Blue Fingers in Ohio

Teaching the art of dyeing with indigo in Medina, Ohio was just great. I flew home with blue fingers but left behind 16 students who can now dye confidently with pure indigo using a reduction vat.

From the east coast to the mid-west rain had plagued the region for days but Mother Nature gave us lovely weather the entire weekend.
After some introductions and lecture time we started right in making the indigo stock and then adjusting the vats for dyeing.

I brought a board I created using images kindly and graciously shared by Jenny Balfour-Paul, author of Indigo. Whether you are a dyer or merely interested in the history of indigo around the globe this book is a must read.

While the indigo stock reduced (you can see the lovely jars full of blue) we took a lunch break....

Some textiles I brought to share for inspiration (terribly faded photo, sorry!)

a students work ready to dip...

another student, Betsy, brought a stunning woven piece she created which had a supplemental weft that she pulled to create a resist when dyed. It started as this vibrant salmon pink. You can see how tight the bind is as when undone the piece will be about 22 inches wide.

Betsy dipped the entire piece  a few times and the resist started to show....

this was the piece day two, having oxidized overnight. Betsy was done dipping and ready to neutralize, then unbind, wash and rinse the piece. I hope one day to see it in it's finished state.

Some skeins of yarn a student, Karen, had dyed naturally and brought to overdye in indigo....

and here are a few of the skeins.....

other skeins dyed with indigo, the left are white yarn the right are gray yarn....

indigo stock reducing...

a pretty cloth-covered box I thought would overdye nicely which my lodging host, Jan, found when we were out shopping about before the class...indigo will almost always enhance an otherwise unexciting object! This was after it's first dip...

some of the students pieces oxidizing as they kept dipping others...

Amanda showing her war paint....

By day two everyone was learning to adjust their own indigo vats with confidence, a fine balance between enough indigo stock added for depth of color plus raised pH and oxygen reduction for lasting color...

more work oxidizing...

 a great tee shirt...

Chris dyed this piece and brought it to show me, using India Flint's technique of eco-bundling. She layed leaves and plant matter on the scarf. The plants she used are celandine (yellow), sand cherry (blue), cochineal (pink) and there are faint whispers of crimson king maple leaves. She bundled it up, let it do it's magic and this beautiful piece developed...

here is Chris modeling the scarf....although Chris isn't able to come to India's workshop in August at my farm I promised to share the project with India...

more pieces continue to emerge....

even a hydranga blossom found indigo!

a delicate scarf with a resist....

I made a woad mother stock on Saturday night and Sunday started a woad vat for everyone to experience...

this was a skein after one 2 minute dip....beautiful French bleu...

woad versus indigo

more woad yarn....

this was a great group of dyers...so much talent, enthusiasm and cool, calm energy. I was treated to a lovely three days. I flew home knowing I had shared the knowledge of dyeing with indigo to them and that will help keep indigo's history and prosperity alive.

Long live indigo and the Medina Spinners and Weavers Guild!

The Blues ~ For students not for me!

Recovery is treacherous, cruel and oh, so boring! Here is my existence to some degree. I mean from here I travel on crutches to the bathroom, the bedroom and the kitchen. I have a spot in the kitchen at the island where I can elevate the foot and at least converse with Jack during meals.

Yesterday, my friend, Betsy came by and brought some lunch from the Putney Coop (yum!) and we sat on the porch for a visit. Now I haven't been to the porch since surgery as it's been too hot and this foot wants to swell at the first opportunity. So when I'd had enough I got up on the crutches and headed back to the living room and did a skid on a throw rug. I didn't fall down but did hurl forward onto the ball of my healing foot. Oh boy, did that feel great! I hit the icepacks and made an appointment with the doc for today just to be sure something hadn't gone awry. It felt odd but may just be a bit of aggravation. Today the doctor unwrapped the bandages and noted I had minimally caused some bleeding but all in all I am okay. She wrapped me up with the next appointment for 9 more days if I don't do something silly!
So what was a breeze on day one has become a bit of a trial, but I will survive it! I am just so not a couch potato and the hard part is staying down. A true test of MY patience!

Backing up a few weeks, I taught Basics in Natural Dyeing, here at the farm to a great group of students on June 12th working through the steps to become a successful dyer using Earthues natural dyes. I was full of enthusiasm after returning from France. After a brief lecture we jumped into dyeing two colors from one dyepot. I set up the day so each student would go home with 8 dye formulations with yarn samples to build from for their own personal work.

It was a rainy day but it didn't dampen our spirits.
As we rolled along through the dyeing schedule students watched the yarns to be sure the skeins took the dyes evenly.

Sidney couldn't help himself....he just loves a room full of people and happy sounds. Puts him right to sleep!
The skeins get sorted for each student at the end of the day.
And yes, I asked for a group photo! After just a day together relationships form as we share a common interest.
The following day, June 13th, I taught Unravel The Magic and Mystery of Indigo. Each student came with a drive to learn the indigo process and also various areas or interest. Margo brought a number of pieces she had prepared in the shibori fashion where others brought raw fleece, roving and yarns.
I love to teach indigo and I prefer students bring their own fibers because once they connect with the process, applying the range of blues to their own work is the kiss of success! Here are some fibers oxidizing between dips.
Helen is building her layers of indigo to some beautiful yarns she spun. Indigo dyeing works on the concept of building the blue through multiple dips until the prefered blue hue is acheived.

If you have yearned to get started with natural dyes consider joining me and Michele Wipplinger for one of the workshops coming up in August and September which you can review here.