OH MY GAWDZ, my Indigo suffruticosa is getting flowers!!!!! It’s been under a professional level grow light since Sept 30th, has doubled its size and is looking properly woody shrubs and now there are flower spikes in the leaf axils!!!! I was going to harvest at the end of October, but I want to see now if the flowers go to seed. Hoofies crossed!
ONE DAY ONLY. Inglewood neighbourhood, Calgary, Alberta, Canada—-a bit more planning for me this year for logistics as i no longer reside there! (Figures, huh? 🙂 )
The Contextural Fibre Artists are coming together for their annual Christmas Artisan Sale. Join us to see original textile work and meet the artists. Contextural is a group of professional artists who meet to support each of our individual fibre practices. Our artists work with fibres or textiles in many different ways, from hand-dyed clothing and home decor to woven items, printed and painted fabrics, embroidery stitching and more. Admission is free. We are implementing all AHS Covid protocols to keep you safe and comfortable while you shop with us.
I have been in my studio, the Dye Dungeon and my stitching corner on the couch, working my hoofies down. (Yes, this busy bee has hoofies…)
In a sense, i have left it late to produce, but then again, i know my speed and hopefully can make a fair showing.
See you there, Locals!!!!
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!!!
I’m so bored and going so squirrelly with a very short attention span, so keeping it simple. Never know what haphazard clamping and dyeing will result in! (Note this is ONE piece, but due to the IG algorithms, things have to be square to “fit”, so i had to “tile” it but oh what an idea now for other pieces!) Cutch on linen.
Now i want to do wider pieces! Repeats! Combos! Hey, boredom done with!
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.
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.
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. Â 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!
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!
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
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.
albedo too 
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