank canvases at our disposal stoked something in our creative fires and the results have been great fun! Unfortunately, I'd say our current store inventory is a bit uneven, to say the least, and we're working at expanding our options in all the sizes available so that none of you lovely rainbow-loving folks out there will be left out.  We've made shirts for infants up to 6XL and want to continue branching out! We recently made several 2XL/3XL tee dresses that have been doing really well, so we'll definitely be making more of those for the coming summer months! Plus size girls and boys deserve to feel like the gorgeous beings they are, right? No matter what your clothing size, everyone deserves to feel beautiful and to have options available to them. While searching for plus-size items to add to our shop I've been surprised at the lack of diversity! Trying to find a v-neck shirt alone has been challenging after a certain size, and that's not fair. I'll keep looking because it's our job as creators of clothes to try to ensure we have a little something for everyone, in my humble opinion. 

With some of these shirts, we tried something a little different. Normally we apply the dyes over the ice, letting the melting ice saturate the dye and drip it down onto the top. This creates a more abstract, space-like, water-colour sort of effect that we've enjoyed greatly. For this batch we went dye straight on the fabric, as this can allow a bit more control over the colour distribution. The photos here are just of the process, to see the results of how the dye-direct batch turns out you'll have to check back tomorrow! But for now, enjoy the photos of our tie-dye behind the scenes. 

Art: Early Ice dye for 2018

Rainbows here, rainbows there, rainbows everywhere! We love making tie-dye and do it as often as we possibly can. It's always fascinating seeing what kind of mad science color combinations we can create! We typically work with ice-dyes, sprinkling dye over the ice so that it hydrates through and deposits pigment as the ice melts, which creates a more space-like watercolour effect. Even using only one or two colors we've been really surprised by the depth of the results! We do experiment, though, and no matter how many times we dye no two shirts (or skirts, shorts, dresses, hoodies, crop tops, etc...) are ever the same.  It's been a lot of fun throughout the journey, and we've been doing tie-dye for fun now since some time in 2015 or maybe even 2014. I can't even pinpoint the exact date, it just happened that we were driving along and Antho suggested doing tie-dye on a whim and we found that we actually, really, thoroughly, deeply, passionately enjoyed doing tie-dye. Of all the things.  It makes sense, I suppose- I've always enjoyed painting, digital and traditional illustration, and most things artsy-fartsy... there was an awkward phase around 4th grade where I found out there were these brightly coloured three-dimensional paints you could use on clothes and went about drawing all sorts of goofy lizards and things onto every clothes item I could...Colour and aesthetics have appealed to me for awhile, and Antho has always been fashion/image conscious, crafty and hands-on so tie-dye has just been kind of a natural fit for us both. We're always learning and growing as we go, though, it's just part of the process. Nothing is perfect in the beginning, and there's an adage that it takes roughly 10,000 hours to become truly skilled at any given craft, whether it's playing a guitar, tie-dye, or aeronautical navigation, so we relentlessly we strive forward in our efforts to create cloth and colour alchemy. The more we try, the more we practice, the better we get after all. This also means more shirts (or skirts, shorts, hoodies, crop tops, tank-tops, etc) we can share with everyone!  We hope to be as inclusive as possible with our size options and though our funds are limited we try to invest in items that will work for all of our fans regardless what size they wear.  We want everyone to be able to taste, or wear, the rainbow in their favourite spectrum. Everyone deserves to feel fabulous!

More photos below!

Project: Spring Tie-dye 2016-03-18

Happy Spring, guys!

How is your month going?

We've recently moved and during the process a lot of our tie-dye stuff got buried...but we've managed to dig it out of the abyss of the garage and made a fun new batch of goodies to share with everyone!

If you haven't noticed before, Antho and I are pretty fond of tie-dying. It's an excellent creative project that we can work on together and it's so much fun to unwrap and unveil the finished products! There are so many fabric textures, colour combinations, folds and techniques that we're constantly evolving and trying new things as we go.

We've also been doing research into ordering products wholesale and sourcing fun new styles. 

I really enjoyed how this long sleeved ribbed cotton shirt turned out!  

It's almost long enough for me and I'm 5'10"! I prefer having my tummy covered with longer shirts but it could totally be rocked as a belly-baring shirt for the braver ladies out there. We've been using more or less the same dyes since the very beginning, but we're really excited about a recent order for some high-end dyes that should be arriving soon. Our shop has also been getting more business lately, but we're still far from the top performing tie-dye shop on Etsy and I want to change that. I've sunk some time into watching free lectures and reading blogs from top performers and gleaned some useful tips that have already quadrupled our sales! We've even sold a shirt to Luxembourg & one to Spain since I added international shipping to our shop!

Goals, people.

I got them!

Check out the rest of our colourful new creations after the jump!

Project: Tie-dye 2016/02/13

Antho and I have been doing a lot of tie-dye recently. These have all been posted in our Etsy shop so if you see any you like be sure to check it out! We're both quite pleased with how we've been progressing through experimentation and practice. ^_^ Hope you like!

Project: Spring Dye round 2

We're often doing some sort of colorful project or event, so naturally we love creating tie-dye!

Here's some photos of a batch we did earlier this year.

These puppies will be up in our Storenvy and Etsy soon. :)

If you like what you see, please help support our small business so we can keep bringing you colorful new creations!