BELOIT — A tie-dyed shirt beholds much more than bold colors and patterns. Within the colorful mandalas and looping spirals behold transformation.
That’s what business owner Katie Howes learned as she embarked on the ancient art.
“I learned patience. You can’t control everything,” she said. “The dye does it’s own thing. You have to let it happen.”
Howes’ journey to the colorful spirals began in 2019 when she launched Howes Craft Studio offering homemade wire wrapped jewelry with crystals, unique dream and sun catchers, tree of life statues and beard oils and balm.
Much of her spare time was spent on escapades and laughter with her late brother Shawn “Animal” O’Grady. One of their many planned adventures was to one day create tie-dye items together. Tie-dye fit Howes’ creative side and complemented her brother’s eccentric and life-of-the party personality.
“Every piece was unique, and he loved that about tie-dye,” Howes said.
However, Howes’ journey took a bit of a detour. She was blindsided when her brother passed in December of 2019. Through her grief she came to realize what her brother had taught her—that life was short and dreams were worth pursuing.
In June of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she expanded her offerings to include tie-dye items, after some strong encouragement from her sister Erin Mericle.
“I just jumped in full force,” Howes said.
Tie-dye’s first lesson was patience as it was so time consuming art to learn.
“You have to soak shirts in soda ash to release the fibers, making it more porous so you can apply the dye,” Howe said.
There were endless tie-dye methods and techniques to learn.
“You put the die on and you let it sit,” Howes said. “I get so excited about how it’s going to look. It has to sit for 48 hours. It’s a patience I didn’t know I had.”
The first pattern to learn was the spiral.
“Everybody likes a good spiral. It gets the colors where they need to be,” she said.
One of her favorite techniques has been implementing the “bullseye” which when strategically placed on the side of a garment to make it more figure flattering.
There are challenging techniques such as the “wig wag,” with the fabric folded accordion style with a circle in the middle and zig-zag dye placement.
While Howes was honing her skills last spring, she was dealt detour with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the shows she planned on attending were postponed or cancelled.
Kauffman’s Country Store Market run by Steve Williams at the store’s lawn at 9550 W. State Road 81 was a life saver for her and many other local artists. The new market included displaced vendors from cancelled markets as well as newcomers who wanted the opportunity to peddle their fare in the country air.
“He really saved a lot of people’s businesses by doing that. This year will be even bigger and better,” Howes said.
Surprisingly, the rural crowd couldn’t get enough of the bold colors.
“I was so busy, I couldn’t leave my booth,” she said.
Starting on May 8, Howes said she will be back to Kauffman’s Country Market from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday and at area shows which will be on her Facebook page “Howes’ Craft Studio.”
This winter Howes showcased her items at the Janesville Mall’s indoor farmers market and has ventured to some other shows including one in Milwaukee. She said she loves sharing her story with customers and said she is always touched by those who wanted to purchase her hand crafted items.
“When someone buys something I do a lil’ shimmy,” she said.
Today, some of her merchandise is available at Walnut Creek Apparel & Gifts, 406 E. Grand Ave. She’s also done online orders for as far away as Canada and Mexico. She is beginning to share her reveal videos, much to the delight of her fans and herself.
The final product is always a bit of surprise.
“I hold my breath as I cut the strings, and let out a sigh of a relief as it’s just what I wanted,” she said. “I like to make my own colors to play around.”
One of her fans, Kaytlyn Hatch, said Howes has tie-dyed about half of her closet.
She said Howes’ designs continue to evolve and become more intricate. Howes not only dyes new items but will dye people’s existing garments to give them a new and fresh look.
“You can get tie dye from the store, but others will have the same one. She can’t ever recreate the same piece twice,” Hatch said.
Hatch notes Howes doesn’t only dye new clothing, but can give older clothing a new look.
“She doesn’t just dye new stuff,” Hatch said. “She will dye something you have to revamp it or make it look good again,” she said.
Jenny Mohorko was thrilled with the T-shirts she purchased from Howes to be used in a family photo. Howes used the suggested colors and then made it so one shirt’s design, in inverted sunburst, would continue into the next shirt, a creative and challenging feat to make for a unique photo.
“She went above my expectations,” Mohorko said. “One shirt started and the other one picked up the same design,” she said. We took the family pictures at Easter. Everyone loved them and raved about them. She did an outstanding gob. She’s so creative and thought of it all on her own.”
Mohorko said Howes also donated two specially dyed shirts for two coworkers of Mohorko that were moving out of state to work at another site.
“Katie has a huge heart and she’s just trying to pass the love out in the community, and it’s wonderful to see such an amazing small business owner,” Mohorko said.
For Howes, she is thrilled her business has come so far and knows her brother would be proud.
“He would absolutely love it. He would be my number one support. He would try it on and model it,” she said.
May 08, 2021 at 01:00AM
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Katie Howes learns to 'let it happen' with the art of tie-dye - Beloit Daily News
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