Shibori Using Indigo on Cotton and Silk Samples

A composite photo showing several materials
using several techniques

This piece was pleated by hand before dyeing
silk habotai  fabric and cord

This piece is cotton tied over screws just after it dried

By doing this every few inches you are able to make an allover pattern

This has been folded many times and refolded  then clamped

I will show a bit more of how to do this particular form later

This is it for today
 stayed tuned for Kool aid dying in microwave next.

I N D I G O and mourning doves

shades of days gone by dyeing

My mind is moving forward, now thinking of spring, of gardens, of dyeing. Natural Dye ingredients are top of my list. I already have many plants that are hiding, right now, under snow. I know they are there where their thoughts are of breaking through to show themselves in yet another new year. For them, snow is good. It keeps them safe.

Many bulbs are lying in wait to be the first plantings to pop-up out of the ground. Some come out way before the others. I notice so many purples are in the brave first few to show their color.

Pansies are showing where the snow has melted. I love their pretty little faces. It will be quite a while before they show with vigor and flowers.

I found a link to: http://companionplants.com/catalog/index.php . They sell seed: Indigofera tinctoria Indigo (tinctoriea). 

I had many plants of False Indigo a few years ago. The winter that year was very cold, much more cold than usual.

I plan to buy more plants of this, as well. I have many blue flowering plants. I wish to buy a blue poppy someplace this year.

Exactly one year ago today I photographed my mourning doves and made this movie which is not very good, but, I just wanted you to see my entertainment these days.

I think it should have the  music "Lime and a Coconut" 

Why Not Talk About Shibori ~ Come Along With Me

I have this book and love it
This book is one  of the first editions which I bought
one year when I was at Arrowmont
working on Surface Design.
Yoshiko Wada taught a class
in Shibori.
I use indigo to dye shibori in the warmer months.
I use Kool-Aid
when I work with children
I use commercial dyes
when it is not possible to use natural dye.
The book I like to work with is below.

We will use this book to see how I do the lining for the Georgia Mag Bag

This book "Shibori Designs and Techniques" by MandySouthan
 has wonderful photographs and
directions for shibori techniques.

I will show you how I do a technique
where I use a PVC pipe which is small enough
to fit in a dye container
on top of your stove.
Quilting thread, a piece of tape,
your iron and ironing board,
and the PVC are what you need
along with the dye, of course.
I also use white vinegar.
If you have hard water
 use water softener which is available
 in the laundry section
of your grocery store.
I buy from Dharma Trading Company
undyed silk fabric, undyed silk ribbon, and dyes

This is a preview to my next post which will follow soon.

Georgia O'Keefe Magnolia Handspun Bag ~ Beginning of How It Is Made



From Cover of  Book:
"Georgia O'Keeffe  Art and Letters"



Living in this very small town with a very very old and historic post office that closes early on a Saturday, well, early if you can not get there before noonish, patience, you need! Especially, if you are waiting for something to fulfill a vision; this very vision that keeps you awake at night, better than any dream you might have on your very best cinematic gorgeous nights.

Meanwhile, as you wait, you work and work on another vision that marks the spot where X might live, at this time, not last time, until you break your sewing machine and have to stop. No worry, you know the other vision is almost ready to begin. You will not even need that machine, now.

This is where your heart lives lately, those coral, orangish, lavender grayish, sage greenish, turquoise bluish greenish, red, bone dry whitish, colors of the high plains of New Mexico, where cliff dwellers lived before the mysterious wanderings which we still do not know why, where Georgia found her kings X, that place of which there is no other.

I T  is soft and comforting and already wound into a ball, not a skein, as before, . .I T will become the newest version of the MAG BAG. The G E O R G I A MAG BAG. (Eat Your Heart Out Anthropologie) When I saw this at the Magnolia Handspun site I bought it immediately because I knew it would be gone in five minutes, if I didn't hurry. That has happened before, you know? At least I knew it is mine, even though we were in the midst of that terrible snow storm, I didn't care because even if I was snowed in I knew this ball of yarn was mine. Even if it sat in the post office for a couple of extra days, I KNEW it was mine! This ART YARN is so perfectly wonderful, I just can't help myself! Yes, Camilla Bloom is a friend of mine, now. But even if she were not I would really really want this yarn simply because if I were to spin yarn this would be what I would want because it fits with my own visions of the creations I want to make.

The thing that is really fun for me is to let the inspiration tell me what to do. I never really know where it is going to lead. I get out the white silk fabric and my dyes and twist and turn and sew and pleat until I make the decisions of color and design. I might dye a piece of silk two, three, or more times, until I get exactly what I want. I choose the batik fabrics to anchor the yarn to the grid canvas. I choose a piece of ribbon from my stash of antique textiles. I choose the beads. I choose the silk thread. I choose the handles. I enjoy the process; slowly, deliberately, completing each element of my design. This is pure joy. You could join me, you know.

Matters of the H E A R T

My friend Sara from Saramuse made this bag for me
 many years ago.
I still love this bag. . .
I see it everyday.
It is her own design.
It tells a lot about her.
It says that she is generous
and full of life.



Sometimes there are things that break your heart
Sometimes there are things that touch your heart
Sometimes all you can do is make hearts
If you are lucky. . .
you find friends
that say that they care

And
you
are
grateful.

I always keep these hearts about
where I can see them
there are 5 of them
but, today I see only 4.
My son-in-law
is leaving for Afghanistan
to be an interpreter. . .
This hangs heavy on my heart.
This is another big story
that I will tell. . .
someday.

I am making these hearts
to mend
my heart
by taxing my brain
to pay attention
to count the stitches
so there is no room
to feel full of worry.

To feel full of love.

So Q U I E T



Ice Age?



Have you ever been inside a cabin in the mountains with a fire burning, candle light only, surrounded by no one but yourself and your curled up cat and dog?

Have you ever been in a forest with nothing green to see but two Colorado Blue spruce Pines you planted when they were brand new babies, grown tall, with many years?

Have you ever seen so much wet snow covering everything you can see, so quickly, so deeply,

 now more,

 when your eyes were closed?

Have you ever heard the quiet like this?

It is so quiet in this winter wonderland not a thing makes a sound.

Nothing but the words inside your mind.

You hear your friends in conversation

whispering

encouraging words

don't give up

don't stop trying

don't be sad

don't be afraid

you are not alone.

An Orchid Blooming In The Desert

My Valentine For The Earth
Finger-painted Desert
Porcelain Mono-print - Colored Pencil
On paper behind glass

Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day ~ Suicide?

I can bake a cake
but
I can't eat it too

You know that I am supposed to be on a gluten free diet, WELL, This morning I am heading out to buy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day and Knitting Green.

Well, I am home again, they just called from my school to say we are under snow conditions, yet again. Until at least Friday. So, I guess I'll be working on my art work, again. Gee, that is too bad! But I really miss my kids.

When I last wrote on this post it was early early morning before the sun??? came up. No sun. Anyway, my point is that I thought it was kinda funny that one could really kill themselves with food. Not that I would ever do anything like that intentionally, ever.

But, I am reading a cool book written by Orangette called " A Homemade Life". I am sitting here with tears in my eyes because she really knows me. We are cut from the same cloth, a little bit. This cooking thing and the homey thing and that her dad is the only person in the world that knows my  secret ingredient for Potato Salad. I have always used the package kind of Ranch Dressing. I sprinkle it on the red potatoes before anything else and set the bowl to chill. I toss and toss to make sure each potato is coated pretty well. Salt, too. Then I proceed to the rest of the ingredients. Now, Mayonnaise is a deal breaker with me. If you bring home the wrong kind you can just turn around and leave. It is funny because my Honey and I just had this conversation the other day! I asked him "What were you thinking?"," And how many years have we been married?????" It is a very big deal, to me. Real Mayonnaise by Hellmans! My dad was 73 when he passed on and left me here without him. I loved my dad more than anything. I had him on a pedestal. He fell off and broke my heart which is another story. But I loved him so very much and I miss him so very much. It is that Danish way about him that you could see in his beautiful blue eyes. He was so through and through Danish. I didn't know how much until I was grown and found out that, a lot of things, I automatically think, came from that, too. My grandparents were very interesting people and I miss them. Well, I am not going to write a book here, now. I just wanted to say that I am in the midst of reading this wonderful book and I just want to share. I also wanted to let you know that I am not really going to do a suicide by bread thing.
Besides I couldn't get that book, anyway.

So, I am going to go and try to finish putting my groceries away and finish what I started yesterday, you know, the organization bit, minus the panic attack. I am looking at it in a different way, today. SLOW ORGANIZATION. I am getting very Zen, these days.

Oh and one more thing, I put the video of Georgia O'Keeffe on because I loved her and visited her home and I miss the area and this morning very very early I ordered another bunch of yarn from Camilla Bloom from Magnolia Handspun that looks like a Georgia painting  and I am going to make a Georgia Mag Bag.

Drama Queen ~ Panic Attack

The sun was shining

I saw some drama. . .
That was yesterday

Today I am having a panic attack

All morning I have been trying to get organized.
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed?
I try very hard to focus on one thing at a time
just to alleviate those feelings of anxiety.
I realize that my life is very complicated
BECAUSE I MAKE IT THAT WAY!
My friend Terry says that if you ever get in trouble
and it is your own fault
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT CALLING
Really, that is what she told her children so they would learn to accept
responsibility.

Well, that 4 year old child that has so much fun
living inside of ME
has to straighten up,
or else.
So, this is why I am having a panic attack!

Hey, I still just want to be a cowboy's sweetheart
and ride horses as far as I can see.

out of the labyrinth into. . .

Remember I talked about not thinking straight a couple of days ago?
Well, this is the book with the little hearts I found myself lost in a labyrinth
I was just overly tired, I guess.
Mags Kandis is a fav of mine
Her book is lovely
so full of wonderful little things to knit or crochet.
Gifted is the Title
So I started again and this time it makes perfect sense, although,
I really like the idea of a tiny felted book of leaves shaped like little hearts
But, try as I might I can't figure how I did that, again.
Pretty funny!
Next to that is the Fabric I made for my Camera Carrier.
Again, of course is  the Magnolia Yarn.
Next, I am dyeing  twice some silk for the lining.
Shibori
I am thinking aqua and magenta, perhaps??
I am still working on the beaded piece.
My new dryer is here and ready to go.
I guess I know what I will be doing, today, as soon as I finish making. . .
a Key Lime Pie for my honey.

My Reward

It is very simple

When focusing on the essence

to see the slowness

become

no hurry

Just Call Me Bead Brain

I noticed just now that I made a mistake in spelling of a title. You would think my best friend would tell me, right?
Nope, she is busy hanging jackets on her outside plants, today.

I started making goony birds a few years ago. I even made labels for them. GoonEy Birds. My diagnosis for this is that I am a looney tune.

I just ate a pickle, it was so good. Have you ever had the fresh pickles at the New York Deli in Las Vegas?
Unbelievably good. I wish I had the recipe!

My clothes dryer broke a couple of days ago. Hate that! Had to buy a new one which will be here tomorrow.
My dishwasher was not getting my dishes clean and I almost bought a new one. Then, my sis called and told me
that they changed the formula for Cascade. Got rid of the phosphates or something and it was on the news in L.A. Everyone was going out buying new dishwashers. Pretty funny, not. I had to experiment and try good old white vinegar in the last rinse. It works.

I am still in my PJ's and it is a quarter to one in the afternoon.

I just looked up stuck in a rut on google.

It is 19 degrees outside, right now.

I have been beading and beading and now I am tired of beading. I tried to knit some hearts to felt from the book: Gifted. Have you ever just lost your brain somewhere and can't remember that you actually lost it or where?
I thought it was a complicated lace pattern, but, NO. just a few short rows and wrapping and turning and you should see it? What am I thinking. It turned out like half pages of a book shaped like half a heart. I always thought that song was "Have a Heart" not half a heart???

OK, now you do know that I am not kidding, right!

Have a super rest of the weekend!

Black/White/Gray Today

like black calligraphy
the beads
prepare to make the place
on snow
seem
as
shadow
dots



a grid
tries to merge
into the picture plane
white bamboo
too
2



the thread
it paints
itself
line by line by line



texture
collides
layer upon layer
knowing that the silk will shatter



long long after
the shoe is worn away



Yesterday~ Shoes ~Today~ Shoes~Beading and Thread Painting

All of you who know me know how much I love my clogs. I have them in almost every color. You also know that I was swarmed by yellow jackets and fell off of the top step of my CHICKEN house. So, these are really the only shoes I can wear. He he he, this is what I always say. It is the only real splurge besides yarn and other items I need to do my artworks, I buy. My birthday is coming  so this is what I choose.
OK, so yesterday I drove for 2 hours to Cornucopia which is the only place I know besides Santa Monica, California, that carry this brand. I really just wanted to let my eyes view the vistas and to see a change of scenery.

Bead project for January
Homage to my El Naturalistas
Thread Painting 2011
in Progress

The hike off of the mountain to where my truck lives these days was amazing. The sun was shining, the sky was totally blue, the snow was crunchy, I felt I could just as easily have been in Aspen. It made the whole day .

I feel like a squirrel sometimes, I go out and hunt and bring home acorns to save for a snowy day.

What I am Thinking About

I have read a lot about you are what you think about

So, this is the why for a thread painting. Homage.Shoes. Beading it. I was going to bead one of the shoes red, but I changed my mind, I think? Red shoes have a special meaning for me. That is another story for another time.

I also bought more Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, which brings me to the topic of wanting to spend time with more variety. I like short time projects for a relief of labor intensive artworks that I seem to gravitate.I spend a lot of time preparing for the art classes I teach and that is a relief, in a way, but I want the kids to have a great art experience, so I do quite a bit to make sure that will happen. So TIME management learning to do is top on my list. I have to grab minutes here and there.

Speaking of Shoes
Hen's Teeth's blog has wonderful photographs of shoes
from a museum exhibit in Great Britain.
These shoes are embroidered and embellished beyond beyond.

As I was driving I was wondering what is up with my being so wordy, lately. Have you noticed? I promise more pictures less words. I know we don't have time to read so much,.not if we want to read books, too.

A Reprieve

Yesterday, I finally decided that there is no way to make the deadline for the sketchbook project. So I took the page off of my blog, the one I intended to put some of what is in the show for everyone to see.
When I did this I inadvertently made all of my pages disappear. I just noticed it a few minutes ago.
So, I had to fix that.
I just received an e-mail telling that the date for post mark had been postponed a few extra days because of weather and the holiday. So, I guess I will be able to get it in in time for the deadline.
Last week I was having testing done to find out what is causing me to not thrive physically. It seems I have a bit of something that I need to take care of, which I am so not pleased about. I love french bread and things like almond croissants. But, too bad for me. No more gluten, Pretty funny. It is OK because I was afraid of something much worse.
Excuses, excuses. . .for not meeting goals.
It is the end of a week with snow days, no classes and too much time on my hands.
So I am not knitting for a few days and working on a piece for the beaded journal that my friend Saramuse and I are trying to get started. We were going to join another group but it too had a deadline that I missed. So this is our attempt  to do something similar. Sara is going to write about what it is we want to do on her blog. Again, stay tuned for more information, but in the meantime, work on a piece for the month of January.
I still have a couple of hanks of Magnolia Handspun left which I will be working on, too.
What a way to start the New Year, huh? It is all good.

So happy!!! I baked a cake and MY DAUGHTER CALLED!!!

I do  not talk much about  my daughter, here. If you remember last year about this time I fell into a black hole and had a terrible time climbing out. It took months and months of doing something positive every single day.
It took acting as if nothing hurt. It took being satisfied with the goodness of whatever is in my life. It took accepting many things like too much snow. I had such a hard time. At the very same time my mom was very ill. We got through that, to a point.
My daughter moved across the country from where I now call home. She moved back to a place where it was our home, but that was in another life.
She is doing very well and is very satisfied with her vocation. When she was a child, I always thought she would grow up to be either a doctor or a veterinarian. She is working in the medical profession with such a gift of empathy for her patients. It is perfect for her. When she lived at home she was very sick for a long time. In and out of Stanford University Hospital many many times. Eventually she recovered as much as she might.
She still has to have procedures which are dangerous and painful done ever so often.
So, you can imagine how our relationship is so strong. We weathered that storm together.
She has children whom I adore. I miss them terribly. They are the sunshine of my life.
I can not go visit right now because I must care for my mom. This has been a little tough, on me.
So here I am, a year later, NOT in a deep hole but thriving. I have my beautiful land and environment and wonderful friends, both here and all over the world. How lucky can one be.
I have children in my life in another way. My art students at the school where I teach give to me the wonder of life through their eyes. I am thankful for all of this.
I baked a cake today. I made it up. I was in the mood for chocolate and raspberries and white cake.
So, this cake is pretty funny. There was a time, if it were not perfect, I would dump it. Not NOW.
I melted dark chocolate and spread it upon one layer. Upon the other I poured raspberry syrup and spread a layer of raspberry jam. Then I put them together and frosted it with a cream cheese icing.
You would laugh so hard if you saw it! When I was not looking it decided to take a walk, all by itself.
The top layer slid over and tilted. I put it back. I stuck a toothpick in a couple of spots to help it decide to stay in it's place. I turned my back and it walked about, again.
I decided this cake has a mind of a different kind than mine. I decided that that is OK by me.
So tonight we will have dessert of a different personality. It is perfectly fine but not the beauty queen I thought I had created.
The best part is that the snow is deep, way too deep, my honey is on his way home, with a movie, we are safe and warm and together. How much better can life be?

What I have been working on



yesterday I began after. . .

frogging  is not my favorite

thing to do

but I will do it if I am not satisfied.

I love the Magnolia Ear Warmer

Theresa Lasichak designed for

Magnolia Handspun

I really needed something like this for myself.

It is snowing like crazy

I decided to make this in adult like colors

in the bigger size

I made my flower without the ribbons

but I used the same yarn to make a

center for the flower

I already had something else almost finished but like it?

I did not.

So, I frogged it and then added another hank of yarn

in a similar colorway to make

Whit's Knits Just-In-Time Neck Cozy

 I downloaded from Purlbee.com

the pattern which is free.

I am making fingerless mitts, too.

This is so much fun.

And the best part is that this is very practical and I needed these.

So, when I hike out of here

I will be warm and have friends come along, in spirit.

I am working on another thread painting that I plan to be my first beaded piece in 2011

this takes a while

now I will switch medium

for a few days.

Scratch

I am talking about how our brains work, again.

The word SCRATCH

OK, chickens scratch

I'll scratch that. . .

scratch what?

do you mean x that out?

do you mean you have an itch?

I did a painting once

It has a pair of eyeballs floating down through a staircase by a window

into a sub-space

there are 3 red books

or read books

I have no idea

there is a chair

there is a painting on the painting in this sub-space

on it are a couple of

brown paper bags

very realistic

with writing that says:

Scratch $1.00

OK so I did this painting and thinking about what in the world was I thinking

I looked up the definition of SCRATCH

it said, all of the above, plus. . .

it is another word for the devil.

OK

so, is it not interesting how the mind works?

Sometimes, I just let it go where it wants to go.

My brain.

Oh I was awake not sleeping

I am listening to an audible book

The Hidden Brain

while I am working

I am curious

because of people I love that are getting old

how DOES the brain die?

If you want to know. . .

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome | Video on TED.com

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome Video on TED.com

If you ever have a few bad days just remember the video about AWESOME. This is so worth taking a few minutes to watch. I recommend this entirely!

I am trying to tell you something?





So. . .what do YOU think it is???

A Yarn

Yarn

a story

(Old English gearn): An informal name for a long, rambling story--especially one dealing with adventure or tall-tales. The genre typically involves a strong narrative presence and colloquial or idiomatic English. The tone is realistic, but the content is typically fantastic or hyperbolic.Cf. ...
My life is a yarn

or tall tale

certainly an adventure

I somehow slipped into an ice-age

I didn't even realize it

it just happened

while I was busy doing other things

life is what happens to you. . .J Lennon

I had to be at the hospital

at 5:00 a.m.

It was snowing, of course

I managed to be on time

it was so cold in the hallway

it was so cold

I woke to find so much snow

I woke at home

it was so cold

I can't remember how it got this way



I dream
of
yarn and paint and books
and
friends
I dream of
you

My sketchbook project
subject: secret code
written and drawn with invisible ink
appears to be empty
but IT IS NOT

I need to wake
to send this out into the world

It is so cold