Make things or dye trying

Generally, when I'm not at Harbourfront, I'm at OCADU (Ontario College of Art and Design University) where I'm the class assistant for the fibre studio. I feel seriously lucky to be involved in two amazing communities, especially when I score sweet equipment that's heading for the garbage!

A couple of months ago when we were cleaning up the studio at school, I rescued an old-fashioned laundry mangler from pending disposal and brought it to its new home on the Harbour. I'm pretty sure that the only use it has had in the last 5 years was when my garment construction teacher showed me how to press pleats into a dress I was making back in 4th year. He said "a mangler pleats faster and more uniformly than using an iron" and I had no idea what he was talking about because I'd never heard of a mangler, and by the name it certainly didn't sound pleasant or easy to use. When he brought me over to ol' Automagic I laughed; I told him I'd always thought it was in the studio for decoration (as you can see, it's got a bit of old-timey charm).

I was glad to bring Automagic to the Front with me because I felt personally connected to this neglected piece of equipage, and because I'm seriously bored of ironing tea towels! My

studiomate, Julie, makes fun of me because when I started at the studio last summer I commented that I 'loved ironing' and 'found it relaxing'. Not so much anymore, after ironing over 200 yds worth of fabric over the past year (though it is nice to zone out once and a while, i guess).

I finally set it up and started working on it this weekend, and it really is magic. It's at least 60 years old and works like new. Above is a picture of my other studiomate, Shuyu, trying it out. It's basically a rotating iron, so you feed your fabric etc. into the roller and it presses it, kind of like a pasta maker. I heart it.

Unfortunately though, I had to learn the hard way that the "Linen" setting is too hot, even for linen... after some yellowish burn marks on my first towel, I cranked the dial down to somewhere in between "wool" and "cotton". A wise decision, I think.

This guy is going to be my trusty assistant as I get ready for the Beaches Arts and Crafts Show coming up in a month. I hope the rain lets up by then!