Blog entry
Spring green
Snowdrops
Daffodils
Silk, indigo and weld
Indoor dyeing
It's so cold that I'm restricted to indoor projects. This has put a halt to most indigo dyeing since I can't air any wet textiles outside. They freeze almost instantly, and trying to unpin them from the clothesline is really hard.
Frozen hemp
Right now my outdoor dye-work is limited to hurried picture-taking.
December Silks
December has been filled with beauty and busy-ness. Happily, I've been able to squeeze in some of my favorite projects, including the dyeing of more silk threads.
After soaking in alum
Indigo
Indigo and weld
Cochineal, madder and indigo
Baby pastels (indgo, madder, weld, walnut)
More madder and cochineal
Coreopsis flowers, weld and madder
Walnut hulls
Cochineal and madder
Walnut, cochineal and madder
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Cochineal and snow
Steady...
After all of the Thanksgiving visiting and joy, it's time to get back to normal.
The days have become soft and gentle again. I finished planting the daffodil bulbs!
I'm still working on emptying the silk fabric storage baskets. Since I'm so busy with dyeing all the time, they fill up fast.
Vintage block prints
I really love old Indian block printed textiles and keep my eyes open for them at yard sales, estate sales and second-hand shops. Sometimes it's hard for me to use these fabrics, just because they're so beautiful. Then I ask myself if I'm waiting until I'm 150 years old before I dare to use them?!!!?
I allowed, (forced), myself to use some of these wonderful fabrics and yesterday morning I took a few pictures of what I've made so far.
Walnuts
Every summer for many years, I've collected a supply of black walnuts for dyeing from a huge tree in the neighborhood.
The fruits of this tree usually ripen and fall to the ground around middle of August. This year each time I visited the tree I found barely any walnuts. The ones I did see were tiny. They gave very little color. I resigned myself to waiting another year for the beautiful browns and creams of walnut hull dye.
October
There's something about the light in October. that makes the world almost too beautiful. Even on a cloudy morning there's extra richness in the colors.
Flying saucer morning glories
Red nightshade berries and yellow Virginia creeper leaf
Silk dyed with indigo
Virginia creeper
Perennial sunflowers
Virginia creeper
Fresh Indigo
Basket of Japanese indigo leaves
One of the nicest things about growing indigo is dyeing with the fresh leaves. It's a quick summertime treat. The colors are different from vatted indigo. The shades are greener, like robin eggs, turquoise, or mossy water.
Strained dye
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Dyebath, rinse water, and leftover leaves
Little particles of indigo leaves in the rinse water
Silk embroidery threads
Organza silk before the final rinse
After washing and rinsing
Wool Pot holders
Undyed wool loops
Years ago, a dear friend shared a huge 5 pound bag of pure wool pot holder loops with me.. Little did I know at the time just how valuable and hard to find these would become. I dyed the loops with natural colors, and made potholders for gifts and for sale.
Hemp Yarn
Hemp is oine of my favorite fibers to spin and dye. Of course it doesn;t drink up color like silk or wool, but I love the gentle shades of natural dyes on the yarn.
Indigo on 2 ply hemp yarn
I don't work in a very scientific or mathematical manner, so every skein is different. Some are more firmly spun.
Some skeins are soft and loose.
Elsewhere