Blog entry
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.
June Inspiration
II've been dyeing silk threads in colors inspired by the velvety shades of petunias
Combinations of lac, logwood, madder and indigo
The milkweed flowers have begun to bloom. The air is filled with their heavy sweetmess. The tender, muted pinks seemed like the perfect color for some handspun wool yarn I've been saving.
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Handspun wool yarn soaked overnight in alum.
June morning
June morning
It's so fine to step outside barefoot,without a sweater, and get started right away. On most mornings,this means just wandering around in wonder and amazement.for awhile.
The backyard is not big, but the cherry tree doesn't seem to mind.
The blackbirds and squirrels .are ready to pounce!
A clothesline fiull of projects
Silk organza after soaking overnight in alum water
Another piece of organza dyed with indigo
Vintage linen napkins
May color reminders
To celebrate the beautiful rich shades of the May garden, I've started a little purple, pink and indigo dyeing project.Yesterday I mordanted some silk scarves and wool with alum. After soaking overnight, they were ready to drink up the colors. I'm using madder, lac and indigo.
Pansies
This is my favorite weather for gardening and dyeing - fresh and damp without harsh sunlight.
Pink, purple,and indigo in layers of wet color
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