in preparation

little bundles i hope to dip into an indigo vat. shibori is something i haven't played around with very much, but i'm excited to see how these pieces come out. i'm using some of the mistletoe dyed scraps and hope the indigo covers up an unsuccessful dye result. i'm thinking the madder dyed pieces will become a deeper blue purple with one dip or so, but i'm not completely certain. that's the fun of experimenting with natural dyes, you really don't know how a fiber will come out of the pot; bright, pale, muddy, strong, mellow, uneven, uninspiring, surprising.

my big picture plan with this indigo dyeing is to create an oilcloth apron i can wear when dyeing in the future. i've wrapped screws into one piece of duck cloth, and scrunched up another. when they've been dyed and dried, i'll stretch them onto a frame and layer linseed oil until a slick surface is created. when all is cured, the pieces will be cut and joined into a long styled apron. i'll post pictures of the stages and we'll see how the final sums up.

plans and things gone awry

i'm in the planning stages of setting up a big cartel shop for my weavings. i was thinking of just adding them to my etsy store, but then i realized they wouldn't fit in with the patchwork and pins. and as far as setting up another etsy store, the idea of having to log in and out of each one, build up feedback for the new store, and try to be found amongst the slew of products, makes my brain hurt.

so, instead, i will give big cartel a try. i like their simple layout, and it's fun to create banners and headers with a different colorway.

in dyeing news, the mistletoe was a disappointment. the green was so pale as to be called celadon, and though an afterbath of ammonia made a deeper color, once dry it wasn't as bright. but i'm not giving in yet! i will try a copper mordant to hopefully boost the green, use more plantstuff in the dye bath, and use wool and silk instead of cotton. there was a very slight difference in color between the leaves only bath (top left) , stems only bath (bottom left) , and a mixture of both (top right, and bottom right-no ammonia afterbath).

but strangely, the paper towels i was drying the samples on absorbed some of the dye and had blue and green areas. and, no, there aren't any dyes or prints on the paper itself. hmm.

inlay and boil, boil, boil

beginning work on a new weaving. i wanted to try out an inlay technique where the ends are left free to create a pile; i haven't any clue what it's called, i just saw it somewhere and thought it looked neat. i hope the piece will turn out well, it's hard to really know until you remove it from the loom.

this piece also gave me an opportunity to use my new obi shuttles which i bought while in kyoto. one thing is for sure, they make doing inlay incredibly easy. and they're just so gosh darn cute!

i came across a passage in an old dye book about using mistletoe to get a deep green. in town there's a group of juvenile trees which have mistletoe growing low enough to cut without needing a ladder. so today, while grocery shopping i collected some mistletoe. then, after separating the leaves from the branches, i boiled the stems for an hour. tomorrow i'll boil the leaves, then i'll compare how much dyestuff i get from them. i think three different dye experiments will be good to do; the stems, the leaves, then a 50/50 combo of both. for once, i think i'll do a lightfast test as well; if the dye passes that, and creates a lovely green, i'll be happy.