Well, close enough: it’s actually the 24th this month, but i’m enjoying the beauty longer this way.
A medley of naturally dyed threads on indigo, 9×7″, and seriously joyful!!!!!
And yes, this is in the shop! SOLD
Category: Natural Dyes
trotting her out again
Samara has been patiently waiting “in the wings” for 2+ years, created during my 2016 residency at ACAD. I’ve gone through so many revisioned ideas, that my head whirled, and i’d get lost, and hang her back up on the studio wall to stare at , then to ignore…….
Above, as she is to date, a bit of stitching with walnut and madder dyed threads.
Below, several of the ideas i had for her wings.
Nope. Sort of like both feather treatments and the scrappy look, but not enough to get on with them.
Now what if i
a. cut her wings out also, separate from body slightly, with colour underlay in gaps–but how do i treat the wings themselves?
b. covered the background with scraps, not quite boro, but the idea of rough edges and colour layering—not solid or what is the point *of* that background colouring/patterning?
c. vines, seeds, grasses, grains and leaves everywhere, solid? autumnal
d. wing treatment? the layered feathers?
e. introduce more colours–approach? “blocking”? blending?
f. treated the hexes dimensionally, motif wise and presentation/placement ?
Because rather than do all neutrals like i used to/usually do on these deliberately “designed” wholecloth rust and dye pieces, i want more colour now. It’s part of why too, i’ve been dyeing so many threads with natural dyes. This was part of my original inspiration for the feel of autumn:
I’ve been working on small moons again, behind the scenes, but i need to get back to the Big Serious Work as well. I have to stop second guessing myself: the summer has been one of low self esteem, exhaustion, depression and doubt, and it’s hard to get out of that rut. Dyeing suited the mood swings, creating colour where there was none, but a full bin of un-used beautiful threads would be a waste as well.
How does one boot oneself in the arse without hurting one’s back?
making
Because you just can’t let them sit around doing nothing.
Even Lalage, my nasty sewing machine got excited. Then the little boogers stuffed themselves, so they could sit upright.
All lined with indigo.
YUM.
going soft
Because sometimes, small can be big.
cut cuttedy cuttedy cuttedy cut
I’m of a mind to make something larger from these latest dye results.
Above osage over indigo, below indigo over tansy.
But i need a third colour–contrast? Co-ordinate? Do i calm it, or dramatize?
General consensus so far on social media has been the purple.
Anyone who thinks natural dyes are boring browns: HA.
Making a layout is not going to be easy though, with dog hair, grass clippings, loose threads and assorted cosmic debris on the floor, the only place big enough to use. (And that’s *after* vacuuming 🙂
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.
Book review: Dyes from Native American Plants
(I reviewed this on my old blog, but thought it worth repeating here, with a few edits.)
You know what the best thing about this book is? It gives a detailed list of plant materials that give little or no colour!!! That means less wasted time, fabric, heat and gathering 🙂 Though it’s a bit more geocentric than i thought it would be, given the slightly misleading title (covering mostly what grows in south-central US), a lot of the wild plants mentioned are widespread in North America, even up to Alberta. It does miss out on a few plants in the same species, but given again that it is geo-specific, that may be why–one variety in the species grows there, but not others. It’s also decidedly not a “kitchen scrap” book with claims of blue from elecampene, magenta from dandilion roots, green from spinach and lasting effects from turmeric!!!
No vinegar or salt “fixes” either–really, just go, run down to the corner convenience store, buy a bag of potato chips fer jeebly sakes, if you’ve got a hankering for salt and vinegar, and stop mushing on about how they make berries last longer and stops rust from rusting…….
The only true problem with this book, is that it doesn’t give any indication of what is light or wash fast. It does tell you *how* to do that, but there are no notes with plants what is worth the effort, and what is a waste of time, effort and resources. I truly believe too, that testing for these should be an INTEGRAL part of the dyeing process. Maybe then we’d see less of the Beet and Berry Brigade posting their results for the GaGa newbies…………… There’s also no mention of post modifying, an important and often surprising process that brings unexpected colour out.
So what else is in it?
It’s laid out with plant materials grouped by colour results, it has a comprehensive index with the Latin and common name (though the common nomenclature may be regional), there are photos of the plants mentioned. I would also recommend investing in a good geo-centric plant guide, like those published by Lone Pine Publishing, so that you know what you are looking at, and hoping to gather. The author speaks of responsible gathering and safe dye practices and it’s not dumbed down or too technical. My only complaint is the prevalent use of tin as mordant in a lot of the dye baths. Even in 2005 (the date this book was published), we knew this type of mordant was dangerous for the dyer, and best not used in the home. There are no “recipes” per se, for the novice, but the more experienced dyer will already know that as with most plant materials, your plant chunks ratio should be at least of the same weight as your fabrics/threads.
There were a few surprises with some of the flora mentioned. Certain plants abound here, and while i’m not going to get too excited about the possibility of using them, it does give me new hope for local colour. Many of them are also though, while “plentiful”, are in our National Parks–and i am never going to scavenge great quantities, because of that, and because they belong where they belong, period. If i find them in a ditch however and if it’s in my immediate environs, and i know it’s considered invasive or noxious, it’s fair game. I recognized a few varieties i had no idea would give any colour at all, but because of my frequent walks with the DogFaced Girl, i know that locally these are very very small ecosystems, and i would feel incredibly guilty if i denuded the area. I am passionately interested in using what i can find, but not at the expense of the primary reason why i do these walks and that is to appreciate what is there, not what can be taken away! You’ll note i did not mention any of these by name—–i don’t want to be blamed by the Cosmos for encouraging somebody sneaky to go and strip their area!
Of course, the preponderance of colour mentioned is yellows and browns, as few native North American plants have the tinctoria classification 🙂
“Ain’t no sunshine”
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
It’s not warm when she’s away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Anytime she goes awayWonder this time where she’s gone
Wonder if she’s gone to stay
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
None here, because there’s so much smoke again from BC and California!!!!!!
Normally at this time of year, i’d be using tansy or goldenrod, gathered locally, for base yellows, but for whatever reason, this season again, the tansy gave very poor results, and the goldenrod is so stingy mingy stunted in our climate that i always feel guilty gathering any. I miss the big beautiful bounteous ones from Ontario and the East!
So, since the objective was to make some gold for making green 🙂 , i dug out the Osage and had some sun fun with it.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine….”daisy days
Like a fancy gerbera, and 
i can’t wait to stitch this one!
8th anniversary natural dyes!
To celebrate my loyal customers who have supported me through this adventure, i am offering 20% off EVERYTHING in the shop–that includes sale items, Art and fabrics! As always too, i refund extra postage paid. The discount code is 8AFS, and because the instructions on the form are a bit confusing, after you add the discount code to the little box, make sure you click on the little black circle too!
According to my old blog, i started “messing with potions” in the form of natural dyes, sometime in July of 2010. From threads that faded in days, kvetching that most dye books mentioned only wool, smelly jars that resulted in copious ick and mold, and wondering how you knew what to mordant with what, i’ve come a long way to piles of naturally dyed fabrics in strong colours that last, a rainbow of threads and a library that is dependable and exciting. Along the way came knowledge about the history, economics, science, geography, arts and culture, and folklore and fact, so much more fascinating that any synthesized dye! (I won’t say “chemical” dye, as it’s ALL chemistry, even/especially the naturals! 🙂 )
I had hard lessons about the value of mordanting, above (i didn’t at all…), and of learning about fugitive dyes, below:
I learned about the quality of dyes:
And the correct WOF use:
I learned that cheaping out does not give good results–if i bought the dyestuff, obviously i should be using it correctly, but these were scoured improperly, poorly mordanted, and low WOF, madder:
And done correctly below:
Yes, it *was* fun, playing with whatever was handy, experimenting and mucking about, and it *is* a way to learn about natural colour, BUT all those poor results, fugitive dyes and improper procedures become expensive wastes of time and materials in the end run. “If it’s worth doing, do it right.” “When in doubt, read the instructions.” Because as my mother always says “You buttered your bread: now you have to lay in it.”
albedo too 
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