make you blue

-Japanese textile remnant recently purchased at an ethnic textile baazar
-Detail of my much loved Chinese bark cloth jacket found at a thrift shop
-Indigo seeds I will be planting in mid February

More indigo.  I meant to post this a couple weeks ago after a lecture I attended with indigo artist and teacher Rowland Ricketts.   The event was hosted by the Fibershed community and coincided with the building of the first Japanese indigo composting floor here on the west coast.  Rowland, who guided the building of the floor, gave a slide presentation of his apprenticeship in Japan where he learned the ancient process of turning newly harvested indigo leaves into sukomo, the end product for color dyeing.  The talk was fascinating and I feel like I learned so much.  I never realized what it took, how detailed, and how back breaking the process was.  And beside the hard work, the slide show reconfirmed my opinion of how beautifully the Japanese craftspeople do things.  I admire the careful skill in every step.  Mindful, thoughtful, meticulous.

-Rowland Ricketts website
-a photo of the composting indigo pile
-Fibershed videos, philosophy and projects
-The Fibershed marketplace, and where you can purchase indigo seeds

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To everyone who left camera suggestions - thank you!   Now I need to process the info and make a decision.  Can't wait to play with an upgraded camera soon...  xo

      

Stitching the sky

Lately the color of the chilly twilight looks very similar to the indigo cloth I hand dyed back in spring.  This inspired me to finally pick up the cloth that's been sitting on my sewing table and experiment.  I played around piecing squares together.  Turns out the stitches look a little like constellations.  And by the way...I have no idea where this is going, I'm just following an impulse and keeping my hands busy.

If you are interested in indigo seeds, plant-dyed yarns, wool for spinning, knitting patterns, etc...the Fibershed online shop is now open.  Oh and while you're at it check out the imaginative cyclocarder ! 

gathering

...more oakgalls for natural fabric dyeing.  Hoping for a nice gray-chocolate brown.

I can never walk away from an oakgall under a tree.

...and making

...crepe paper garlands for the mantle.  Laurel or olive you ask?   Haven't decided yet.  Guess it all depends on what type of "berry" I add ... or if I add anything at all.  We'll see.

Inside the dyeshed

mordanted stands of wool and dyers coreopsis

workshop setting

oak galls on the table, simmering pots of sheep sorrel, tea, and toyon

tools

Sheep sorrel simmering

coreopsis flowers heating up

the dyeshed

Instructor and book author, Rebecca Burgess in the dye garden

discussing indigo and madder root plantings

The dye materials of the day:  sheep sorrel, coffee berry, sagebrush, toyon, coreopsis, and oak gall.  These are all native to northern California.

I was so focused on learning the process that I now realize I forgot to take photos of the final dyed cloth.  I think my distraction was due in part by the large simmering pots of twigs and flowers, the old tools, and the beautiful shed and garden... the outcome became secondary, the process is so pleasing in itself.  

                

sustainable garden

Fabric drying in the sun, and a sprinkling of chickens

Above: natural fabric dyeing class with Rebecca Burgess.
Commonweal Garden, Bolinas CA


Plant matter: Toyon and Coffee Berry

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I just found out that Rebecca's new book, Harvesting Color, will be out May 1st. Also, there will be a Fibershed (grown and sewn close to home) fashion show debuting Rebecca's new sustainable clothing line on the same day in Point Reyes Station. Good things moving in a good direction - hooray.

Like gold, I never knew

oak galls and linen dyed in madder, rosemary, and nettles (a quick dip)

In a few weeks I will be taking another class in natural fabric dyeing. Though before class, I need to prepare my fabric for dyeing. This means hunting for oak galls. Oak galls are the round balls you see on oak trees that are made when wasps deposit their eggs inside an oak shoot. This foreign body stimulates the tree to grow plant tissue which ends up turning into a nut-like gall. The oak gall has a very high tannin content which makes them valuable to natural fabric dyers and ink makers. So, now my job is to find some trees (which I've already spotted), collect a basket full, smashed them into small pieces, and boil them in water to make a soak solution for my fabric. This is part of the mordanting process.

All new to me... I never knew the value of these little galls, I didn't even know their name. Now all of a sudden these little round nuggets have become like gold.

Natural Fabric Dyeing

Plant matter du jour: madder root, turmeric, indigo, rosemary, nettles.

I spent the day with seven woman making natural fabric dyes using plant matter with healing properties. The class, "Healing Clothes: Making Dyes, Making Medicine" was filled with great information on the ancient Ayurvedic tradition prescribing "the wearing of naturally dyed clothing for specific conditions". Author, educator, textile artist Rebecca Burgess has just written a book, "Harvesting Color" which I intend to run out and get soon. What a fun day drinking hot tea, coloring cloth, and learning something new in good company. A few more photos from the class here.