YUMSHUSNESS piles

I’ve been dyeing all week:

Swanky Panky: Packs of teasing texture in pearlescent cotton damask, mellow cotton velveteen, sultry silk habotai, crisp cotton and slinky silk/rayon velvet, naturally dyed in madder, quebracho rojo, lac, marigold and eucalyptus with historically accurate processes.

AND

Earthing: A more rustic version of the Swanky Panky mix, each pack with a different fibre mix. Naturally dyed in madder, quebracho rojo, lac, marigold and cutch with historically accurate processes.

https://fibrespace.bigcartel.com

 

 

 

Making piles. Sorting bits. Prepping projects. Skeining threads.

And then it’s time to play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

OOO OOO OOO

This bodes well. I bought Indigo suffruticosa seeds from the vaunted Deb McClintock in Texas, and soaking the seeds yielded what is usually the beginning colour of an actual indigo vat!

 

Of course, i don’t know if this is actually “normal”, and i don’t know how many will germinate or what success i will actually have at the end of the season, but WHOO HOO anyways 🙂

In Texas, Deb gets these to SEVEN feet tall, where they are also more of a perennial. Mine will certainly not reach that height, and our growing season is shorter, with cooler nights, but i’ma gonna baby these babies as much as i can. Whatever i can harvest is a bonus. I may have to store dried until next year when i have enough, but that’s worth the wait as well. Natural dyeing can be a long slow process, but that’s what it IS all about. I did grow indigo one year in a pot at the old house, but hail and an early frost got it when it was barely 3 feet tall and rather sparse. I still have the dried leaves though!

Hoofies crossed!

EDIT May 20—-15 of the 24 planted have sprouted–WHOOOOOOOOHOO!!!

yesterday and today

Yesterday, i felt like this:

Pomegranate dyed/mordanted cotton, post modified with iron solutions. A base for bad days, i haven’t decided if i should work on it ON the bad days, or wait until a good day to do! Either way is valid–maybe both to see how it affects the work?

When the going gets tough though, it’s time to get out the brightest crayons and have a good scribble. My version of that is vivid natural dyes, and today these results on mostly cellulosic fibres (linen, cotton lace trim, cotton scrim, cotton threads– and small skeins of wool thread on the far left) came out of the quebracho rojo dye pot.

I’m thrilled with these results as previous experiments, while gorgeous on silk threads, silk habotai and silk velvet were rich, my cottons were pastel pinky browns, nothing exciting, and the threads were even more boring. The water IS different in this house, obviously quite different from the Grand Old Lady’s 100+ pipes.

I *might* use some of the wool thread on the top grey piece, still auditioning thread colours for it.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

 

studio time finally, and a shop update

This past week i have said to hell with unpacking boxes, shuffling furniture around and organizing things in our new home. I finally got down into the studio and had fun!

Digging through the silk velvet scraps for the elf mentioned in a previous post, had me wondering what to do with all the dinky teeny itsy bits. If you love velvet and other luxe fabrics, you get that–no small left behind! 🙂 And when they’re naturally dyed, they are even more precious!

And yes, they DO come as PAIRS 🙂 Hmm, might be cute Christmas ornaments as well!

This weekend however, the two of us will be descending to the depths, and getting laundry appliances moved around, a laundry sink and water filter hooked up, tools settled into shelves, and the last of my studio stuff IN the studio, out of boxes, bags and piles. Once that is done, i plan on setting  myself a schedule of sorts to get work done, the serious stuff (Samara, poor Samara!), and some more fun things as well.

 

in soft fields

Coming, coming, coming, soon i promise! Still fondling and sorting these silk velvets, trying to decide what colours should go together! Tell anyone who says “natural dyes are boring old browny beige blahs” that they are SO wrong 🙂 I hope to get packs in the shop by Friday evening, and yes, these will be included in the current sale. There may even be some scrap packs of these! SEVEN PACKS NOW LISTED   SOLD OUT

purple

rain

haze

passion

purple…velvet…natural dyes…heavenly

on a roll

round and round i go, with ideas abundant, colours singing, and natural dyes that sing sing sing

these mini moons are not only an antidote to blue days, SAD and the Black Dog, they are fun to create!

 

Happy Solstice to you all!

 

EDIT: PS:

Sad. I’m sad that someone would email me and tell me i’m obsessing about my little moons. Damn right i am–i’m not depressed, i’m not angry, i look forward to getting up in the morning, i’m loving colour, i’m working in my studio EVERY day, i am doing what i need to. We all need to find what makes us happy, productive, engaged and feeling positive!

So, now i am NOT SAD myself

just a day

Here’s proof that pink calms dragons as well 🙂 He then flew onto my shoulder to say hello, before he went off on business.

How can one ignore inspiration from one’s own garden? It wasn’t just the yellow shouting of these Ligularia flowers, it was the indigo shadows underneath as well, due in part to the smoke still hanging here.

embroidery finished on pocket!

I just have to add some beading, and a bit of vintage lace (also madder dyed 🙂 ), a top band and then can move on to other parts of the garment.

I think it’s wonderful that all shades on this, except for the greens, are from various mordants and modifiers with madder on cotton (background), and wool, silk and cotton threads.

I *like* getting madder!

start your needles

Fine threads, thick threads, wool and cotton, it’s all becoming strands of delish.

I was hesitant for the longest time about the wool, as i figured it was too “fluffy’, but have now fallen in love with it. I experienced “not all about sweaters and warm slippers” after working with it 🙂 Depending on your tension as you stitch, it can be more raised, more taking acceptance of the loft, but you can also draw it slightly tighter and end up with finer lines, whereas medium tension will give a fuller appearance in stitches that fill more space. The wools i’ve been using are classified as lace weight, which means while they look downy, they are as easy to use as cotton. (But i do recommend shorter lengths, not the longer than fingertips to elbow *i* normally use!)

The cottons have been a joy also, as they are easier (for me at least) to get a variegated dye happening. From a weight that is like using 2 strands of conventional embroidery floss, to one that imitates a full 6 strands, the colour variations are wonderful.

I decided too that labelling them only needs the type of dye–i’m not about to add all the mordants and modifiers, as it could get rather wordy!–the length and the type of fibre.  Some of these are also shorter lengths than i had intended, as i learn about tension on the niddynoddy as i wind the skeins, pre-everything! Prices will reflect that, but all are still worthy and long enough to be treasure. In the future, i intend 10 yard and 20 yard pieces, depending on the thread. (Most of these vary from 7-18 yards, though i erred on the side of caution: some may be slightly more than indicated, but none will be less. And the “20 yard” ones will be having their labels changed to reflect that they are more likely a generous 18!)

There are many more to wind still, and yes i kept some for myself, though none of the above, so it’s not a tease with any of them. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still have indigo, potassium permanganate and a mix of the two to complete, so there will be those as well.

 

I’m still deciding on pricing and packaging, as with the cost of shipping, it’s probably better to sell these in sets of 2, 3 and/or 4. I want them to be something you can work with together, rather than just a “one off”. So far too, i am doing small lots, as i am only a one woman show,  so you’ll have to bear with me for availability! Pricing *will* reflect the hand dyed/naturally dyed “point of the exercise”, but will also be more than fair for the amounts (and the work involved to do them!). I hope to add these to the shop on the weekend, October 30th the latest.