Our last foray into dying was a smorgasbord of color. Nancy brought me sea water for mordanting and fireplace ash water which we used to transform turmeric – yellow to red. My stash of natural dye fabrics is growing – some still a surprise. We used amethyst, english red and an array of greens, browns, grays.
While I was waiting for Nancy to arrive, I started to tie my bundles in folded, clamped and rolled patterns. The pearl cotton I had dyed the week before is used to tie some of the bundles. I want to see if the indigo leeches out onto the other colors.
I also mixed a batch of turmeric. Boil for 1/2 hour to release the color. So much turmeric remained at the bottom, but no worry, the color is still intense and so, so permanent.
I also took out a stencil I’d been saving for something and dry-brushed flower patterns with turmeric.
We stopped for a deliciously colorful lunch (ginger carrot soup, almost the color of turmeric) to visit our local thrift where I found a beautiful white piece of fabric for another day. $1. for 1 + yards.
I am waiting for the bundles to dry a bit. One that was dyed in logwood dried quickly and yielded beautiful patterning. The piece I rinsed too soon, faded miserably. These bundles also, accidentally sat out in an unexpected rain and dyes migrated into interesting results.
Ideas in Cloth 