yes, white dress and blue hands

I have been wanting to dye and just have not had enough time.  There have been chef rolls and face masks to make.  Family and business.

I decided to take some of the ecoprinted cotton I was intending to use for a dress and dye it with indigo.  It will become face masks or I will sew it together to cut out a different style dress then I was first planning.  Yes, those have been my thoughts about fabric recently.  Why did I cut something out that way?  Sew it all together so I can cut it oug in a different way for a different shape dress.  Completely where my head is.  

This morning I got dressed in a white dress, put an apron on, and then had Koda Bear helping me.  The help started with making two different doughs.  One for bread and one that is sweeter that will be turned into cinnamon rolls and hot cross buns.  I can eat hot cross buns year round and do!  I had been requested to make cinnamon rolls this week as well so that was on the agenda.

Earlier this week, I had put the ecoprinted cotton in a bucket of water with alum added.  I needed to make sure the indigo stuck.  After the dough mixing, Koda Bear and I mixed up the indigo pot.  Then the fabric was added.  Now, it is wait and see what the end product looks like.  But we both have blue hands.  My white dress seems to have weathered the indigo pot well and is still fairly white.  Tea and small Blue hands are why it is fairly white.

I found the marigold while I was looking for the indigo.  I am thinking I might go there this coming week.  Being creative when I am doing much of the cooking, cleaning, small human watching, and sewing face masks is hard.  I take a break from face masks by working on chef rolls for Serenity Knives.  So being able to put fabric in a pot and see what happens is a nice creative place.  I started a soft cozy shawl from leftover yarn to work on when I am fading in the evenings.  

I wonder what marigold and indigo might make......

mint

I have a friend who is an art teacher.  I get these strange text messages from her.  Or Facebook messages.  Usually about something I know.  One of the last times was using plants for dye.  I went back to my books and saw that mint could make a green.  A grey green.  I thought, hmmm.

I picked up some mint and put it in a pot.  I boiled for awhile.  Strained and then added silk that I had had soaking in water and alum.

It was a cabbage green when it was wet.  It then dried to a sage green.  Green grey.  Something like that.  I wanted something a bit more for ribbons.  So I added a bit of iron and woad.

Wet, it looked more olive.  But after washing it was a silvery green grey.  Of course I did not save anymore of those pictures!

I find plants are interesting.  I always want to do more.  Put plants in water and see what happens when I add silk.  Or see if I can duplicate other colors I see.  I have been collecting inspiration for quilts and yarn colors.  This could be an interesting process in the future.  But for now, more play.  More ribbon.

It is cold and rainy here today and all I would like to do is dig in the earth.  I would like to plant seeds and dye plants.  Maybe in February.

For those few who have contacted me, my Mom's first treatment has gone well so far.  The chemo stops being pumped into her system later today.  She was told there may be some reactions later today and in the next two days.  In two weeks, another infusion of chemo.  They still are not sure of diagnosis so there is a bit of wait and see.  Will this work or, if there is more clarity, will the drugs need to be changed?  Yesterday and today were good days though so that is a plus.

going for a blue green

As you may have guessed, my life is a bit mad.  But I have missed dyeing silk.  Part of it is I look at my clothes and think I could change that with dye.  Freshen it.  Make it something new.  I have to admit for my clothes I think a lot about black walnut.  A dark brown or black brown.  Or is that brown black.  I like forest tones.

I had a friend message me one night asking if it is true that you can make a blue or even turquoise with red cabbage if you add baking soda.  Yes because it is about changing the pH of the water.  I will tell you that I add too much baking soda the first time.

That is what you get when the water has a very base pH.

But I tried again.  Add some alum to help mordant the cloth.  Add one teaspoon of vinegar.  Add a small (like a tablespoon) of woad.

This is what looked like wet out of the dye bath.

This is how it looked after being machined wash.  I am thinking about picking up some of the aromatherapy laundry detergent I like which has a sea salt and see if it changes the colors when I wash it too.  But this is a silver.  A silver grey.  But I had the piece of silk sitting in the sun before I took pictures of it and it definitely has a blue cast.  I am thinking about what I can try next.  I do have a piece of silk sitting in a mint dye bath.  Currently, it is looking like swamp green.  Okay, really a grey green but it is October!

Koda Bear is helping with these experiments.  Which is pretty cool.  More experiments for me soon.  I do have a Hallows costume to make for this not so small bear.  I am going to make him help!

playing with indigo

I am going to say I am still learning a lot when it comes to indigo.  I think it should be permanent and it is not.  I think it should dye with out anything added to it.  It does not.

But I am getting there.  I have blue hands to prove it.  Part of why I as working with the indigo was I had two shirts and one dress that were just too light.  Or white.  They needed to be another a color to be wearable.  My Beloved does not wear white because he gets it too dirty too fast.  I do the same. 

Two of these garments are further changing by me making the short sleeved.  I like to wear things out before I throw them out.  But the colors are such that they will become cool quilts if they still do not work when worn.

I was also trying to change a length of weld dyed silk into more of a green.  When it was on the line, it looked very aqua or ocean blue.  It has dried and washed more of a light green.  Someday I will figure out this color.

I have lots of fleece that I will wish to have a different color then the natural.  Especially the whites and greys.  I lean towards greens or blues naturally.  If it is not black or brown.

More playing with this does need to happen.  But maybe I will do a few other things first.  There are only so many hours in the day.  A corner shelf unit and a truck cabin may be soon!

weld

I am still playing with plant dye.  Experimenting.  Playing.  Someday, probably on the mountain, I will grow more of my own but not yet.  I ordered a few plants to see what will happen.  This pale yellow is weld.  

I have had some luck with indigo and having wishing for a green.  A yellow is needed for a green and I have not had good luck with anything I have tried.  I did some research and decided weld was what I wished to try.  I only used a small bit with three yards of silk but it made a very pretty pale yellow.  It reminds me of a lemon ice.

I have to admit that I have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole with pigments.  I wish to go play outside, in rocks, to see what I can find.  But until then, I have actually done a subscription to have a small amount of pigment shipped to me each  month.  I am not big subscription person.  Yes, I do Imperfect Produce.  I love it but we also eat a lot of vegetables.  The pigment is just for me.

I will not be getting much.  But, I figured I could mix a little with soy milk and see how it paints paper and dyes a small bit of silk.  I am wishing to experiment more.  I am also going to be saving my pennies to take a pigment gathering workshop.  Talk about combing the geophysics and the artist.  It just sings to me.  Maybe I will plaster the Teahouse in all the little bits.  Or go collect my own.

Can you tell I am still excited about color?  Especially color in all its natural forms?  Part of the yellow is to find a way to make green yarn.  I have much fleece and need to not buy any.  I just laugh at myself.