Katie and I traveled the rocky road to work with the ladies as usual.
I began by teaching how to build and manage
an indigo vat. Until their seeds grow for Polygonum tinctoria and woad
they will work with Indigofera tinctoria that I will supply.
I brought silk pieces for each of the 35 ladies so they could make
head wraps from the colors we had created during the week.
We spiced up the dyepots from the day before and gave the ladies
a choice of dyeing a solid color, which many chose. They love bright colors and
the cochineal, weld and onion skins were options.
A happy lot we are.
In the afternoon,
scarves emerged from the dyepots to dry on the far line
with baby Sandrine in the middle of things, enjoying the bustle.
Eucalyptus is one of the plants the center dyes with
and there is an abundance of it here.
So I gave the option of learning leaf bundling
which 8 or so ladies wanted to try. The coreopsis flowers and onion skins
were used with eucalyptus leaves. Many of the ladies wanted
to use just the flowers.
Meanwhile skeins started to emerge from the indigo vat.
We overdyed cochineal and weld skeins and plain white skeins.
The week’s palette grew.
Bundles piled up which we boiled up
after the ladies left for the day.
Today’s lasting impression is how lovely
it is to work with such a large group and everyone is thankful,
loving and happy with what transpired. No one looking for
more, or is less than satisfied. Blissful dyeing.
