I am a very tired old lady tonight. I had a marathon dyeing day with the big old natural indigo pot. Here it is being readied for the day’s activities. The sludge which lies on the top has to be removed and saved to be put back in at the end.

Here is one of the pvc pipes with an arashi wrap that has been dyed in the big pot.

Imagine a pole a couple of inches wider that that one and about 5 feet tall which is what I use to wrap a large silk charmeuse scarf. Silk requires several dips in the pot and then oxidation in between. While this gigantic pole is in the pot, it must be held so that it does not touch the bottom where it will disturb the sludge that develops over time. I think I dipped it about 10 -12 times. Here is the resulting scarf hanging to dry. It is the large scarf on the left.

I did several other pieces and pulled the threads on some pieces that I made yesterday. I am just too pooped to take photos so you will have to wait. Here is my old lime green t-shirt transformed, however.

We could only use the natural indigo until 2 pm and then we had to put the scum back in and add some lime to bring it back to life and then it needs to rest overnight. Here it is all bubbling and full of life. The slimy stuff is called the flower.

This is a college level class for which one can get credit and so a final project is expected. That is to be our work for the next two days. I am one of those follow the rules kinda people so when asked what I would do for the project, I proposed dyeing fabric to make a bog coat. It is a patternless, kimono like coat. I left class early to come home and prepare some fabric. To be honest, I ran out of gas and don’t have the energy to do it. Instead, I am just gonna keep dyeing scarves and making fabric which I can use in quilts.

I thought this was a cool site – the indigo gloves.

First of all, where is everyone? Did you all go on vacation at once and you didn’t let me know? Yesterday, was my first post without a single comment, since I can’t remember.

On with the photos from my fantastic shibori class. Here is class work from yesterday. We are all discovering the elusiveness of indigo. It can get too much oxygen and become “tired.” Then you have to add more indigo and warm water and let it rest for a while. It is also important to soak the pieces in warm water to get a better penetration of the indigo.

Here is some stitching that I did on some linen. Al the stitches have to be pulled up tight and tied off. This piece is still drying so that it will be easier to remove the stitches

Yesterday, we used synthetic indigo and today we mixed up a batch of natural indigo. It comes in a lump that has to be ground to a powder.

Here is the work that I brought home to wash and dry.

The upper left is linen that was folded and ironed and clamped with wooden triangles. the one next to is is a previously folded and dyed piece that I got from June Underwood. I folded this on the diagonal first then folded it in the other direction and clamped it with rectangle wood pieces. The top row of reddish pink pieces are dupioni silk dyed in Brazilwood with different mordants — copper, rust and alum/ I have no idea which is which. The bottom pieces were dyed in logwood. The smaller indigo piece is one of the dupioni pieces from yesterday that I overdyed by scrunching it on a pvc pole. The first of the longer pieces is a chiffon scarf that was folded in triangles and then wrapped on a pvc pipe with string — arashi shibori. The next piece was a very ugly lime green chiffon scarf on which a batiked image did not show up very well. I wrapped and scrunched it on a pvc pipe and I really like it now. The last piece is silk organza that is done arashi style — wrapped on a large pvc pipe then wrapped with string. Here are the arashi pieces waiting to be dyed.

Tonight I am going to prepare the scarf in the background for overdyeing by wrapping it arashi style.

Here are some closeups of today’s work that are clickable for larger views.