Weaving in the Garden---Preparations

For several days now I have fallen well below the learning curve as make the switch over to a laptop. However, Irene over at the Cotton Clouds Blog is going to beat the band. Take a look. It is fabulous!

It is now just about 36 hours until leave for Montana with so many chapters of the tale to tell.

So let me bring you somewhat up to date.

To create such a special weaving in a special place at a special time, I decided to use natural dyed silk. Of course Cheryl Kolander of Aurora Silk came to mind. In case you are not familiar with Cheryl, here she is:

Cheryl Kolander, who has created these colours, is the senior natural dyer in the world today. For 42 years she has practiced and perfected her art. A meditator since the age of 8, she has actively prayed and worked for peace all her life. She practices Thibetan Vajra Yoga in the Shakya tradition.

Cheryl lives at her Urban Peace Silk Farm in Portland, Oregon. She has written and published many books, including “A Silkworker's Notebook”, currently in its third edition; “Brilliant Colours with Natural Dyes”; “Dancing Darvisha”, pictures of Uzbekistan and inspired poems; “Lem'me Help” , a novel; “Working Words”, poetry of activism; and is currently working on “Stones that Talk”, Buddahs' Wisdom from the caves at Ellora, India.

Cheryl has raised four children and modestly supports herself and many others thru her small business “Aurora Silk”, a source for quality textile art materials, information and education, about natural textiles, natural dyes and especially Peace silk. (www.aurorasilk.com). As “Mama D.O.C.” (=”Mother, Doctor of Caring”) she does non-profit, natural health work in her community and around the world, with small, independent projects in the Dominican Republic, India and Uzbekistan. Cheryl has donated the dyework and the dyes for these colours: “Every action, every word, every thought creates its vibration, that flows out, continuously.”

Dyes used:

1 – Buddah's Yellow and 2 – Aurora Gold

Fusticwood from Cheryl's Dominican Republic Logwood Project – Eco harvest and Way Beyond Fair Trade.

3 – Ruddy Orange

Madder root from village plots in Turkey, part of a multi-national effort to restore the art of Natural dyed Turkish carpets. Organically raised, village produced.

4 – Scarlet, and 5 – Crimson, and 6 – Plum violet

Cochineal, the rare natural dye that comes from a domesticated insect. Raised in high mountain valleys of Peru and Chile, these sedentary scales live on prickly pear cactus, and are harvested at the end of their life cycle. Organically raised, women's farm co-op produced.

7- Purple

Logwood from Cheryl's Dominican Republic Logwood Project – Eco harvest and
Way Beyond Fair Trade.

8 – Dark Blue

Indigo, naturally fermented by Cheryl to make a permanent dye. This Indigo is raised by women farmers in El Salvador, and processed in vats built during Spanish colonial times. Organically raised, village produced.

9- Light Blue

Indigo, naturally fermented by Cheryl to make a permanent dye. This Indigo is from the oldest continuously producing Indigo farm in India. Organically raised, traditional farm produced.

10 – Blue Green, 11- Emerald Green 12- Spring Green

Indigo blue base, with varying amounts of Fusticwood yellow to make green.

Variegated colours: Indigo, Fusticwood, Cochineal

Colours are permanently fixed according to ancient techniques, using food grade alum and the nutritional supplemental minerals tin and iron. All these colours are good for the health of the wearer: physically, emotionally and mentally. All these colours benefit the planet and all its people: ecologically, economically and socially.

All Cheryl's dyework is a spiritual practice. These colours were begun on the Spring Equinox 2010 and completed for the Summer Solstice.

Cheryl will be lecturing at the silk painters international conference in Santa Fe .

What is there to say after that--except get started winding skeins into balls!

Dye Day #5 The Drying

The sun came out for a brief instant, and I caught this moment with my handy camera. Notice my sophisticated drying rack. I pulled the skeins inside this morning since they were still not dry. It's been 4 days now, but who's counting. I haven't turned on my heat yet, so I don't know how much faster it will be inside although they are predicting rain today. I can tell it rained during the night as well. The patio is covered, so the skeins were only exposed to the damp, no direct rainfall.

Almost dry and much lighter, I still can't tell which one is navy and which one is midnight blue. Any guesses?

The skein on the right is bamboo, on the left 8/2 cotton. I do know they were both in the same dye bath. What can I say, the bamboo takes the dye so much better.

And here is the black. I don't mind the gray, but I now understand what people mean when they say black is hard to dye. They must have been trying to dye unmercerized cotton.

Once the yarn is dried, I will explain my method of Turned Weft Ikat and why I don't wind my warps first and tie warps instead of skeins.

Dye Day #5 A

I had all these good intentions to take lots of pictures, but I only took this one of the dyeing process. I figured most dye pots look alike. The only reason I took this picture is because the dye formed some kind of foam on the surface. The other 2 pots were fine. So far I can't tell there is any negative results.

I did three dye pots. I thought I would be smart I do one pot of Jet Black, one of Midnight Blue, and one Navy. This would give me a chance to see how these colors work with the 8/2 unmercerized cotton. I did toss in a couple of skeins of bamboo, however, because I knew I would have room. What I didn't do was pay attention to which of the blues I put into which dye pot. Tomorrow I will show you what they look like almost dry. I have them hanging outside, and it is not supposed to rain for a couple of days.
I got so excited to see how my masking tape experiment worked that I unwrapped one before I took a picture. But here is a black with one of the blues. I will tell you now that the masking tape is an unqualified success. So even though my back still hurts from 5+ hours of rinsing, I learned something. Well, I learned a lot actually and will sum it up tomorrow complete with a revelation, a realization, and the answer to the question, "Why don't I wind my warps before I tie and dye the yarn?"


I have not abandoned my Weave Every Day goal (although I was too tired after dyeing and 5 hours of rinsing to do any yesterday). I am inching along on panel #5.