DIVA CHALLENGE + BYDP DAY 2

The Diva Challenge #245 this week is on Hollibaugh.  Oh, how I love this tangle.  I know there will be some fabulous renditions of it, so please click on that link and treat yourself to what others have done.  Here is my quick version (on the left), very different from what I usually do.

HOLLIBAUGH ON A BLACK TILE PREPPED WITH BLACK GESSO. WHITE GELLYROLL PEN, MOONLIGHT GELLYROLL PEN, STARDUST BLACK GELLYROLL PEN.

THE SAME TILE AS THE ONE ON THE LEFT, BUT RUN THRU THE "MIRROR" APP ON MY IPHONE.

And to round off the Hollibaugh celebration, here is the same tangle done by several first-time students, below.  I had only 7 minutes to teach this tangle in a meditation class (all the students were training to be meditation teachers):

You can see the meditation chimes on the left.  I do love Hollibaugh.  Not bad for seven minutes of coaching.  We were focused on the meditative aspect of the tangle.

And now on to the
BIG YARN DYEING PROJECT, Day 2.

Life is full of surprises and today is no exception.  I will only get 3 skeins done today.  My goal is six, but...not gonna happen.  Much busyness with other people.  And my car is in the shop.  (Praying to the god of cars that it is an inexpensive fix)  Plus, I have an afternoon commitment.  I will end up dyeing yarn tonight, just to produce the third skein.  As I write this in the early afternoon, I've just taken two out of the oven.  So here are some photos of the process:

...and some of the results:

And of course, no dyeing process would be complete without what's in this last photo below.  At least--that's true for me.  I am apparently a dyeing slob.  I get dye all over my hands, despite wearing good rubber gloves.  It's a mystery how I do this; other people come out with pristine hands, but mine are always gross at the end.  (No, the gloves do not leak.  It's definitely something I am doing...but what?)  Without this stuff, I wouldn't be able to go out in public for days afterwards.

REDURAN HAND CLEANER, SITTING ON AN OLD PUNCH-HOOKED CHAIR PAD I MADE YEARS AGO.

Legend has it that Pearl McGown, the diva and doyenne of rug hooking in the 1950s, used to dye wool while dressed in an evening gown to demonstrate that it could be done without being messy.  (NOTE:  She is an entire story to herself--she singlehandedly kept rug hooking going in the U.S., but she was quite the dictator.) 

Hey, if I owned an evening gown, I too could dye wool while wearing it without getting spots on it.  I never get dye on my clothes either.

But I note that the legend of Pearl Dyeing in Her Evening Gown says nothing about her HANDS.  Perhaps they were blue up to the elbows when she finished.  Mine are all colors when I am done. 

Long live ReDuRan.  (No, I don't get a commission.)