Category: Days of Honey

Posted in a collusion of ideas, Days of Honey, UnknOwn Sister

more teasers

Posted on by arlee

I am having so much fun putting prints together! It was never something i thought of before, or even figured i could do. Trust your gut though: i’m loving these.

I’m waiting for selfie stick (Did i EVER EVER EVER think *I* would say that? NOPE.) A. My hands are too shakey for my camera, always have been. and B. *MAYBE* i would like to pose myself in some of the stuff i’m doing. Well, at the very least a Swathing or Three might happen. And C. Greyman was the one who took photos for me, of me, and he’s busy now with all the the babies Upstairs.

 

Posted in Days of Honey, FybreSpace the shop, Natural Dyes, Probably talking to just myself

YUMSHUSNESS piles

Posted on by arlee

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.

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

Posted in Days of Honey, garden dye plants, indigo, Indigo Dreams

OOO OOO OOO

Posted on by arlee

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!!!

Posted in Days of Honey, Natural Dyes, pomegranate (as dye and as mordant), Probably talking to just myself, quebracho rojo

yesterday and today

Posted on by arlee

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.

 

Posted in Crafting, Days of Honey, Deliberation--do something you don't do--or haven't in awhile, embrilting, FybreSpace the shop, Indigo Dreams, Madder, Natural Dyes, osage, quebracho rojo, tansy

studio time finally, and a shop update

Posted on by arlee

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.

 

Posted in cutch, Days of Honey, indigo, madder, mordants and modifiers, Natural Dyes, osage, quebracho rojo, tansy

in soft fields

Posted on by arlee

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

Posted in Days of Honey, FybreSpace the shop, Moons, Natural Dyes

on a roll

Posted on by arlee

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

Posted in Days of Honey, embrilting, in progress, Indigo Dreams, Jam Day, Madder, osage, The Summer of Madder (Study)

just a day

Posted on by arlee

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.

Posted in Days of Honey, embrilting, in progress, Madder, mordants and modifiers, Natural Dyes, Naturally dyed threads, The Summer of Madder (Study)

embroidery finished on pocket!

Posted on by arlee

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!