nothing much

but actually quite a lot. The dyebooks have arrived, at last and I have been reading, reading, reading: J. Liles, The Art and Craft of natural dyeing, R. Buchanan A Dyers Garden and A weavers Garden, Jenny Dean The Craft of Natural Dyeing, and, of course, India Flint's Eco Colour

like yin and yang: fluctuating between "I will get this colour at all cost" and "now lets see what this plant will give me"

I have been having great fun playing -

collecting, harvesting, banging, wetting, boiling, pickling, steeping, dunking, tying, rusting, :-))))))

and actually working a little bit in between.

I acheived true black!!!!

the only problem is that there is not much textile left to hold it:

and I ruined the microwave doing it. the twigs inside the cotton caught fire

solar boiling:

very

very hot- you need potholders to move this

this I am proud of.

after the workshop with the actors my fingers were itching for something to do, so I made a little mini woollen scarfthing on a small frame loom. I used yarn I had dyed myself, experiments that had turned out mainly tannic subcolour. I then spent half the night fulling it between my fingers and palms till it was properly felted, like a shepherds cape, real hard, then I bundled it up around a moroccan souvlaki stick with eucalyptus leaves collected from Koumoundourou square and some cotton fabric purchased in the area and simmered it in a tea of oak bark and more eucalyptus. I let it stand in the sun for a couple of days and then I got impatient and unbundled it.

I am very pleased with it. now for the large frame loom.....

and maybe mud

lesson of the day

never browse the internet while dyeing. your house may burn down.

or

do not leave dye projects alone, they might get creative.......