Indigo Dreams and the Gratitude for Exchanges

Last year I played often with indigo dyeing. I did not just dye fabric but bisque fired clay and a small piece of wood. In all the cleaning out that I have been doing, I just could not bring myself to throw away the small 3" x 3.5" piece of wood. Ever just know that someday you're going to need something even though it seems silly?

Last night I was really happy. Linda Edkins Wyatt, Marie Z. Johansen have been doing bi-monthly exchanges this year. This month's theme was "indigo." It is a color that all three of us love.

I did not want to altered the wood piece too much so I added the words, some cardboard hearts, a little paper and some paint dots. I added carpet tacks with beads to the top and trim around the sides. A bone bead hanging from the bottom completes it. Happy for not only the challenge but the exchange with two incredible artists and people. "Always Dream Big!"

Random Thoughts, indigo Over Dyeing and the Life Gives You Lemons Winner

I am the best procrastinator that I know. I get things done just not the things I should be doing. How often do you clean the chair that you work in? I discovered today that mine was totally gross- lots of dust. I feel so much better sitting here writing to you in my amazingly clean chair. Is this really what I should be doing? No. It did make me happy. How do you procrastinate?

This is the last piece I will share with you concerning my last vat of indigo. This piece of raw silk, which I have had in my possession since 1986, was dark beige. I bought it when I was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was going to make a dress out of it until I realized that the color would look terrible on me. I still cannot get over the transformation. It's a really nice blue and the lighter spots are not beige! Yeah!

My houses in memory of my good friend Carolyn Kolzow have been posted on the House Quilt Project's website. Jamie personally delivered the quilts yesterday. I hope they make the wounded military personnel who receive them happy and know that their efforts are appreciated. I have more quilts planned. 

First, I have to say that the entries for my blog giveaway made me hungry. What great suggestions! Thanks to everyone who played and entered. I had to wait until my number generator (my son) got up. I am thrilled to announce that Needled Mom is the winner. I hope she will share how she uses the fabric. I try to do giveaways regularly so look for another one soon.

A New Look for Old Fabrics

Sorry about not sharing yesterday the black and white fabrics that I over dyed with indigo. Inspiration struck and I know to answer the call. Here are the black and white fabrics as promised. Isn't it interesting how the different dry goods took the dye? The range of blues is quite exciting. The last one was actually put in the vat at the end and dipped twice. Since I have a large collection of black and white fabrics, I definitely want to do this again.

Overdyeing White-on-White Fabrics with Indigo

When I made my vat of indigo I was so focused on dyeing my ceramic piece that I did not think much about fabric or really prepare any fabric. I decided to keep it simple and just play. I started by over dyeing a few white-on-white fabrics. For the most part, I simply scrunched them in my hand and dipped them into the vat. The one on the left I folded repeatedly. Like how the part that was on top came out but the rest was uninteresting.  I really like how the one with the circles came out. Another surprise was how each fabric took the indigo differently. Tomorrow I'll share my over dyeing of black and white fabrics. I can see more of this in my future. What are you exploring lately?

Gathering Stillness

What does gathering stillness look like to you? It took me a while to figure it out and while doing so I created a huge mess in my studio and went for lots of walks around the block. It wasn't until I started playing with lines and circles on a piece of paper that my idea came together.

The circles are dupioni silk that I dyed. The large one is hand appliqued, the smaller ones are fused. About half way through cutting out the circles, I had a "what was I thinking" moment. I am happy I kept cutting them out. The quilt is 27" w x 44" h. It will slightly overlap when sewed to the clay part.

I have also dipped the clay piece in the indigo vat a couple more times to get her bluer. In the photograph, she is sitting on a piece of light brown raw silk that I over dyed. I can't believe that I was able to make the silk such a great color blue without doing anything to it. It was dipped twice.

The next step will be sewing the quilt onto the clay piece then seeing if it can hang for a wall. I am also going to create a stand because it might be too difficult to hang in the gallery.

"Gathering Grief" is next. The clay part is dry enough to to be fired in the kiln. I have an idea for the quilt and am anxious to get working on it. The head part came out larger. Sculpting it was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Looking forward to also creating "Gathering Joy." What are you gathering in your life?

This is also my Off the Wall Fridays post. I do love seeing what other people have done with their week.

Feeling Blue- Indigo Dyeing and Spirit Rattles

Created with sea shells collected from Aruba

 While researching cameras, my dryer died. It was only three years old. No fun. Good news is I have my sewing machine back and I did not have to sell my first born. Still haven't bought the new camera so I'm using my son's tiny  Olympus and am finding the colors not quite true so bear with me.

I have had a love affair with indigo for as long as I can remember. I think I was in junior high school when I learned a little of its history. I learned more about the dark side of indigo from Merry Silber. I encourage you to read the Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview that I conducted of her and see her wonderful indigo quilt. She was a collector. She died not long ago.

Anyway, I had been meaning to try indigo dyeing for years and decided that there was not better time than now. Dyeing with indigo is a little different than regular dyeing. There is a "flower" on top of the dye that must be preserved. It's removed during the dyeing process and replaced once you're done. The vat of dye can last 2-3 days and you have to have a lid. You can't let the fabric sink to the bottom which meant holding the fabric in the vat. A tad boring to say the least but it was so much fun watching the fabric turn from green to blue (takes about 20 minutes). It is also important to prevent oxygen from getting into the dye which means squeezing the fabric bundles. I was successful most of the time. I do know that next time I am going to be better prepared (have all my folding and rubber banding done ahead of time. That said, I try to strike when the spirit moves me and I am not disappointed. Now I have about 2.5 yards of fabric in various sizes ready to use in my next indigo quilts! I used both PFD (prepared for dyeing) cotton and dupioni silk.

dupioni silk folded, small piece of wood rubber banded around the bundle

I am becoming a better potter. Still not great on the wheel but I am improving. I can't believe there is only two more classes left. Next session does not start until January. I think I will suffer some withdrawal! As I shared before, I love hand building and here is a couple of my Spirit Rattles. The white one has been bisque fired and is ready for glazing. The blue one is ready and waiting for a new home.