weave, dye, sleep
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| latest love in our lives resting on his outdoor bed, a gift from friend J who helps out at our local thrift-store-with-a-twist: you give your unwanted stuff and if you want the store gives you whatever you might want or need, take your pick, no money involved; it's called the GeefWinkel; Django seems to like his new daybed, suits him too |
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| long cloth from plum dye bath with washer and coin clamps - the unripe plums are dropping in huge numbers these days, what to do, luckily I stumbled upon a site where Sasha from permacouture explained you can use plums for dyeing as well! the grey-green is very subtle, I love it, as I do the pattern of circles, absolutely my favourite clamp dyeing technique so far |
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| weaving thread in the cut out octagon, was meant to be a circle, however sometimes things work out differently, plus the weave was initially meant to be a circular one, but I somehow managed to miss my warp threads and there was no weaving, watching an exciting world cup football match at the same time probably didn't help, I ended up cutting it all away, except the small floret, used on the reverse side of the woven button - reminding me not to try doing too many things all at once! |
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| was feeling low last week, maybe the oppressive weather literally depresses one; am feeling much better now that I have have been working in the garden with the help of husband and eldest son, have therefore slept soundly, have had good dye results and the class experiments are directing self towards new horizons |
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| close-up of plum-dye |
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| finally the shirt from last week's dye pot: tada, the colours are far more subtle than in these pics; I have already cut off the collar and will do some more customizing, but I am very happy with the range of colours and markings achieved in such a short space of time, the oppressive weather has it's own rewards it would seem. |
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| read it! |
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| addendum: today's our 18th wedding anniversary - we kind of forgot - but once remembered I decided we'ld plant the two climbing roses together in the back garden, at long last we have two rose arches in our rambling garden; we managed to plant one together, guests arrived unexpectedly, we had drinks and then, after they were gone, I planted number two in the summer rain, okay then it was a good day |
Comments
You dye with plums, here I am trying dyeing with little golden apples, did a lot of dyeing with crab apples when I lived in Tennessee, gave me such rich reds, oranges, browns. We are taking care of nephew and sister in law's garden while they are in California this month. Their garden has apple trees that produce little golden apples. Collected rotten ones that had fallen to the ground and plunked into dye pot. So far giving off a soft golden brown color and every time I lift the lid, smells like apple cider...hmmm!
Read The Signature of All Things, fascinated me from botanical viewpoint, the rest, well not so much.
With all of the dying that I have done, have never dyed clothes but seeing your shirt has inspired me to find a white cotton shirt that I can dye. Maybe I will find one in a thrift store in California (San Francisco) as I will be leaving at the end of the month to spend August with lovely daughters, son in law and impish grandchildren. Will be such a good change from heat and dry of New Mexico to misty and foggy weather. When I am gone, I do not get on the internet much so I will have a lot of catching up to do here when I return in early September. It will be a joy to see what you have been doing while I am gone.
Wonderful in all its own ways.
i love that cloth too and of
course the shirt...
I see you're dyeing with apples, something I have not tried, but will most certainly attempt to this year as we own three apple trees, each a different variety, I wonder if they offer different colours?!
Do try dying clothes, it is so much fun! There are some fine pieces in my wardrobe I do not wear for fear of ruining them in the garden/studio (and they're not quite office-fare) but dyeing them makes them infinitely more wearable, a spot or two extra on such a dyed garment doesn't bother me at all. Especially with Django in our lives: he's still jumping up at one with muddy paws and mud's a dye as well, haha.
Have a wonderful time in San Francisco (my sister happens to be travelling there now with her family) I hope someday I will be able to visit the USA again. Will miss your commenting here and in other blogs, see you in September
Suzanna, thank you, Gilly is such a sweetie
Grace, that shirt, I'm in two minds: cut off the sleeves and attach them as a drape-around-sash-thingy or short sleeves, no sash, or even long sleeves with loose cuffs, oh I haven't quite decided as you see; the weather's fine now: warm/hot so cutting off seems like a really good idea Now
I really love the idea of the rosebushes!