too busy to write

seamingII

making a borobag backpack with pieces of clothes, leftovers from ragdoll koutsouna making. some woven, initially with no base, very loose, moves around a lot until they find their place. all very loosely basted onto a sheet, then a "stretchy" piece of skirt, it is the stitching that holds it together, uncountable layers at the seams

lines and lines of stitching are making a very sturdy cloth

I tried to traverse the whole bag with lines at right angles, felt very much like weaving (with some diversions for fun, little winding paths, turning around on themselves)

the pins were in only for a moment, to hold the final seams

generally I like basting layers with thread to hold them together letting them move around until they are stitched down

it makes my left hand, the holding one take up an active role of energetically feeling the cloth as it comes together

the joining seams were very thick, the pins were under tension, I could almost hear the cloth sigh as they were pulled out

this is what I'm doing in anticipation of the start of jude's contemporary woven boro online class

I think it actually began sometime last year when I found her blog, spiritcloth

new

luka cat dog

her foot is on the big mythology book that serves as a table sometimes

yesterday I stitched all day, started 3 little cloths. The pictures are terrible, but I can't find the charger for the camera.

after watching jude's videos "making" discipline went down the drain. I had to get these out of my system

this is a the literal one.. a landscape

a ship on a winters night

and the holy wild cow womanstaring at the bases took much longer than the actual stitching

and there is some digesting to be done

and now, some housework

we are reaching the b.c. era- before civilisation

heat and absence

so it happens that I am alone at home for three days. A true holiday, a difference. Also, there is a heatwave. 40C in the shade. limiting movement, and food, and sleep.

so how to fill absence in a heatwave?

reflecting, sweating, musing, watering, myself, plants, myself.

the vat is at its happiest

stitching is ok, especially if I don't get too fussy

at night I play around with positioning cloths

basting sometimes

made a little blue ridinghood with the cutouts from beachcloth and sea cloth. I think I'll give her a pink madder wolf.

cat, owl, fish is an applique sampler

fun

oh yes, dyeing cloths

sort of madly dyeing- there's nothing like a heatwave to bless pots

also preparing bundles, because a longer absence is in the near future, the best recipe to leave them alone

I surprised a gecko in a bag of leaves

I live with colonies of them, they are vociferous and entertaining

and they eat moths, mosquitoes etc

say hello to grace, mr gecko

the window is from kythera, a seaming window

you can see more of my dyeing on flikr, there on the right

fun and work

we went to the sea, and washed two sacks of fleeces. They were incredibly dirty. abeetle came to investigate, some horseflies too, ugly bites, those.

and I made a pincushion- I need it, with all the sewing I've been doing!

and a snake left me a gift.

red and blue on the same day

this ones roots are safe from me
red trails-or are they rivers?
put in dry, long soaks in the vat, washed many times...yes, the smell does go away. 2 dips. you can see the top of Helen Melvins "The Colour of Sea and sky" which has been a great help in the indigo venture, along with J. Liles "The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing"
my bundles warming up on the corner of the veranda
eucalyptus leaves shadows. I like this. I wish I left them longer
more prints on the bundle with the madder root. they were not left long enough to develop. they will probably get an ironwater treatment. and I don't know what gave the green...I'll turn into a meticulous notetaker yet
the madder in a jar with water. it is fermenting visibly after 24hrs
anthemis tinctoria, the green is overdyed with poppy iceflower,underneath all pomegranate rind warp yarn
bark soaking for the next round
while peeking into a bundle, impatient as always, I got a surprise.

red

deep lovely red

the bundle was hastily unbundled, and it was true..the orange root of madder gave me a deep red

I;ve been bundling up pieces of my pomegranate cloth, with leaves and metals

I simmered them in eucalyptus bark dyebath with more rusty nails, they are a very satisfactory black colour, now they are stewing in the very hot sun

there are coins in there as well, and some of the bundle cores are copper pipes, people just throw them out.

I have never been given red from madderroot before, and I am very excited

this madder was collected on May 1 in Varnavas, next village up, and it grows in very different conditions than it does here, in Grammatiko. I found it near a path in the forest where there is a lot of water, and the soil was moist, at places saturated with water. these were young roots, I didn't have a digging tool with me, so I just dug in a little bit and pulled out some intensely orange coloured roots, thin ones

I believe the preparation of the cloth has been very important. They have been scoured with caustic soda and lots of olive oil soap, which may have acted as the rancid oil of old.

it has been premordanted in succesive dips of wood ash lye and soya milk, and then dyed in pomegranate rind soup, cold

1st note to prospective dyer: Prepare, prepare, prepare. it is certainly worth it

a few remarks

my water is hard. very hard.

soya milk is fantastic. it is worth getting good quality beans.

sit on your hands. let those bundles age.

as long as possible.

keep notes on process. I may want to try to do it again

it feels like a gift from the land

the technique of bundling up plant matter is from India Flints " eco colour", a book which has led me to many a joyous dyeing experience. I am grateful to india for publishing this book. It s place is by my bed, and even just reading it gives me much enjoyment.

and the blue

yayyy again! I am dancing with joy

my urine vat is getting there! smelly, ammoniacal, ph over 9, sitting in the sun all day long, it has not been lazy at all. the indigo is reducing, it is dyeing strips of cotton , and yesterday it was washfast

I am so excited that my mind is running around itself trying to decide what to do first

:-))))))))))))

inorganic pigments(preview), some onion skins, alkanet, landscape and plants

onion skins, cotton
and linen.
photo by my dear friend and coleague Mats Rehnman who popped over from Sweden for world storytelling day

another of Mats;s photos. this is Rhamnous, an ancient port. Yes, it was named after the persian berry producing bush which is still prolific in the area. I think I've mentioned before that I think I live in dyeland....
straining pomegranate dyebath. I;ve been dyeing metres and metres of thick cotton for my current project
which is a painted storycloth, an illustrated storytelling par. this is on of the plans I've made, on paper
moon rising
I am using inorganic pigments with soymilk as binder and sizing. this is linen. It is absolutely beautiful when painted on.
this is an alkanet dyebath, a linen dress, I extracted the colour with alcohol
this is what I do with the remnants of mixed colours
in the red is genista tinctoria, in the blue.....what else indigofera. still waiting
violets.
new leaves on rosebush in the early sunlight

and me with a part of the storycloth. this is the baba yaga place. The cloth is one of my milky pre mordanted cloths from last year, it is perfect for painting on, no wicking. I had two of these cloths, one soaked in yogurt, one in kefir, diluted with water. both are stiff and smell a little cheesy. This is what I've been up to, the weather is warming up, the flowers are in a wild dancing mood, giving their all before the heat sets in. paradise.