arlee

the new digs

Posted on October 22, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

It’s been a very tough 1 month and 22 days since MIL’s passing. Stress, grieving, anger, logistics, managing 2 houses for clearing, cleaning and moving, official paperwork, semi-serious health issues (yeah no cancer in bowels or gastric system!), family dramas (resolved), and just the day to day stuff of a normal life means i have lost 12 pounds (it’s a start…..) and am physically and emotionally depleted. There is light at the end of the tunnel though.

I now have a studio space that is bigger physically, a room that ironically started me on a serious look at textile art (as much as i hated being there with MIL constantly disrespecting boundaries and privacy), and that i have returned to after 10 1/2 years! I *will* miss my big studio window, and have to photograph things in the master bedroom because of the light 🙂 , ~~and no more easy access to plant materials as DogFaced Girl and i got our exercise in lots of green space, (this area is very residential),~~ but i have more wall space, better storage options and even room for a table and 2 chairs should any one ever drop by for a cup of whatever. It’s not a magazine pretty place, but it’s out of the way (basement) and a definite, defined, definitive work area and that’s what i need, especially with the paucity of creativity for the last year or so. (I have never had a “pretty” studio and don’t give a shit about that anyways, so a moot point:) )

HA. I haven’t done anything creative since the end of September, unless digging up rhubarb roots for natural dyeing counts, so i’m itching to get this organized. There are two more of those big wall units to move in here, and a large 4×8′ table to set up. The Rubbermaids still have to be sorted as to garbage, donate or keep, ~~(with 8 more still at the old place!~~ SORTED! Only 5 full, 3 empty!) but what is left will be stored under the stairs out of the way. I got rid of 4 large plastic bin towers, but somehow “inherited” 2 from MIL that didn’t get tossed, so they will probably go against the same wall. Mostly useless as i found along the way–drawers too small, too many drawers for same thing because of the size, not very stable, not really stackable as the weight presses down and prevents easy opening of drawers below. Fine for small studios with less stuff to store, but ultimately not good for my purposes, and practice! Two though are manageable and will have the tiny stuff no doubt. Or i may just toss/sell after all. The walls have to be patched and repainted, and more lights put in, but it will be functional very soon.

Once the washing machine and TV are out of the way! The space is about 20 x15 in main area, with a little 8×4 alcove.

OOOO, i’ve found a LOT of spruce cones in the immediate area, so i’ll have to give those a go for dyeing with. Might only get tannin results, but wth 🙂 And i have to amend that crossed out line in the first paragraph: we’re within a 25 minute walk to one of the largest urban provincial parks in Canada! Fish Creek Park here i come! I have to respectful though (as i always am when gathering) as it is a protected area, both for plants and wildlife, which means gathering only windfall and invasives. DogFaced Girl will have to stay on leash, not quite as enjoyable for her, but we follow the rules in this regard–and sometimes there are not only deer, porcupines, rabbits, skunks and snakes, but cougars and bears!!! And considering that when i stop to”harvest” she usually (and sometimes annoyingly) lies at my feet, it doesn’t matter that she’ll only be leashed 🙂 (If i could just get her to hold the bags open for my collecting, or carry them after….)

In the flurry of tossing and donating my MIL’s “stuff” (i am SO tired of this), i did exhume some treasure, hidden under enough household linens to wash, dry and bed 5 households (i swear):

Gorgeous pristine white cotton crocheted tablecloths, embroidered and cutwork pieces, battenburg lace, filet lace, small pieces of crochet, needlelace, a few machine embroidered bits, these will be scoured, mordanted and treated to spa days in various dye pots. I’m thinking too of wearable art again as it would be a shame to cut up some of the larger pieces! (Note, these had been “collected” by Jane, as she sadly had neither the talent nor the will to do such work.)

Since i have a rather mundane sewing task today, sewing up privacy curtains for the old house (doing the landlord a favour, because we still love that place!), i’ll be starting the switcheroos down there today. Dig me out in a couple of weeks, would ya?

Natural Dyes, Not so ordinaries, rhubarb root

taking the roots with us

Posted on October 4, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

I’m digging up every potential dye plant i can, as we know already that our 100+ year old house will be torn down to squeeze in at least 2 McMansions. Isn’t this gorgeous? Look at the rings! Rhubarb root to cut and dry for winter dye pots.

I still have a HUGE piece to dig up from the back corner, but fortunately Strong Son is here to help us, and can lend some considerable muscle to get it out of not quite frozen yet ground. There’s also two kinds of solidago, a pathetic dyer’s chamomile, and some hops. The hops though, i think i will just harvest and use dried. Not sure the new back15 will take a lot more!

journal: lessons to learn, Natural Dyes, Not so ordinaries, Samara

big life changes, and more small Samara stitchin’

Posted on October 3, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

I looked for as many apple tree photos as i could, the beauty that was a big part of our lives, and yard.

And the apple tree is gone now. As i was writing this, the arborists showed up, and now it looks like this:

It *was* it’s time after all, i guess. Most of the core was rotted far down into the base of the trunk, so maybe this was a mercy in one sense. At least in the last 10 years, it had a lot of loving and attention, graced us with explosions of blossoms and battalions of bees, and organic limited edition coralpink applesauce. It’s kind of the last nail in the coffin for here, for us. I had one of the arborists patting me awkwardly on the shoulder as i howled.

BUT, then i had a clever idea and contacted the Calgary Wood Turner’s Guild about the apple tree chunks and the guys were ECSTATIC about the tree, and very very appreciative. They’re divvying it up at their next meeting, and are positive it’s going to make many many beautiful pieces, bowls, plates, chargers etc. That’s quite a legacy too for the tree, so we are thrilled as well. In a year, after a rough cut bowl has dried more, they will finish it and return to us a piece of that wonderful memory incarnate.

It’s the end of an era, a big chunk of our lives together, and perhaps the Universe giving a nudge. Co-incidental? Maybe, but a Strange Confluence of Events has happened, all in the space of less than a month…..

Guess who said they would never live in MIL’s basement again? Hint: both of us. Truth: we now own the basement (or are in the process at least, ’cause you know how long that takes.) (MIL died the end of August.) Actually, we will hopefully own the whole thing, top to bottom. It was and wasn’t a tough decision to make, but pragmatically we chose future stability, less yardwork (the Back40 here at The Stately Barr Manor is a LOT of work, and this summer we realized we spend more time on yard work than we do enjoying the results…….), something that will be OURS, and well, life changes, doesn’t it? There were more pros than cons in this decision, but we sure as hell will miss the back40, yardwork not withstanding, the location near the river and so much wildlife always passing through our yard, the privacy of a large lot and a landlord who was THE BEST LANDLORD EVER. (Really, he is. He got us, we got him, it was a fantastic relationship. Thank you Y, we’ve loved every minute of living in this 100+ year old house, a lot of memories, including being married under the 90 year old apple tree.)

I’ve had to choose carefully which treasured garden flora will come with us–we are going from an area that is approx 75 by 120 feet (minus where the house sits of course 🙂 ) to about 15 by 15…………………… I can make this work though! Fortunately we are still not far enough into Autumn, that i can convince these perennial plants that they’re just being shuffled around (as i do sometimes) instead of being transported 18K! I won’t have a big dye garden, but i know how and where to forage 🙂 even in the new neighbourhood.

Half of my studio is gone. I mean gone as in i got rid of half, not moved it to new digs: i was in the process of deep clearing anyways, and this situation made me realize there were (too) many things in there that i never looked at, used, needed, wanted anymore, so donations, throw outs and sells have been happening. I’m not missing a bit of it either! That too is why i have a good sale on at the shop–i’d rather art go to good homes, than move it.

Clearing out , packing and moving our stuff AND MIL’s stuff however is exhausting! I have limited amounts of time (and intent, because of the exhaustion!) because our deadline is October 31st. I have small projects in various “go bags” and work on them when i can. I desperately want to work on Samara, and am plugging away on her components, these being the latest parts:

LOVE these velvets, still a few left on the shop in mixed packs 🙂

Wish us luck, buy my art, carry on!

FybreSpace the shop, Natural Dyes, Not so ordinaries

Shop announcement: SALE

Posted on October 2, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

Art for C——-s for that special someone? 🙂 FybreSpace’s physical studio is in the midst of a move, but the online shop is still in the same place, right here!

Save 25% off ALL items (art and fabrics), with the amount refunded at time of shipping, along with *as always* any extra postage paid. (I have tried to add the discount code thingie to the online shop, but it’s not easy to understand, so it’s better this way 🙂 )

All fabrics, art and threads used are naturally dyed with accurate historical methods, no fugitive dyes anywhere!

PLEASE DO NOT ADD THIS LISTING TO YOUR CART: IT NEITHER GIVES THE DISCOUNT, NOR IS IT ANYTHING BUT AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Not so ordinaries, Probably talking to just myself, rhubarb root

uprooting

Posted on September 27, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

Change is afoot. Big change, big afoot.

2.26 k of fresh rhubarb root, ready to be chopped and dried for winter dyeing. I still have probably 8k to dig but am hoping my big strong son can help with that next week before we have more than a dusting of S $#@ . Rhubarb root gives gorgeous metallic yellows to greeny golds through to corals and pinks depending on fibre type and mordants and modifiers use.

Roots coming up, roots going down.

in progress, Natural Dyes, Samara

a little Samara somethin’ somethin’

Posted on September 18, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

Natural dyeing and hand embroidery are what keep me grounded, sane, functioning. Trying to stay focused while dealing with two sets of family, with two sets of issues that directly affect us, my own health changes, you know, Life (and Death…)……..But i have managed to at least finish the velvet hexes, and will start on the ones they replaced. Dyes are madder, quebracho rojo, osage, indigo, cutch, hexes silk, threads cotton.

Neither of us is getting enough sleep, though i’m trying to make sure we eat properly, especially the Greyman who’s appetite is bad at the best of times……

Alberta dye plants, natural dye research, Self Directed Workshops

local plant dye tests, Orach, part 2

Posted on September 14, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

Nope. Not even going to bother with light fastness tests with these!

Funny that after half an hour, a test pull had strong colours (strong being relative, as these are not exactly strong 🙂 ):

After 34 hours:

And rinsed:

HA.

I wanted do an iron dip to see if there was any tannin, always a useful thing to know,but could do that only on the silks, as the cotton and linen pieces of course had been premordanted with tannin.

Though these are still wet, i can tell you the tannin in this plant is negligible. There are much better local plants if i do want tannin, like oak!

The dyepot also started fermenting after 24 hours, probably due to the freshness and any alien life forms that live on these. Because there are no other elements in these but orach and water though, i’m going to dump in my garden. (Edit: My neighbour was intensely curious what i was watering my patio pots with after–ALL of the deep pink was still in the water!)

I’ve realized too that many posts about local plants are going to bore you, even if a Die Hard Dyer, so will limit those to the end results, multiple plants per post. I know a lot of you have wandered off in the last year anyways!

Alberta dye plants, garden dye plants, journal: lessons to learn, natural dye research, Self Directed Workshops

local plant dye tests, Orach, part 1

Posted on September 12, 2019July 28, 2020 by arlee

I’m taking several approaches here with foraged plants, so what works for me might not work for you, depending on where your plant material is growing, and it’s growth habits/requirements. There are many variables in natural dyeing, from that fact of plant biome, to water factors such as Ph, soft vs hard, city tap vs well, seasonal factors like heat, rain and soil composition and hell, just plain “luck of the draw” and magic. (Despite my crusty, abrupt, oft irked attitude, i DO love Nature and believe there IS magic afoot there.) There *are* actual credited dye plants in my area, but i’m also experimenting with either lesser known, or new to me possibilities.

Red Orach, introduced to the neighbourhood as a garden “green” by my immediate neighbour, is prolifically self seeding and will grow ANYWHERE, as i’ve found it everywhere from our lush back meadow, to the neighbour’s sterile little golf green lawn, the rough berm across the road, and down on the riverbank. (Our soil here is river sediment/clay based.) I initially thought it was in the Rumex family, but it is in fact Atriplex hortensis, part of the Amaranthaceae classification. And yes, i AM drawn to it by the very fact too that it is red–i *know* plants like this are full of anthocyanins, a fugitive colourant that neither lasts in light (or dark, and why would you keep beet/bean/berry/red cabbage stained cloth/es in the dark if the dye is that bad????) or through washing. But, maybe i’ll get a different yellow than the other mostly yellow colouring plants i intend to try? BWAHAHAHA. As i’ve said before, most “local” plants give a range of yellow, yellow, yellow or yellow……. But i *might* get pink, peach, coral with the right post mordant/modifier treatments, on different fibres. (This worked well, back in the day, with rhubarb root.)

I thought i’d do the first test with our filtered water, as our tap water is very very hard, and loaded with iron as well, and truthfully there are few dyes that do well in hard water. I’m also simmering, not boiling, as most dyes shouldn’t go above 180 degrees F/80 degrees C. A total of maybe 600grams?

After 20 minutes, the water did start turning pink, no surprise actually, because this plant is used also for food colouring, and the neighbours noted their kids wouldn’t eat an omelette after the addition of the leaves turned the eggs pink…… 🙂 Reminds me of when i was a kid and the family was camping. Late one night, supper, only food left eggs and strawberries. Dad threw them together, result pink puke that no one would touch. Ah, memories.

At 40 minutes:

Simmered for an hour, then cooled for another hour, i then strained all the plant material out (and the bugs…..i did rinse everything first, but there were Klingons apparently.) Because these are an edible, they will go right into the compost bin in the back40.

I leave the whole bath letting it cool on the burner, my usual method. In it, i threw premordanted according to fibre type pieces of silk velvet, silk habotai, cotton swiss dot and a tannined, but not yet alum treated linen. (I can post mordant that one.) There is a BIG caveat here: the colour you see in a dye pot, is not always what you get on the fibre! (That’s why too many artily staged IG photos are just plain fraudulent.) I will leave all of these chunks in the pot for 2 days, occasionally raising the temp to prevent mold and alien lifeforms, as normally this is how i dye, leaving the fibres in anywhere from 8-36 hours, depending on how busy i am or if i forget!). Too, protein and cellulose fibres should actually be dyed separately as protein is greedier and grabs more of the dye, so cellulose results may be weaker. Whatever. It’s a test.

This is half an hour in the pot, again not very indicative of what the end results will be, but interesting in terms of chemistry, just a pull to see if anything is happening. These are unsqueezed, unrinsed, so keep that in mind!

On the weekend, i will do some post mods and mords, then start lightfast tests. I don’t expect miracles, but the hoofies are crossed anyways, in the spirit of admiring Nature’s magic.

I am drying another 600 grams or so. If the above test doesn’t really work as a dye, well, the dried may be added to something else as a weak tannin, or slightly acid something or other. Or tossed 🙂

EDIT: AS you will see from my next post, Orach is NOT a good textile grade dye!

Alberta dye plants, Book reviews, natural dye research, Natural Dyes

gathering (sort of a book review too, “Spectrum: Dye Plants of Ontario”)

Posted on September 10, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

Though i love my “Grand teints” ( classically proven dyes like madder, indigo, etc) natural dyes very much, and disdain the current trend of throwing any and all “food waste” materials in a pot to use as a “dye”, there are also the lesser known dyes foraged locally by many cultures . (“Petit teints” are the non fast/fugitive dyes such as red cabbage, most red/purple/pink/blue berries, most red/purple/pink/blue flowers, black beans, beets, etc.)

Yes, some *will* fade, some are rather anecdotal and some are still being promoted but are folklore with no actual extant or provable results, and there are some that while they may not last as long as the classics, they are still viable dyes.

To that end, i bought a copy of the much vaunted “Spectrum: Dye Plants of Ontario”, reasoning that much of what grows in Ontario, grows also where i am (Alberta), so that it’s worth exploring. I *do* want to use local plants, whether grown in my garden, or foraged on walks and day trips. I have an older book that is dedicated to Canadian dye plants, written in ’78, and at best a good laugh, and at worst very confusing if you don’t have any experience at all, but i’ve heard much good spoken of this Ontario volume. There’s also a classic book, out of print now, “Dyes from Lichens and Plants: A Canadian Dyer’s Guide” by Judy Waldner McGrath, 1977, which is more geocentric as it covers mostly plant materials above the 55th parallel! Even though Canada is so large and we do have some vastly different grow zones, many “weeds” flourish in all or most of our varied climes 🙂 Indeed, many of these plants may be in most of North America, at least the northern zones of the US.

There are 300 plants identified. I question some of them, though helpfully, some are referred to in other dye books, included in the bibliography for cross checking. (Again though, some still questionable….) I highly recommend again using a good clearly photographed plant ID book, as all illustrations are pen and ink drawings, better than the ’78 book mentioned above, but still, not drawn by qualified botanists…. (Forget the damn “plant app” nonsense–most of the results with those are too vague, and possibly dangerous if a poisonous hemlock is identified as Queen Anne’s Lace!)

Being so late in the year at this time, i will have to either immediately use what i find, or chance drying it and using it through the winter. Some dye stuffs locally foraged will not give as good results when dried : solidago is notorious for poor colour when stored, for instance, though tansy is just as good in my books dried as fresh. Too, let’s face it, most dye plants give yellow, yellow, yellow or yellow 🙂 Different mordants and/or modifiers may give different hues, and sometimes there’s a real difference between “commercial” dyes like osage overdyed with indigo as opposed to tansy overdyed with indigo, so it is still a valuable colour library.

There are no colour photos in this book, so though the results are described, perceptions may vary on the difference between “old gold” and “brassy gold”! Obviously if you’re interested enough in the potential of each plant, you’d do your own tests and quantify those descriptors with photos 🙂 Results are described with alum, chrome (A BIG BIG NO NON NO, mentioned IN the book now as a black hand (literally) over each entry), tin, copper and iron. CAVEAT: ALL FIBRES USED WERE WOOL.

So, my dried materials gathered this fall will be chosen firstly because i *know* people have had reasonable outcome with them , and secondly because they are in my immediate environs (few day trips left in the year now due to weather, season and work schedules).

Rumex Crispus –tested before with poor results, possibly due to season
Arctium minus –tested before with poor results due to small amount gathered
Artemisia –not sure which species we have, but there are several, and HIGHLY invasive/spreading
Equisetum –must be aware of where gathering as chemicals are heavily sprayed where i have gathered before
Tanacetum vulgaris and Solidago spp–used many times but still want to work with more
Cornus stolonifera–craploads by the river 🙂
Geranium maculatum—in my garden for years
Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus—who knew?
Malus–might as well use the leaves and bark from the broken apple tree–more good than taken away, chipped and sold to rich ladies who want “artisanal” mulch—– BWAHAHAHAAHHAHHA
Well, etc etc etc! (All Latin you notice: THAT is how you identify plants correctly with good plant ID books

PS There are also “stand by’s” in this book: coreopsis, dahlia, eupatorium, solidago, tansy, and more.

I have dried already some tansy, artemisia and yarrow. With the recent e-garbage run (old electronics), there’s plenty of room down in the Dye Dungeon now for storing dried materials in bags and boxes. All tests, information, results will be in the “Alberta dye plants” category, though as i mentioned, many of these are not as geocentric as just Alberta.

Off now to gather what from a distance looks a huge expanse of Rumex!

DogFaced Girl loves these expeditions, so no complaint there 🙂

Natural Dyes, Probably talking to just myself, quebracho rojo, Samara

sometimes a week has a lot of days to deal with

Posted on September 5, 2019June 16, 2020 by arlee

The weight of the apples this year was too much. Picking before this happened would sadly have not prevented this: the big branches are thoroughly rotten inside where they “attached” to the tree…… And of course, this was the best year yet for the fruit. Golfball sized and rosy, they make an astonishingly deep pinkycoral sauce that needs no sweetener–but does necessitate hours of cutting up hundreds of them for a score of 3 litres of sauce.

The whole thing may have to come down, a very sad heartbreak. It’s 90 years old we bet, and if/when it’s gone, there will be no shade, no explosive mass of blossoms and bees, no woodpeckers or porcupines or deer visiting, and another part of this house’s history gone…..

There’s a new “baby” who has joined the family.

This is Sally, as sweet as her name. From the face, you’d think she was a grey tabby, but stretched out full, she’s a “torty” with tab markings. Sally belonged to my departed MIL, and it’s a good thing we rescued her when we did, the night before MIL passed away (Aug 30), because apparently after a death, only the executor of the estate is allowed to enter the home until everything has been inventoried. (We know they would have fed her, BUT they are still in a foreign country far away, and not back until Sunday night of this coming weekend! Try changing a whole family’s tickets for an early return–3times the price of the original airfare return!!!!!!!!!! She’s have been one very hungry and dehydrated kitty!)

We have wanted this girl for a long time. She lived under MIL’s bed for the most part as she was petrified anytime someone came in the house. We figured cleaning staff may be responsible for this and are so pleased, that while still skittish, she makes herself at home every night on my bed, with plenty of purrs, head butts and long luxurious stretches. She is HOME. Slapshot and Nessie are really not interested, except for the extra “Fud” being doled out 🙂 The family will blend well once again.

I am still trying to decide which natural dye i will use to transform the white swiss dotted cotton to the body of a dress.

I did two little tests (to the right) with quebracho rojo “leftovers”, the paler almost brown an exhausted bath, the pinker an alcohol extraction, less used. I’m leaning towards them with an overdye of tansy, to get the coral i want, but may slip some madder dips on some areas for a slight ombre effect.