Featured Artist : Simon OssittAudacious Tie-Dye

Having been born and bred in the north of England I really had never come into contact with any tie-dye until a couple of years ago. While on holiday in the States we were able to catch a few Phish shows, it was there I bought my first Tie Dye T Shirt. When I got back home I bought a couple more from a couple of dyers I found on Facebook and I was hooked. So much so I just had to have a go myself.

With advice from a few helpful dyers I found out what I needed to use and where to get it, namely Dharma's Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes and loads of white T Shirts. I then spent way to many late night hours trawling through youtube looking for tutorials, reading all of the files in the Facebook group "Addicted To Tie-Dye" and ruining loads of perfectly good white t shirts. With encouragement from members of a few Facebook dye groups I persisted and one day had one of those "what if?" moments, "what if I tried it this way?" The result was, in my eyes at least, a fantastic fan folded dye. I gave it the name of Peacock and everything blew up from there.

I really enjoy spreading colour around the world, while most of my work has ended up in the States and Canada, some of it is currently living in Holland, Portugal, Australia, South Africa, Puerto Rico, oh and in the UK. I am truly grateful to all of my customers, some of whom have pushed my in directions I would have never thought of going, many of whom have become very good friends.

My day job is in the high pressure world of business to business sales, which can get quite stressful at times. My time in my dye room (daughters recently vacated bedroom) is the place where I unwind on a weekend. I turn the music up loud and just let go, often the music really does inspire me and affect how and which colours I use.

Aside from Procion Dyes, all of the dresses I make come from Dharma and I've just dyed my first Good Luck Banner.

It has been scientifically proven beyond doubt that you can't be sad while wearing Tie Dye, we should all wear more of it, the world would be a happier place if we did.