recent walks

 

catkins in the fog

 More walks lately, 

Blackstone Gorge trail

all kinds, 

spring daffs

alone,

rainy morning

 with dogs,

lichens

 with people,

river guardian

in the garden, 

maple blossoms

 in the woods,

fungi

 and out.

looking downstream

Ombre thus far

I have continued the ombre itajime experiments

I added a second color (its a deep burgundy)

and 

changed the clamping

here is the second result

and here is the first

there are a few more experiments on the way...

Seep

 seep

/sēp/

verb

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. (of 
7. a liq
8. 
   
9. uid
10. ) fl
11. ow
12.  or leak slowly through porous material or small holes

Ombre Itajime, how to...

 

Diving back in here...

I was asked if I could give a better description of the process I used to create this design 

Its been a long time since then! I won't be getting into the specifics of the dye process, 

this is just a brief how-to for the folding/clamping. 

Supplies: fabric, clamps, containers, & dyes

start by pleating the fabric into a long rectangle

Next fold the long rectangle in pleats of diminishing length while matching the bottom edges of the pleats

Clamp the pleats together,

submerge the bottom (matched pleat ) edge into a container of dye 

and allow to sit undisturbed for 1-2 days

And this was my result, I used a different color of dye for the experiment 

and got a very different effect from the first piece  but the folded form is the same

Today

fall texture

- it was a chilly start the sun came out a bit late, the garden is winding down with the colder weather 

I still have some transplants to make...

- it is day 100 of the 100 day challenge I undertook last July (!)
stones # 99 and 100 are in process...

only a few more to go after them and tribe 4 will be completed

- the Small Stones Festival of the Arts may be interested in having my tribes displayed as well as the photo I submitted to the show, if we can figure out the logistics... 

we have a week so we should be able to manage it

- I still have to photograph the results from the dye studio

one day at a time

fruits of the earth

I read somewhere that mushrooms are the fruits of fungus trees that grow below ground.
Another reason to find them enchanting. I can't identify all these species and I'm too lazy to look them up. Its enough to enjoy them as fruits of the underworld.

Fall update

Echo

 I have been adjusting to a new life, 2 part-time jobs at 2 different studios, no set schedule, finding time for my own home/studio and meeting new people. Echo is one of them. She is an Airedale puppy with humming bird ears who comes into the dye studio in New Bedford when she doesn't have to go to doggy daycare. The studio is located in one of the old Mill buildings in the city, it is simultaneously really cool and deeply unsavory. I am weirdly comfortable there. I'm working for Moontide Dyers   and learning some new things (thiox). It has gotten me back into my own dye studio again.

Old Mill, New Bedford

 At home I'm working on tribe 4, as a one a day, 100 day challenge. So far so good.
Tribe 1 has been accepted into the small stones festival of the arts in Grafton Ma.

Tribe 4 progresses

 I finished one of the pieces I started back in 2011 when I took one of  jude's classes

completed!!

new decor ideas

 I'm playing in the garden again, trying some new elements, adding wildflowers and cleaning it up a bit. The fall asters are blooming everywhere now, and we've seen an impressive crop of toadstools this year

season passing

wildflowers

wild asters

shrooms

Couscous salad

 We have had our last CSA basket of the season. it included a final bit of kale which I chopped into a couscous salad with tomatoes, white beans, basil, green onion and olives and served with feta cheese. Our last few baskets were heavy on the potatoes so I'm trying all sorts of new potato salads.

test 1

I started in the studio by cracking open a bunch of pre-measured mystery dyes that had been sitting around for a few years and testing them to see what the colors are (Gold, Orange, Brown and Black)

and trying them on an assortment of fabric scraps to see how they dye, the results were surprisingly good.

results

Now I have begun messing with these colors and trying a few different techniques/color combos
1. two tshirts in a bright gold orange color
2. one tshirt in a darker orange brown combo
3. clamped canvas in a golden orange color
4. dk brown solid coated canvas
5. grey/ black canvas
6 multi colored tied canvas
7 olive green coated canvas

experiments

 Tomorrow I can wash out the experiments and do some more gardening....

fall garden