Pot Luck

I've added a few more bits to Palace of the Soul, keeping it growing little by little.

And I overdyed some wet felted wool I had previously dyed with maple leaves, this time using resists and a eucalyptus bath.

And I did a few pieces of silk, too.

Last night after being occupied with the felted book, I suddenly was shocked to realize there is that rare thing here, now - snow - and I had not even thought to do some snow dyeing! So I was determined to make that happen today and good thing, as the temperature has risen, rain is falling and the snow is rapidly disappearing.

Stay tuned for results - I've got three or four different colours of dye in each bucket and all kinds of fabrics, trims and threads prepared in a variety of ways.

Highlights

I didn't like the orange red colour of this silk shirt of mine, so I decided to overdye it, and toss a few other scraps into the bath while I was at it. The flower worked out well until I washed it with the other dyed fabrics and it lost its highlights. And the shirt didn't absorb much of the darker colour and ended up a mottled orange red. Oops. But fabrics are settling onto shelves in the studio and the design walls are up and ready to be covered with felt.

This and That

Here are some fabric scraps gathering ready for Jude Hill's Contemporary Woven Boro class and sorting through them is like taking a trip down memory lane for the last four years. I have alot of colour and fewer neutrals. I've also been basting fabric weavings and it's good to regain those pins, as I know I'll be needing them!

I've also been finishing my machine thread colour scales for my other class, and I overdyed these fabrics - adding bright green and magenta. They're more interesting now, but I may do another round of colour. I am curious about how different methods of dyeing compare to each other. I used low immersion methods here - with three hours of batching and a different recipe and the results are as vibrant as the tray dyeing. It seems to me there's room for alot of leeway.

And serenditpity plays a large role, too.

Making Sure I Get My Greens

Silk gauze dyes beautifully - this reminds me of seaweed. And I over dyed this linen a third time:

Here is a loosely woven cotton that I also tested in the dye bath - it fringes nicely.

And while I was dyeing, I figured why not pop in my white socks? :)

Before and After

I've spent some time playing with wools and additions to past works in progress, as well as creating in other mediums and dyeing over the last few days. I wanted to overdye some fabrics to see if I could improve them and here are a few 'before and after' shots which I still plan to take further:
Both are on linen.

I really like how this turned out - it looks like trees, to me, with falling leaves and is on flannel.

And today I dyed yellows on silk velvet, and cotton.

Small hit and miss steps of learning, changing me along with the fabric.

Fruits of Labour

I've used blueberries and raspberries to over dye one of the arbutus bark silk pieces and one of the onion skin dyed pieces and I have some ivy and tumeric overdyeing the oak leaf, oak seed and seed pod silk pieces brewing right now... I like how little rinsing is required afterwards with natural dyes.