Depth

Today was our last day. We all arrived weary and bleary eyed, no way near as tired as Michele , Kathy and their crew.....they really have put an intense amount of energy into our week here and no words could possible express my awe and gratitude. Depth is my only thought, feeling and emotion. It was an intense week of working, sharing space and learning. Today was indigo....I was so delighted to have actually practiced the art for the first time and with success! We paired up so we could dip our gradation skeins from yesterday along with some overdying of our first day with hankies, scarves and ayate. I paired up with Katey, the resident dyer at a farm in Montana and Karen, a wonderful woman who is fortunate to live in Ballard with her husband,and be a dear friend of Earthues. We three had some great fun, as did the other pairs, dipping our fibers and oxidizing and rinsing to see such lovely changes with the indigo. Then the group, with a great amount of help from Michele, Kathy and Coby, labeled and tagged each of the skeins from each color gradation and each of us received a set of 17 wool sample skiens and 12 silk sample skeins for future reference. One moment of awe came as I was leaving and Coby was documenting some samples that she had dyed with the exhaust baths from yesterdays gradation dye pots. One was the most beautiful pale lilac yarn....it was just the color I had been looking for all week and there it was, at the very end, quietly resting! An ahhh moment! I will spend at least my flight back East tomorrow, pouring over the yarns, silk scarves and hankies and ayate, recollecting and storing the information while it is still fresh. This has been a wonderful, enriching and bonding experience for each of us, both individully and as a family of dyers. This is what you come away with after a workshop with Earthues; the dyes are spectacular, they speak through the colors created and the commitment Earthues makes sets the sail to drive us all forward in color, creativity and success!