Ok, I really did do some weaving, I was just beginning a center pattern when Sarah pulled out the dye pots, then I couldn't focus on weaving, hopefully I finish it this winter, if I'm ever home. (Good thing I love hand work). The dark center color is my indigo dyed yarn, the salmon is madder root. The grays and cream are commercial yarns. The picture is dark and doesn't show the colors well. (Double clicking on the pictures seem to give a much truer color).
The ball on the left is Navajo tea, the second is dried wild carrot root both with Sarah's alum.
I dyed this fabric at home with Rabbit Bush we picked on the way home.
The balls of yarn were dyed with Sage at the workshop, the one on the left Sarah put in her "desert" alum and the one on the right her "cave" alum. The yarn is the most beautiful sagey greens. I wanted that green on my fabric but I had to use my "dyers" alum and it turned a bright yellow.
Same thing with osage orange. The yellow ball I dyed, the olive green balls we're with Sarah's alum she collects in the desert (and I don't know the secret to finding the "cave" alum). Also, as Sarah has no running water, we used rain water for all of our dying, from her rain barrel.
I wanted to get graduated color shadings with black walnuts, They are very easy to dye with.
On our drive home we went through the Rockie Mts. in Colorado, and camped in them one night. The Aspen trees were at peak color and sooo beautiful, it took us 5 hours to go 100 miles because we couldn't help but stop continously and take pictures (of course my pictures doesn't do it justice). This is a picture of a stream running through the mountains, it was early morning and rainy. Also, the wind was very cold with snow on the mountain tops.
A lake in the Mountains.
Aspen with Spruce trees.
I made this wallhanging last year, I had leg surgery and appliqued and quilted it while I had my leg propped up above my heart. I natural dyed all the fabrics except for the black. The orange and green was a cream plaid which I dyed yellow than overdyed with cochineal and indigo.Well, Saturday I fly to my daughters in Florida, she is having surgery and I'm flying down to take care of my grandsons for two weeks. I can't wait to see them. The oldest is 9, then twins will be 3 Monday and the baby who is one and a half but thinks he's 3. I don't think I'll have time to do much sewing, but we'll see. I'll "see" you the end of October. Have a wonderful fall, it's my favorite time of year and I'm off to balmy Florida, which is still very hot and muggy.
3 comments:
Your wool is just so pretty. I am just starting to use some soon in a class I am taking through my guild. I just love the color of yours. Glad I ran into your blog.
toni
You don't stay home much, do you!
The mountain scenes look at lot like our neighborhood right now, though out leaves are thinning fast.
I wish miss Sarah would sell packets of her Alum so we could get those great colors. I bet there is some sort of metal ore mixed in it naturally, like iron or lead to cause that chemical reaction & give those intense colors. It's probably a good thing it's all done outside.
Your indigo in your weaving really turned out good. I looked at it in the big picture & it looks rich. The madder root looks almost identical to what we did on out wool for our quilts. Your little pumpkin quilt is great too! Gosh I miss playing with you!
I get the impression you like the dyeing of the textile better then the rest of the process! You are another over achiever!! Just like Deb!
I feel like I need to stick with quilting until I get it right before I can branch out. Although playing with the paints and dyes are some of my favorite memories with my sis!
Your colors are beautiful! How do they hold up? Perhaps you can get some of the plants from Sarah and try growing them yourself!
I love the looms! They are a piece of art themselves!! I've always thought I'd like to try weaving.
The photos you've posted are just awesome.......we drove through that area years ago but it was at night. The painted desert was white.....(it had snowed). I'd love to see more!
Post a Comment