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.

Snow and Show

Here is a close up of one of the fabrics from my last pail of snow dyeing: And another:

After rinsing these out, I spent most of yesterday at the sewing show, getting tips about sewing with silk, buying books and even finding a bit of Japanese fabric! I had also heard about a product called 'Magic Bobbin Washers' that are little teflon discs that fit in a machine bobbin and help prevent thread build up or nests, so I added those to my basket, too. The roof of the conference centre where the show was held had a cap of snow, this year:

There were icicles on the fountain in the courtyard, too, but the sun reached right into these water glasses casting shadows onto the white cloth.

All in all, an exhausting but profitable day.

Round Two and Three

More snow dyeing on silk velvet: This one reminds me of a world map:

And in a different colourway:

It's surprising how the same dye pail can yield such a variety of values, patterns and colours.

When I see this one, I can't help but think 'beets'!

Pinwheels and Pins and Needles

This contemporary boro block is basted ready for stitch. It's a mix of linens, cottons, silk and velvet. The light triangles are natural dyed, although alot of detail is lost in this photo. And today's snow dye crop - kind of like watching a pot of water, waiting for it to boil....

Immersed and Suspended

When I prepared the fabrics, I decided to put some in a bucket covered with cheesecloth so that as the snow melted, the fabric would not sit in the liquid. One bonus of this was the dyed cheesecloth! The results from the bucket without cheesecloth were not really different and just as pleasing - more linen:

Cotton close up:

Silk velvet:

Cotton:

I was up preparing more snow dyeing first thing this morning - a surprise to anticipate!

Pattern From Snow

Here are some of the snow dyeing results - I am really pleased with how the snow gives soft areas in terms of visual texture. This one is on linen and is my favourite: This one is silk:

More linen that was a grey/brown to start with:

And a close up of it:

I'll post more results in another entry.

Monochrome and Colour

I awoke this morning to a winter wonderland and immediately got dressed and was out the door with my camera before I even had a coffee! Snow was still falling and no other footprints were in sight.

This reminded me of weaving and boro, with the design and holes.

And later in the day I suddenly realized this rare occurrence of snow could provide even more fun...

Snow cones, anyone? You wouldn't want to taste these ones, of course, since the colour is dye.

I will post the snow dyeing fabric results tomorrow, but let me say that I am a convert!