from failure to something better

My snow-dyeing experiment was fun
but the results were very pale,
in fact you could say :
a total failure.

( I don't know what exactly went wrong,
I will try another time with ice cubes
and look for some more advise.)

folded, with dye powder, with snow.

REALLY pale !!!

But
why not use this failed piece of cotton
for another go at the Jude Kingshott workshop !

So I outlined the vague forms that were there
and cut lots of little circles
after I first ironed vliesofix (wonder-under) onto the fabric.
I played around a bit with various options
and started stitching the shapes that were ironed into place.

And after a lot of stitching . . .

I got this far
(resting for the moment)

the backside

What fun when you look against the light !

*

Though it looks already like spring in the garden
the birds still love to come to the feeders.
Some of them are true acrobats :

and while these two are having synchronized fun "in the air"
some others are happy with the mess they make on the ground :

goldfinch as well as moorhen !

playing with colour

Ohhhh, I've been planning to do this for soooo long

and never came to it ...

(until now)

Perhaps all the wonderful stuff

at the Weaver's Market in Hoorn

gave me the last push

I know :

I love all the natural dying stuff I see and hear about

(surely after that indigo workshop)

BUT

I don't have enough room ( and pans, electric hob)

nor do I have the skills (and recipes)

to do so successfully.

So I stuck to the "good old" Procion dye

(I did that with a good friend some years ago)

Preparing the dye (with mouth cap and gloves)

Strands of cotton and silk waiting on cling film.

First one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . then a lot more

waiting for 24 hours.

First harvest of the wonderful silk

(looks like normal cotton embroidery floss :

only 8 strands instead of 6,

and thinner !)

YUMMY !

Started with the second batch today !

:-)

a blue day

Yesterday was a

blue day

and ... it was a day full of magic !

Eight ladies and a nice teacher, Elly Poldervaart, explored 

(along the edges of)

the  v a s t  realm of indigo.

(surely that is too much to fathom in just one day,

I think you can study years on that !) 

After the introduction

Elly started making an organic indigo vat,

according to the instructions of "Indigo-guru"

botanist and chemist Michel Garcia

A look inside the magic pot !

We then all started with a length of  thin woolen fabric (etamine)

to fold, clamp or stitch shibori-wise.

(it was very silent then ...)

(totally forgot to take pictures of my own stitching)

We had a good lunch

(although we didn't have "time" for that  ;-) ...)
and started "dipping" after that,
or
continued stitching, like me

Checking temperature,
checking pH
and putting the first one in.

Tah-daaaaaaah

There it is
yellow, green ... and then slowly
BLUE

After that ...
it started raining !!!
(and no small drops)
So everything was moved a bit, to the bicycle storage
(Elly's studio is in an old school building)

Slowly, one by one
the magic blue cloths appeared !

Hmmmmmm ...... unpicking the threads
took quite some time and effort !

In the end we could put in
some more items that we brought with us.

Then, too soon, it was time to tidy up and put all the work on the table

Thanks Elly
it was a day of magic !

At home waited Man with yummy lasagna
(another treat !)
and some more rinsing and unpicking
...........

My green silk strip
and ...

moons !!!


What a day ...

BLUE  !!!

preparations

Indigo, holds something 

magic

for me.

And because the process isn't easy at all,

because I don't have much room

(inside or outside) for dyeing

I'm very happy that I'm attending an 

indigo workshop

tomorrow !

Yeaaahhh !

So this week was time for preparations for that.

On some lovely green silk
(a birthday present from last year)
I started stitching ...
and pulling tight !

I don't know all the Japanese names
for the different kinds of shibori
but you can find a LOT about it on the net.

The whole green strip is stitched now
and now I'm busy on an old T shirt of daughter
and an off white silk "camisole"

I'm delighted to have little bits of fabric
on which I can dye my own indigo  moons 
(like the ones Glennis and Jude make)

One piece finished :
ready for the dye pot !

sunday (14 - 12 - 14)

Yesterday I was in Rotterdam 

for our last Stitch'nBitch this year ánd

to buy some lovely smelling green on the big market :

time to make the house look a bit Christmassy

Outside near the front door

and inside in some nice big pots

I also did another try with some 

Eucalyptus leaves

(though I'm not very good at eco dyeing !)

Mmmmm ... see what I'll end up with this time ...

The last rays of the low sun on this sunny Sunday

shone far into the house

(it is clear we're nearing

Winter Solstice)