Are you a Star Trek fan? Do you know about Klingons?
They’re a very fierce fighting clan who’s motto is “It is a good day to die.” So, when I headed out the door to a recent dye session my husband pronounced it as “a good day to dye.”
And indeed, it was. The weather was perfect as the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists gathered at Ruth Anne’s “barn.” Kathryn kept us busy mixing, and timing, and mixing procion dyes inside.
Kathryn
We had each previously stitched, folded, bound, and prepped our fabrics for dying. It was time to mix the dye and throw them in! At one point four of us were lined up stirring bundles of colorful fabric and watching the clock.
L-R: Jill, Becky, Dij
I was out of sight on the right. Someone said we looked like witches stirring our brew and Ruth Anne got a witch’s hat and plopped it on my head!
Outside, we did something almost magical: dying with indigo! Oh my! Becky was the mistress of the pots.
Have you ever dyed with indigo? I hadn’t and I found it to be totally amazing! The fabric comes out of the vat almost yellow. But, it very quickly turns yellow-green. Within a minute or so it’s green and eventually, after absorbing enough oxygen, it turns dark blue. The transformation was mesmerizing.
This is one of my fabrics, shortly after coming out of the vat. Can you see that some of the most exposed areas are starting to turn blue?
And here it is a few minutes later.
Kathryn bound the heck out of this piece of fabric. Here it is shortly after coming out of the pot.
And a few minutes later.
All those little rubber bands will create white rings and the pleating will create some variation as well.
Gabriele was smart enough to string up a clothes line. This was great because hanging our fabrics allowed oxygen to penetrate from all directions. It all looked like an abstract art installation.
Ruth Anne’s “barn”
The photo above shows the barn. Aren’t we LUCKY to get to play in such a fabulous place? Ruth Anne is a very gracious hostess.
Fabrics are being washed an ironed as we speak, so I’ll have some photos of finished fabrics in the next post. Can’t wait!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. My apologies to Ruth Anne and Gabriele, whose photos I didn’t get.
Your post is the first I have seen that made me actually interested in dying. I have always said I just can’t deal with it. I have no wet space for it, etc. But your group looks like FUN! Do you ever allow guests? 🙂
Oh my gosh, Candace, it’s a ton of fun. Of course, it also requires quite a bit of prep. With a group like this we were able to share some of that burden, but a couple people got stuck with the bulk of it.
Our group is super fun. We’re very lucky to have each other as “play mates.”
This is so much fun! Love the dyeing process and you certainly captured the intrigue. Can’t wait for the reveal!
It’s all so cool!