Natural dye experiment: Dodder

My husband and I went on a road trip this past weekend, just the two of us. Every now and again, it is good to get away for some focused two-time, away from all the things that pull us in so many directions. Anyway, we were heading back home today, and ended up at a gas station in Globe, AZ to buy some ice. While we were there, a plant caught my eye. It looked sort of like a plant that folks had described at the dye retreat that I went to just awhile ago. So I grabbed a bag, and my husband and I harvested some.

The plant is dodder, or golden thread, and is a parasite listed as a restricted noxious weed in Arizona (which means I had no qualms about removing some from the roadside.) There are actually 17 different varieties of dodder in Arizona, so I'm not sure which one this is. (http://www.delange.org/Dodder/Dodder.htm) Dodder seedlings find a host plant, then twine up and attach themselves, losing their roots and taking all their nutrients from their host plant.


We headed home, and I weighed our harvest at about 12 1/2 oz of fresh plant.







I pulled out the pot that I use just for dyeing, and covered the whole mess with water and started it to simmering.







Then, I pulled out my spinning wheel, and some finn/mohair blend roving that I had on hand. I spun up a bobbin full of yarn.











I didn't feel like spending the time to spin a second bobbin full of yarn, so I Navajo plied the singles, chaining them into a 3-ply yarn. This was my first time doing this, so it was a little lumpy bumpy in places. But by the end of the skein I was getting the hang of it.



After about an hour, I had a skein of yarn ready to go. So I pulled some of the liquid out of the dye pot, and added 3 tsp of alum to it. (No, I don't know how much I should have added. I was winging it.) I stirred it around, and added the liquid back to the pot.



Then I put the yarn in, and simmered it for about 15 minutes while I cleaned up my mess. At this point, the family was going out for the evening. I just turned the heat off under the pot, and let the yarn sit until we got back about 4 hours later.



And this is the result! A bright yellow, with a green undertone. There is still quite a bit of color in the pot, so I've set the whole thing on the back patio (with lid on) until I can get back to it. But I'm really kind of tickled by the day's experiment. It is amazing the treasures that are hidden on the roadside!

Gourd with Teneriffe Weaving

I finished up the gourd last night, in the wee hours of the morning. The weaving is kind of addicting--once I get started, I don't want to stop!

The finished gourd is 9 1/4" x 6 1/4". It has been decorated with leather dye, waxed linen, wooden beads, and a wooden button. The weaving is done in a free-form teneriffe pattern. The colors and techniques give this piece a SouthWest US flair, but with a modern feel. Here's some pictures:

















This is Gourd #13, and will be signed and numbered. It will be up in the Etsy shop before too long.

Treasury: "Red, White, and Blue", and progress on the gourd

Ok, it must be the season for treasuries. This is so much fun! This evening's theme was "Red, White, and Blue", in honor of the US Independence Day that is coming up in July. One of my hand felted camera cases was included. Here's the link, if you want to take a peek:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c11a54c0a5a6d918c2c6d2e/the-red-white-blue

Ok, and so this post has a picture too, here's how far I've gotten on the gourd I'm working on. Today I strung waxed linen through the holes in the top to make a web, and then started weaving on it. There is a button in the middle to act as a handle, and a couple of wooden beads pre-strung on the warp threads. I have no plan--this is just free-form weaving, as the mood strikes me.

"Paint the Town Red" Etsy Treasury

A pair of my hair sticks is in an Etsy Treasury! The person who put the treasury together started with a gorgeous red dress, then found all the accessories to go with it. What a fun idea for a grouping! I'd love to see the finished outfit actually put together, but in the meantime it is a great fantasy game.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0f27aa35986d91f0f06f03/paint-the-town-red

Decorating Gourds

Remember that lump under a towel in my last post? Well, I got around to working on it last night and today. That towel hid a gourd, that I had soaking in order to make it easier to scrub down.

Dried gourds have a waxy coating on them, that needs to be scrubbed off before you can play with decorating the gourd. Hot water, a copper kitchen scrubbie, and lots of elbow grease did the job. Then after the gourd dried back out again, I took it out to the garage, put on my dust mask, and cut the lid off and scooped out the insides.

I was busy during the day today, but this evening I got back to working on the gourd. I'm planning on doing some teneriffe weaving on the lid, using waxed linen. I drilled holes around, so I could warp up my gourd after I got it dyed. Drilling before coloring means the dye can sink into the holes, and they are not so bright.


Then I grabbed my black leather dye, and darkened the inside of the gourd. Tip to the wise: put down tarps, because you might be as messy as I was. Leather dye drips. Leather dye also makes a gawd awful mess when you slip and knock the open bottle of dye, sending it flying. Off the tarp, of course. Rags and rubbing alcohol got most of it back off the tile...but dye, well, dyes things. I was Not Amused.


After I calmed back down, I decided that I really needed to finish up the dyeing process tonight, while it was still cool enough to have the windows open. It is over 100F here during the day in Arizona, so having the windows open is not terribly pleasant then. But leather dye (and rubbing alcohol) stinks, and the fumes can leave me light headed if I don't take precautions. So color happened, and the gourd is drying. Tomorrow I'll get to the weaving part. More pictures later!

Oh, and what did I do during the day while I couldn't have the window open? Finished up another Viking wire woven necklace. This one is of copper, and is 18" long. I used 7 colors of Delica seed beads to make the spiraling peyote stitched slide bead. It is fun having a stash to dip into, so I can play with the colors! More colors, of course, would be better. But I am resisting the temptation to decide that I need little vials of all the various of Delica beads. No matter how much fun that would be, and how many neat items I could make. Why? There are I think hundreds of different colors and finishes! But oh, the temptation...

Felt and Etsy and Project Planning

It has been a busy several days! I was on the road with my daughter, attending her freshman orientation since she starts college this fall. And then we went straight from there to an SCA event. So I've been out of the studio since last Wednesday.

Luckily, I was down to the hand sewing on the felt camera cases I've been working on, so I had a portable project. I tossed the thread, needle, awl, thimble, buttons, and felt in a tote bag, and off I went. Here's the results:



I've really been enjoying making these! I love playing with the different color combinations. And I enjoy seeing how they turn out. Felt making is so organic--the colors migrate around and blend together, so you're never entirely in control of the process. There is an element of serendipity that I really enjoy.

I spent the afternoon taking individual pictures of these cases, and listed them in the Etsy shop. (http://www.etsy.com/shop/tangibledaydreams) That pretty well rounds out the 'felt' category in the shop. My goal right now is to stock the shop well enough that there are at least 6 of each type of item, to give folks a better variety to choose from. And eventually I'd like to have 21 items in each category, which is how many items can be on a page before they flip over to a second page.

With that in mind, I'm starting on another project. Here's a teaser picture. Can you figure out what I'm going to be up to next?




No, I'm not watering a basket ball. There is something in the towel that I'm soaking. Which reminds me...back to work!

A Treasury of Violet and Indigo Dreams

Woah! Two days in a row for treasuries. I'm doing a rather bemused happy dance over here. :) This time, my indigo dyed hand spun yarn was included in an Etsy treasury titled, "Violet and Indigo Dreams". http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c014ae8c42b6d91535e1f54/violet-and-indigo-dreams