Family Visits....

 We have just had some precious visitors that we just do not see often enough. My sister in law and my lovely nieces and nephew came to stay for a few days....on their way to a wedding in Vancouver...Mostly we visited the beaches, and ate blackberries and bounced on the trampoline....and chatted endlessly...all good summerly things....and of course we had some creative time together....

Terri Bibby of Saori Salt Spring had organized a workshop on Bengala Dyes- a form of earth pigment dyes created in Japan. This, of course, was irresistible! My two nieces and I attended and had so much fun....The colour potential in these dyes are incredible.  They seem to produce more intense colour on cellulose fibres like cotton and hemp and linen. We dyed several lengths of a delicious hemp/organic cotton blend jersey that I have in the studio, planning on going home and sewing up some simple T-shirts with the fabric. We also dyed a selection of silks using itajame shibori techniques....My nieces are bringing these home to flutter in their forest home....

 The dye baths are created with cold water, and the pigments need to be kneaded into the cloth. As a long time plant dyer, I was interested in the process. I've dyed with earth pigments a few times in different parts of the world and understood the naturals tannins and oxides of the soil to act as the "mordant".  It is one point I have with the Bengala dye literature that it does not use mordants in the process- it feels like an unnecessary differentiation. Really, as with many plant dyes and natural pigments, the "mordants" are inherently part of the chemical makeup of the pigments, allowing it to act as a substantive dye. These dyes are very fun and easy to use...with beautiful results.

After the wonderful workshop we came home, stopping at a few of Salt Spring's roadside farm stalls to collect of bounty of freshness for our lunch. We played around with the fabrics in the studio and with some simple cutting and stitching created a dress, a skirt and a T-shirt....We were all amazed at the stunning range of colours the earth and these pigments provide.  A great day....and an interesting new dye process....

 Although my nephew did not come with us on our dyeing adventure, I can't miss including him here....

They are all so dear...and such sweet company....
Happy travels, happy dyeing and happy summer days...
Fiona

Spring Holiday Camp

The week after getting back from FibresWest, I hosted two fibre art camps for children in the studio.

It was great fun, and such a pleasure to share my passion for fibres with enthusiastic young people and get to know some of the island's children a little better. They are just so sweet....and sometimes left me nostalgic for my own boys younger years...

We did some plant dyeing on silks, making a mystery bath from the children's garden collections, and then  eco-printed them with golden rod, rose leaves and petals, carnation flowers and cinnamon sticks (deliciously scented bundles!).... left to age until the last day of camp...

 We felted, of course! Needle felted figures and animals...wet felted flowers and pictures....experiencing some roving, batting, prefelts and inclusions, like magic mirrors! Which made for fibre adventures to try and find them and make them shine again!

 

  
One of the groups also made fine nuno felted scarves, sharing the rolling process....we also did some sewing, wool fiber paintings...and on the last day we opened our eco-printed bundles, and the children danced under the plum tree blossoms, flying with golden silks behind them....

 The days were glorious and sunny, and went by so fast. It is a nice balance to have some time working with children, in amongst all the more adult fiber pursuits....A truly enjoyable week... thank you all for joining me in my studio!

Warm wishes,
Fiona

ps..for those wondering...the rose leaves, golden rod flowers and cinnamon sticks all gave nice prints....the rose petals left no trace...but the red carnation flowers were a very pleasing surprise- the deep purple marks on the silks above are all from the carnations....

A November Dye Walk

Foxglove Farm was the location of the Salt Spring Fall Felting retreat; one with a an abundance of wonderful plant materials to chose from for the eco-dyeing segment of the dyeing day of the retreat. 
The participants made some absolutely gorgeous eco-prints on silk. I didn't have a chance to make one during the retreat time, so on a perfectly sunny crisp Fall day this week, I returned to farm to make my own bundle for my November print.

 

The artichokes are just at the end of their life cycle. They were a new plant to try in eco-dyeing for me, and the participants got some very clear, yellow/green results from the leaves, even when opened after only 2 days.  I collected some extra to bring to Nelson with me for the dyeing day there.

 
How dramatic is that?! All the more so because it is not all new and fresh and shiny....perfectly imperfect...attractively aged by the elements, by choosing to arrive late in the season....What gorgeous surfaces...so easy to imagine translating into felt....

 And some oh-so-beautiful cotinus (purple smoke bush).....in fiery fall colours.....When I have dyed with this before I got amazing blue prints...the participants at the retreat saw some stunning bright pinks....different soil? different time of year? Perhaps the ph, as in my past experiments with this, I was not using vinegar as a dip, as we did at the retreat. An acid should bring out the more pink/red tones in a plant dye, while a more basic bath will enhance the blue tones....Ah...the wonders of plant dyeing!

And this little lovely, Chickweed (Stellaria Media) is a dear friend to me- one I love to have growing in between intentionals in my garden, and delightfully found growing in abundance up at the farm. Not for dyeing...but just for munching on as I walk through the garden....I immediately feel all the more healthful just for doing so....

Back in the studio, laying out the plants on a length of organic cotton, previously printed.....

 This piece has many layers already...over many months...an exploration.....This section started with dahlia flowers and a little iron, then rerolled and dipped in an indigo bath...now being printed again with purple smoke bush (cotinus), as well as walnuts, artichoke leaves, rose and maple leaves, some dipped in an iron solution....

And, at the same time, a length of silk habotai, with all the plants above plus some poplar leaves...there is something so sensual about the plants materials, veiled in wet silk.....love observing this....

My November dye walk bundles, ready for steaming....wrapped around pear tree windfalls also from the farm....It always feels so good, just to take some time to enjoy the sunlight, go to a beautiful place, and be with the plants! To bring the lightness and pure pleasure of this activity into being....

Thanks to Foxglove Farm, for allowing me to wander!
Warm wishes,
Fiona

Natural Dyeing with Lupines

Several years ago now, I had the chance to visit a place that was a sort of mecca for me....Taos, New Mexico, and more specifically, La Lana Wools.....a shop dedicated to plant dyed wools in all forms....I've been dyeing with plant dyes for 16 years now....12 years at the time of my visit, and I was awe of such a company that dedicated itself fully to this craft....While there I saw the most lovely yarn, dyed with lupines; a soft shade of chartreuse green...and since that visit, I've wanted to try a lupine dyebath...

This week on a wild harvesting walk....there they were....lupines in abundance...and so the dyebath was finally realized!

The organic merino yarn was first mordanted with Alum and Cream of Tartar....The lupines; whole flowering tops, chopped and gently stewed for a few hours...Then I added the yarn....sometimes I'm a lazy dyer and add the yarn directly to the dyebath without straining out the material....If it's an experiment and not yarn for sale....It sometimes takes longer at the end to get the plant material out, but it feels more wholistic to me....letting the actual plants and fibers mingle....and...after a two hours of gentle simmering, and another 48 hours in the pot sitting......

Green? no...Soft and lovely, yes.....The buttery tone would actually look beautiful knit with a purple blue like the lupine flower...The different result from what I saw at La Lana; different mordants? different time of year harvested? different soils? Any and all are possible...and that is what makes natural dyeing so delightful. I may not use lupine again as a dye...unless the receiver had a special connection to lupines.... like a lover of the children's book, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (as I am).....

I'm so happy to have had the chance to try it....and add it to my dye experience collection.... I've actually quite warmed to soft gentleness of the colour.

A realized dream, new information, some beautiful cut flowers for the studio, plus a pocket full of lupine seeds....I've travelled the world, found a little house by the sea, and now need to find my way to make the world more beautiful! I don't think it'll be spreading lupine seeds though! Grin!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Full Moon Indigo Dyeing: April

Ah! Happy Spring!

It's been an absolute whirlwind of activity around here...I'll tell you more soon....maybe...unless better and more exciting things get here first!

I have been playing with shibori all week...some of you may guess what that means!

It is (also) featuring large in my new felt lines and some new organic cottons and linens I am working with this summer.

For my own work.... madder and cutch natural dyes.....

Then with logwod, greyed with ferrous, and of course-indigo...magical mystical dye pot, and my full moon favourite.  

This vat was revived after a few dormant months (kind of like my blogging!)...and quite happy to be enlivened once again. I didn't have much I needed/wanted to dye this full moon...an interesting change...I guess the regularity of the full moon dyeing sessions have caught up with the desire for indigo dyed items (no...not quite!)...

 Itajime Shibori...Green out of the pot and then the magic of oxidization....

 It was nice to dye just a couple of pieces...slowly....with pleasure....and then put the vat away...and know it could come out again anytime...such a treat.

 Arashi Shibori....the boys kept asking me what I was building-" a steam engine?" with my arashi pipe sticking up from my pot like a smoke stack....dyeing mysteries....

Lots more coming...I have 5 months full time in the studio...starting......NOW! 

So there will be lots of making...and blogging in these parts...

 A cloth eco dyed with big leaf maples...now overdyed and ready to be transformed once again...into a garment....

Hope you're having a wonderful Easter, if you celebrate...and a lovely weekend!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Indigo Shibori at Maiwa Symposium

  I 've just returned from my mystery trip! And what an adventure it was! I had two events to attend- The Green Festival in Los Angeles with Living Crafts magazine and then an Indigo Shibori Workshop at Maiwa in Vancouver.
  I don't have any pictures from my time in LA, unfortunately. We did set up a wonderful 20 x 20 foot community craft space, and taught many people how to felt, weave and embroider, all crafts we feature regularly in Living Crafts. It was wonderful to spend more time with Pardis, the editor of the magazine, and fellow contributors, Christine Schreier, and Elizabeth Seward. And of course to share our crafts with some existing readers, and some new ones.      
  What a buzz of excitement to be travelling to teach in California.  The change was exciting....the United States is different from Canada in so many ways. The warmth, sunshine and palm trees were like a balm....

And there were some darker moments...grounding moments....I got lost in LA without a map, and without an address to put into the GPS in the car I was using. Using the "force" to find your way around LA is a very tricky business! I found myself in an a darker side of LA, driving under an underpass, full of garbage and shopping carts and people's homes...brings one down to earth. I had to get out of the car and find a payphone (I don't have a cellphone) and feel extremely out of place, and aware of the value of my life in certain neighbourhoods.  And then, several days later, I found myself walking the length of Hastings Street, in Vancouver's lower east side, arguably the roughest area in the city....and it was like nothing I've ever seen in my life...humbling, unsettling, and terrifying...and invigorating. All this while also exploring and playing with the beauty of natural fibers in both places...such a luxury...I loved the contrast....I treasure these experiences..It was truly a perfect balance in dark and light...or the shadows in between...and the epitome of the travelling experience....

Then, of course there was the fibre play! A wonderful retreat time with Akemi Nakano Cohn in indigo shibori dyeing, part of the Maiwa Symposium. The techniques she shared with us deepened my knowledge of clamp and resist dyeing, and added to my textile toolbox the classic stitch resist patterns of shibori. I learnt that I need to add more indigo when making my baths, to reach the dark deep midnights potential in indigo.  I also learnt that I know more about indigo and shibori than I thought...and this creative confidence booster came at exactlya most needed time.  I left inspired, and I believe to have a student leave full of ideas is a great credit to a teacher! 

I see using these pieces as "canvases"; foundations to be added to or changed through other textile mediums...Fractal building blocks....windows...a frame, or set of frames for future additions...

 

 One of my favourites...a canvas waiting for something....ferrous imprinted leaves? stitches? nuno felting? Mmmm....unknown at this moment...still immersed in moon/indigo relationships...

 

 Traditional Ori Nui Shibori..stitched layers...so contemplative in process.....I know I will use the clamp resist techniques more often, but this I will enjoy using for special projects....this process has such a strong meditative quality for me, less physical process than mental, and will be used as such, when desired or required..

Twice resisted and dyed...6 dips total resulting in deep indigo colour. angel/moth/butterfly wings....

 

Arashi Shibori, wrapped and tied around a pole then folded and dipped. Love this!

 A re-creation of a piece I made during my last full moon indigo dyeing session...moons are clamped CD's....I experimented with some different patterning above them...clothespins and tight binding with string, but got very different results than I expected.  Still a great base for adding more- layers of dyeing maybe?

And my line full of Shibori banners!  The blues a lovely contrast against the greens and yellows of our Fall landscape here.  Most of these pieces are done on quilting weight cotton for sewing...I'm going to cut them and share them....and then dye some more in silk and wool for feltmaking on the coming full moon this Thursday. I enjoyed the setting aside of this time for creativity with such talented fibre artists, both in Los Angeles and again in Vancouver and came away with great new plans and ideas....and the feeling of being grounded in our real world with an appreciation for this beautiful little island and the home our family is creating.

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Eco Dyeing October 2011

Hi all, 

It's been ages since I've been felting, and I have so many projects I want to get to- lots of woolly experimentation coming soon...... as soon as I get back from a little trip (fibery work trip-yay!) that I'm going on on Thursday. That's all a little ephemeral and dreamlike...a big adventure...and so I'm trying to take care of all the necessaries right now, so I can fully embrace the single adventurer mode for the weekend...more on that later...

  In the meantime, I've been plant dyeing madly...well, as madly as one can plant dye, given the slow nature of the process. Maybe I should say concertedly dyeing, with a good dye agenda beside me so all the pots, and any available buckets are constantly in use. And created a delightful little eco-bundle in the midst of it all. Such an addictive process!

I wet and laid out about a 60 inch square of organic cotton muslin. Then laid on my gathering of leaves. Blood grass, maple leaves, bracken fern, plum, and fig. A mystery leaf which I walked down the road to collect from a neighbours bush. I've had my eye on it for months, while driving past. I was certain it was a purple smoke bush, or cotinus....but no....mystery plant, with lovely purple leaves. and the last of my fresh dahlias...there's a good stock in the freezer for dyeing with later...all this I rolled up around some cedar bark and a very rusty tin can I found, while collecting the bracken fern. It's such a perfect process. The gathering walk invites you to pay attention to your surroundings, in a fractal way. The sense of place, down to the minutest leaf....the beauty in contrast with the garbage...perfect....

Tied up and ready. I steamed it in one of my dye pots...at the end of a very long (but perfectly sunny and beautiful) day yesterday. The smell of the cedar steaming was absolutely intoxicating. I'm looking forward to using it more-both for it's colour and smell.  Let it sit overnight...

And about 24 hours later....opened it up...I got some very good distinct leaf patterns this time.  The purple dots are little cochineal bugs. Just a couple sprinkled on. I actually wish I had resisted that temptation...but there is always more cloth. I used only 6-8 bugs, but the dye is so strong, it penetrates all the layers and folds of cloth.

The tin can was in direct contact with the cloth down at the bottom right, showing the darkest colours from the ferrous.

  I'd love to have left it for longer to steep, and to keep this fabric length whole... but this fabric is coming with me on my adventure, so it needs to be dried...and then cut up into little pieces to be shared, and I'm very inspired to make more when I get back.
More plant colours tomorrow!
warm wishes,
Fiona

Flag Folding and Dyeing Scarves

  I dyed this scarf using the traditional flag fold. I don't yet have pictures of how to make these folds, but I think I'll do some this week and add them here.

  I folded the scarves in half along the length and folded them up in triangular sections.

 First dip was into the yellow dye bath, holding the folded scarf carefully into the bath with tongs, for about 5 minutes.

 Next dip into turquoise. One of the things I like about this method is the secondary colours we get where the dips overlap. All the layers add a great colour depth to the finished piece.

 Last folded dip into red/brown. I had decided I would be making this into a purple hued scarf, so I chose colours that would mix well and have a good relationship with the purples. In this case, warm, earthy tones.

 The silk side of the scarf above, and the wool side below. It's surprising that the silk side has softer colouring than the wool side. Usually silk takes up the colours more vibrantly than the wool.

 This scarf has a lovely watercolour feeling. There is a shimmer and iridescent effect from the layering of colours. I'd have loved to have spent some more time with this scarf before it was dropped off at the gallery... to appreciate the colouring and take some better pictures.

I'll just have to make some more!

So many things to make...I'll write more on the folding techniques, plus put together my tutorial on nuno felting this week...and then...the scarves I had set out to make at the beginning of this story...inspired by Els at Fiber Rainbow's Kaffe bag!

warm wishes,

Fiona