Goldenrod and Indigo

Goldenrod and Alum = nice yellow shibori
+ pole wrapped and tied indigo dyed shibori = nice blue
I notice the lines in shibori look like a field of grass
The yellow looks like a whirlwind



Thinking ahead to the Advent Season
I will begin the sashiko



I was dyeing to see. . .

From the same batch of Goldenrod dye
this piece of folded and clamped Itajime
on silk changed and became darker with more time
in the dyebath, also I
introduced some vinegar. The iron in the
clamps, I believe, changed the color
to more of a darker greenish color.
(See previous post where I dyed with Goldenrod)

How Long?



Traces left behind on silk
of
a
Summer day

     waiting. . .

for

a silken thread

for "Found Stitched and Dyed"



Hapa-zome ~ happy dog ~ happy day

On this day I will remember this sky. . .

this collected goldenrod by my husband. . .

these pansies from my garden, petunias, morning glories, and silk. . .

hammered into the fiber leaving colorful traces behind. . .

fall leaves and green grass. . .

and my Jilly for her help!

Eco Colour Trouble/Play

India Flint's Book, Eco Colour, finally came in the mail last

week, the cover, which I just scanned into my computer is

above.

My friend SaraMuse has been working with this book for a while.

Tantalizing images and words from her have been on my mind while

I have been so involved with the new school year and my classes,

painting the inside of my house, and working on interesting techniques

for my thread paintings.



Elderberry is mentioned in the book as a good source of color and this is

an image I snapped of an old old bush on the side of my very narrow road

which is a one way road with two way traffic high upon our mountain.

This shot  makes me think of a Monet painting.



This is a bit closer view. The problem is that this bush is on the edge of a very

steep incline and very high from where I can stand on the road.

I asked my husband if he might clip a clump of these elderberries so that I can

use them to dye some silk, which he readily agreed to do. He promptly left me

at home and took my beloved red pick-up truck with the ladder and some gloves

and a tree limb clipping tool. I expected him back, right away.

I waited, and waited, while I was preparing dinner for the three of us, and I

waited some more.

I was ready to drive the Jeep to where I knew he was to see if something bad

had happened.

About that time. . .







He backed down our driveway with all of this!







I said, "A clump," he heard, "All of it??"

We then stripped the clumps off of these limbs and put them into four kitchen

trash bags and then put them into our freezer because that is what

India said to do in her book. Now I am anxiously waiting for a day to use these

berries to dye some silk so that I can participate in the Found Stitched and Dyed

international sewing circle that India started on her blog.

I will follow SaraMuzes lead and visit some thrift stores for silk to reinvent,

re-use, and invigorate.







Next, I am after goldenrod and Black Walnuts!