Dyeing

Thinking of Blue and Getting Maroon-ed

| JP Dawes Artist

It was a mild winter and spring is early. My woad stayed green so I will have a bumper crop this year. I thought it best to use some of the leaves stored in my freezer.  A funny thing happens with woad when heat is used. The indigotin present in the leaves turns shades of pink and maroon.  When a dye vat is made with woad it is a beautiful blue. This was the blue dye plant in Europe before trade routes opened to the orient for other indigo sources.

2 upcycled silk blouses were layered with frozen woad leaves, then processed in the pressure cooker. The strong dye (indigotin) penetrated all layers of the bundles leaving full and ghost prints. I love the depth created with the leaves this way. Be sure to right click for an enlarged image to see the detail.

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Lichen experiment on wool

| JP Dawes Artist

A local tree gave up dead limbs from a recent storm. I noticed they were covered with lichen so It was time for an experiment before they were carted off.  I am always amazed at how nature continues to give to us.

The tiniest bit of lichen in boiling water immediately began giving color. The cup in the foreground is image image

the color within seconds of adding boiling water. You can see the color in the back cups after resting overnight. The left cup had a dash of bakng soda added, the right cup had a spash of ammonia added. The hanks are 1 yard of white homespun wool left overnight.

I can see that lichens are deserving of a dyer’s respect and further experimenting along with eco printing. However, a warning I keep reading about is to never remove these from a standing tree or rock. Only take windfall that might otherwise be headed for the burn pile. I don’t fully understand their part in our ecosystem but it is wise to be kind to nature.

Silk, Silk, Silk!!

| JP Dawes Artist

A quick trip into Goodwill today yielded a silk wedding dress! Nearly all wedding dresses I find are polyester. So, to find an all silk custom made dress is a real treasure. Even the lace overlay and bustle are silk. I’m not a lace girl but who knows how this will get used?  And the best part is they had thrown it into the costume category so it was only $10! I have big plans for this pile of silk!

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Light Bulb Moment

| JP Dawes Artist

 

 

 

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Don’t you just love when a problem is solved? We didn’t want to use a foreign color on this piece. All the commercial threads were just wrong. While getting samples ready for a presentation on natural dyeing to the Master Gardeners, I trimmed loose threads. Light bulb moment! The threads are from the same indigo vat we dyed the background in. The stitching can continue!