Yesterday I finally managed to dye yarn with my first indigo Sig vat. It was almost another failed experiment. And as usual, I probably learned more because of that.
Here are the results after one dip on white wool (right) and over sumac to make the green. Continue reading An Unconventional Indigo Sig Vat
My latest attempt at an organic vat from fresh-leaf homegrown Japanese indigo has me singing the blues — the pale, grayish, stinky blues. And while this batch of yarn counts as a dye fail, I learned some things getting here.
The yarns look better than they really are, but there’s no point letting them dry out for a photo. I’ll keep changing the water until the odor is gone, then overdye them. Probably in a fresh-leaf vat reduced with Thiox. Because it’s the end of August, which in northern Wisconsin means our growing season could end in six weeks or six days.
Having never taken organic chemistry, dyeing with plants I grow or gather is often instructive, sometimes bewildering, and always a bit magical.
My recent experiments with homegrown Japanese indigo and invasive buckthorn have been all of above.
Natural dye material is ready to harvest just about everywhere you turn here in rural northern Wisconsin, where I’m snipping as fast as I can. It’s nice to have a reason to slow down for a bit and enjoy dyeing with a friend.
The angel who started my Japanese indigo last spring came over yesterday morning. We combined leaves snipped from her plants and mine and had a nice visit while the pot warmed gently over a two-hour period.
The last time I cut bulrush where we went today to harvest was about 10 years ago. I never harvest much in any one spot. My goal is always that when I leave, my activity should be undetectable and not diminish the resource in any way. But today I took out more than my share — of leeches.
In the past when the lake level was lower, Bill and I just waded in and cut here and there. With some heavy rains this summer, lake levels are higher.
​After two days of teaching, I had a day off before my next seminars and I’ve made the most of it. Now I’m sipping iced tea, resting my feet, and reflecting on the wonderful things that have happened so far at Convergence 2016 in Milwaukee.
My week began with a 2-day workshop sampling seven looping variations from around the world. As usual when I’m teaching, I get too busy to take pictures. Then right at the end of the lunch break on Day 1, the convention center was evacuated because of a nearby fire. My class managed to meet up at the Starbuck’s across the street, and I managed to get a picture of this lovely group stitching and sipping until we could return to our class space.
Continue reading Looping At Convergence
This weekend has been our annual fishing camp, and my studio was temporarily converted into Fly Tying Central. But once the feathers and flash are picked up this afternoon, I’ll start spreading out natural dye materials to dry while I’m away teaching at Convergence.
Convergence is the Handweavers Guild of America biennial conference. Packing for an event like this is best done without any distractions — at least for me. At least if there’s anything that has to be counted. So I got all that done before our company arrived on Friday.
One warm, sunny October day in the mid-1990’s, I fell in love with Washington Island. I was in Jo Campbell-Amsler’s willow backpack class at Sievers, and we left the studio to weave at what is now called Percy Johnson Park.
Now I take my own students there when I teach a Sievers class called Local Color. The class combines field trips, natural dyeing, photography and digital imaging, and printing and embellishing images on fabric and transfers.
Once again in June, I spent a week as conference “auntie” at the Willow Gathering. But this year I played hooky one day and took a small group of participants on a little off-campus adventure.
We began the day with a special visit to Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American museum in Decorah, Iowa.
Last year I grew Japanese indigo successfully in a recycled horse trough with the bottom cut out. This year, to plant my expanded crop, I’m also trying three more container growing options.
Each year, Bill and I try a few new container experiments for growing vegetables. Last year we raised potatoes, sunchokes and basil in wire cages made from hardware cloth. We lined the cages with a thick layer of dry leaves. (We found a ring of plastic cut from an old barrel makes it easy to pack leaves up the sides of the container.) Then we fill the center with a mix of soil and compost. This year, one of those bins is planted with indigo seedlings.