rainbows and sunshine

two more happy students

cutting off their first

weaving

so happy they have decided to start another class immediately

while the rain continues so does the dyeing

pomegranate rind: Dominique Cardon calls it “the dyers’ golden apple”

an ancient dye that alone gives a beautiful golden-yellow

the fibre is 22/2 silk, mordanted in alum

from the left; pomegranate, over-dyed in the exhaust madder/cochineal bath, iron modifier, iron again left a little longer and left in the iron until the bath was exhausted – more iron and you will get a true black, but iron is very hard on fibres

and finally,  top dyed with indigo

a rainbow is out there somewhere!

the shibori samples are dyed

the indigo vat is not happy, still too cold I think

and doing multiple dips with rain running down the back of the neck is not fun

so which resist pattern will I use for the final 2 meters?

this is the board clamped method I used to resist the striped portion of the fabric. It worked on short samples but isn’t very useful for yardage

the samples all have different weft yarns, the stripe is a handspun singles silk that was dyed in last years indigo stems, it was a very light blue/grey. The other three are linen or cotton.

last but not least – Bryan has posted the details for next year’s workshops here

is anyone interested in making up a group from the Pacific Northwest??