Weaving cloth, making stars the way Jude Hill taught in one of her online classes. It seems I've been obsessed with stars for a long time!
Two of my early felted wool patchwork stars.
Also loving the postcard India Flint sent, in celebration of her solace project, which I participated in. It looks absolutely wonderful, doesn't it? It makes me happy, just looking at the photos. .
PHOTO :: INDIA FLINT
This is my flag for India Flint's solace project. I really wanted to do much more with it, but time was an issue and so I sent it as is. I do love being a part of this project.
Fly away to India ...
I was visiting Jude Hill's blog recently and I saw she had experimented with azalea blossoms in her dye pot. She posted a beautiful image of a pale pink piece of cotton and I fell in love with it. Lucky me, my azalea bush was in full bloom, so I immediately went outside and picked a bunch of blossoms and decided to spend some time experimenting.
When I went searching for cloth to use, I came across bundles of flowers I had wrapped in newsprint and put away at some point in the past. I decided to give them a whirl along with the azalea blossoms. I really have very little idea of what I am doing. It seems every year or so, I try some natural dye experimentation for all of a week or so, and then I drop it until another year passes! Maybe this time I'll stick with it for a while - I'm feeling optimistic.
I think my introduction to eco-dye was via India Flint's marvelous book, Eco Colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles. What a wonderful book! That book was followed by Second Skin, another book I'm pleased to have on my shelf. The book I am using while I attempt my latest foray into the World of Dye, is a sweet little book by India, titled the bundle book.
I made quite a few cotton bundles with a variety of ingredients, even adding nuts and dried fruits to one of the bundles. The most gorgeous combination was when I dusted the purple glads with turmeric. It may not work well as a dye, but it sure does look spectacular in the "before" photo!
DRIED GLADIOLUS BLOSSOMS, DUSTED WITH TURMERIC.
I spent quite a bit of time making various bundles and I'm hoping my jotted notes will be sufficient to remind me of what I've done. All I have to do now is be patient and try not to unbundle them too soon. It does occur to me, rather belatedly, that green (dyed?) string might not have been a wise choice. We'll see.
GOOD THINGS COME TO SHE WHO WAITS. AT LEAST I HOPE SO.
I have not done much blog-visiting lately so I am thrilled that I stopped by India Flint's Prophet of Bloom in time to make a word flag for her Seeking Solace Project. She envisions "a collective impromptu poem, recorded on cloth, to sing in the winds." Beautiful!
India invites everyone to make a flag to contribute to her project. Each flag will be triangular and it will have word(s) stitched on it, by its maker ... "a word or a phrase or a sentence that might act as a wish for peace or an acknowledgement of beauty, imply a sense of stillness or simply something that gives you solace." I love the way India thinks and I'm grateful that she shares so freely with all of us on the internet.
For my contribution, I will use the textiles above, which are eco-prints made from using natural materials to make images on the fiber. This is most fitting since India is an internationally known and admired maker and teacher of using nature to print on fiber.
I don't know what my word(s) will be. I'll think on it as I stitch.
