too busy to write

colours

grey, yes, screams for colour. I washed some of my summer dyed cloths, tore bits, layered rags and now I'm practising stitching Round and roundand I finished(yes, finished!)two pouches, the blackbird for my brother and swinging my arms.

practising buttonhole edging, getting better by the stitch

it is much too hot for the time of year, the trees are undecided about how to deal with it. some think it is spring, new leaves, flowers etc, some are tentativeley changing colour. the mulberries are still in full green leaf, anemones are dotting the grasses, lilacs think it is eastertime, some plants have flowered four times this year. And the olives are on strike for the third or fourth year in a row.

cotton sheets and rags. indigo, cochineal bought a while ago in a quest for red, black eyed susan and mixes

heat and absence

so it happens that I am alone at home for three days. A true holiday, a difference. Also, there is a heatwave. 40C in the shade. limiting movement, and food, and sleep.

so how to fill absence in a heatwave?

reflecting, sweating, musing, watering, myself, plants, myself.

the vat is at its happiest

stitching is ok, especially if I don't get too fussy

at night I play around with positioning cloths

basting sometimes

made a little blue ridinghood with the cutouts from beachcloth and sea cloth. I think I'll give her a pink madder wolf.

cat, owl, fish is an applique sampler

fun

oh yes, dyeing cloths

sort of madly dyeing- there's nothing like a heatwave to bless pots

also preparing bundles, because a longer absence is in the near future, the best recipe to leave them alone

I surprised a gecko in a bag of leaves

I live with colonies of them, they are vociferous and entertaining

and they eat moths, mosquitoes etc

say hello to grace, mr gecko

the window is from kythera, a seaming window

you can see more of my dyeing on flikr, there on the right

colours

the camera inertprets colours.

the green skein in the bottom picture is cotton for lace(?) dmc no 60, dyed in a mix of various rhamnus berry dyebaths, simmered and left in the sun, where they fermented happily and smellily, in the company of a small piece of rusty iron.

the same skein, in the picture above it, with stronger light from the sun. maybe it it foretelling poor lightfastness.

the same skein in the top picture, lower right looks beige (!) in the company of indigo blues, which in their turn look quite washed out and grey......

on my monitor, the last foto is truer, and the little skein is eucalyptus.

the beginning colour of the cotton is ecru

I'm getting more cotton to leave in the pomegranate and madder

sea and sky

we went to the sea today, there was no one swimming, too cold. End of June, in Greece! I stitched some, and took photos. Telemaco went in the water, I put a jacket on..

all colours (on the cloths and threads) are from plants, with some help from rusty nails and little bacteria, except for the heart- I haven't gotten round to dyeing threads with madder yet

artificial light in the top two pictures, the beach scenes are from the cellphone

conversations

once upon a time there was a hunter

the beginning of a new illustrated storycloth


I am experimenting with indigo

and I keep reminding myself, just to give me courage, of the trials of learning how to make bread from books

It took me about a year to get the hang of it, and quite a few bricks were produced in the meantime

so maybe the lesson I learnt then was patience and to keep going

fermentation is so much like a blessing, when you finally get it

and it always seems to be a little outside of you

you can't really control it, just try to provide the right environment

like parenting, or art

and lots of prayers to the weather gods

oh yes and preparation

the corner you see there is Helen Melvin's the colours of sea and sky, a great companion on this path. thanks, Helen

a blessing in my dyepots

when I opened this bundle, I got goosebumps. I still look at it in short glances.
it is a long piece of heavy cotton. there were copper pipes in there and rusty scraps of metal
another one with coins
twice folden, thrice dyed
coreopsis. many more to come
the sig vat, rug yarn- I like this so much, my mind is turning to weaving
these are strips tied with rusty stuff and left in the remnants of dyebaths, pomegranate, onionskins
pile of rags, poppy iceflower in the back
indigo. cotton sheet. many dips. my firdt!I am so grateful

red and blue on the same day

this ones roots are safe from me
red trails-or are they rivers?
put in dry, long soaks in the vat, washed many times...yes, the smell does go away. 2 dips. you can see the top of Helen Melvins "The Colour of Sea and sky" which has been a great help in the indigo venture, along with J. Liles "The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing"
my bundles warming up on the corner of the veranda
eucalyptus leaves shadows. I like this. I wish I left them longer
more prints on the bundle with the madder root. they were not left long enough to develop. they will probably get an ironwater treatment. and I don't know what gave the green...I'll turn into a meticulous notetaker yet
the madder in a jar with water. it is fermenting visibly after 24hrs
anthemis tinctoria, the green is overdyed with poppy iceflower,underneath all pomegranate rind warp yarn
bark soaking for the next round
while peeking into a bundle, impatient as always, I got a surprise.

red

deep lovely red

the bundle was hastily unbundled, and it was true..the orange root of madder gave me a deep red

I;ve been bundling up pieces of my pomegranate cloth, with leaves and metals

I simmered them in eucalyptus bark dyebath with more rusty nails, they are a very satisfactory black colour, now they are stewing in the very hot sun

there are coins in there as well, and some of the bundle cores are copper pipes, people just throw them out.

I have never been given red from madderroot before, and I am very excited

this madder was collected on May 1 in Varnavas, next village up, and it grows in very different conditions than it does here, in Grammatiko. I found it near a path in the forest where there is a lot of water, and the soil was moist, at places saturated with water. these were young roots, I didn't have a digging tool with me, so I just dug in a little bit and pulled out some intensely orange coloured roots, thin ones

I believe the preparation of the cloth has been very important. They have been scoured with caustic soda and lots of olive oil soap, which may have acted as the rancid oil of old.

it has been premordanted in succesive dips of wood ash lye and soya milk, and then dyed in pomegranate rind soup, cold

1st note to prospective dyer: Prepare, prepare, prepare. it is certainly worth it

a few remarks

my water is hard. very hard.

soya milk is fantastic. it is worth getting good quality beans.

sit on your hands. let those bundles age.

as long as possible.

keep notes on process. I may want to try to do it again

it feels like a gift from the land

the technique of bundling up plant matter is from India Flints " eco colour", a book which has led me to many a joyous dyeing experience. I am grateful to india for publishing this book. It s place is by my bed, and even just reading it gives me much enjoyment.

and the blue

yayyy again! I am dancing with joy

my urine vat is getting there! smelly, ammoniacal, ph over 9, sitting in the sun all day long, it has not been lazy at all. the indigo is reducing, it is dyeing strips of cotton , and yesterday it was washfast

I am so excited that my mind is running around itself trying to decide what to do first

:-))))))))))))