Category: Way Cool Stuff

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Woo Hoo!

I beat out the snow showers yesterday by cooking up some contact dyed clothing on Monday. Unbundled them yesterday and am loving the results! Still need to be rinsed/washed.
The real surprise came from the avocado skins and seeds. Normally I get a nice green from the skins and a salmon color from the cut seeds. This time – blue with just a hint of salmon! Thinking it might have something to do with the egg whites I dipped everything in, but that is not clear just yet.
I so love the magic and surprise in the dye pot!

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Dyeing continues…

After the weekend Natural Dyeing workshop that I held here at my home, I saved the pots of water that were used for dyeing with copper, iron and aluminum. There is always some color floating around in a pot after its been used and I figured I would re-use it to take advantage of the first dyeings.

The aluminum was nice, but OH BOY! I feel like I hit the jackpot with the iron pot!

nat dyed silk scarves

The silk scarves just burst with color from two different eucalyptus leaves, avocado pit and skins, blueberries and lots of onion skins both yellow and red. I know they will lighten as they dry and some of the dyestuffs are still stuck to the silk, but they look gorgeous!

 

 

nat dyed papers

Even some papers came out lovely!  Over the weekend we didn’t see much color from the Eucalyptus rudis (long leaf), but this potful must’ve been just right.

The grey on both silk and paper is from the re-used iron water.

 

I’ve got the copper pot simmering right now in hopes of a similar jackpot!

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End of a good thing

This evening we took down the yarn bombing on Central Parkway. All the while we worked people stopped their cars and/or shouted out how much they liked what we had done and couldn’t we leave it up a bit longer?! One downtown denizen pleaded with us to leave one of the planter wraps at the corner where he ‘works’.   Lots of smiles still.  Makes it all worthwhile.

Just about all ready for the trip to EGLFC in NY. Will pack the car tomorrow. It’s amazing how much ‘stuff’ I just have to have for teaching when I drive vs how much actually goes with me when I fly!  These folks are getting the better deal, for sure!  We’ll be playing with soft sculpture twining and mudcloth – great combination.

 

OOOOH! Just realized this is my 300th post!  Hurray for me!

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It’s October already!

I’m finding it hard to believe how much time has elapsed since my last post here! About the only thing that remains of the summer are the bug bites that still itch.

 

Lots has happened including a new grandson!  Sebastian John is already two weeks old and growing!  Such a cutie, but then I’m his grandmother – I’m supposed to say things like that.

 

I’ve been involved for the past 6 months with a yarn bombing movement in the Cincinnati area – check out BombShells of Cincinnati to see our handiwork!  (We are also on Face Book if you want to friend us.) What was originally intended as a one project adventure now seems to be turning into a small art company!  Keep tabs on us to see what we are up to next.

 

More immediate is some teaching this coming weekend in NY for the Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference. And then on to getting some work accomplished to be ready for three – count ’em – THREE! back-to-back fiber sales in November.

 

Add in some local basketry and book making classes and I’ll be keeping busy for the next couple months!  Hopefully that won’t keep me away from this blog to much.  Hoping to be more consistent with my presence.

 

Thanks for patiently waiting.  Hope your summer went well!