If in doubt, re-do, add blue or both

Where did I read “if it isn’t beautiful it isn’t finished”? How many of us have piles if failed experiments or pieces that just don’t make the grade? Well this weekend some of us had a go at solving this little problem and it seems to me that bravery is what is required and perhaps a touch of blue!

We gathered for the last of the six monthly workshops this weekend and despite the rain there were some wonderful results. Claire bought a pile of eco printing experiments which she felt disappointed with or the colours just weren’t right.  They were re- bundled with more leaves for a second steaming and then a dip or two in the indigo bath. What resulted were beautiful pieces of silk and wool.

Sue brought a eucalyptus wool shawl dyed on a previous month and folded and shibori tied the bundle before getting the indigo treatment. Again the teal colour and string marks added a new dimension to the already lovely piece.

Lyn brought some of her handwoven cotton and linen pieces and some itajime and indigo brought contrast and depth.

An old damask table cloth cut and hemmed became beautiful shibori table runners came out of the vat.

Katie and Mary Ann experimented with iron, leaves, shibori and indigo also produced some exciting pieces and others took away wet bundles to be revealed in a later post.

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Everything is Turning Blue

 I spent the night watching the country turn blue and the day watching my garden turn various shades of the same colour.

The first indigo workshop of the year and blue seemed the general colour of our mood and the work. Wonderful combinations of leaves, mud, shibori and indigo made for a happy ending. Even the rain didn’t dent the creativity

leaaves and mud shadow play

Eucalyptus and indigo

Shibori stained glass window

leaf prints and window itajime on silk

Searching for Natural Indigo in India

The next day and a visit to Dastka Andhra, a project supporting and promoting hand weaving in Andhra Pradesh. We bought some samples of natural dyed fabrics and I purchased some handwoven kora (natural coloured) dupattas (shawls) for workshops next year. They will be good for both the mud resist and shibori.

Dastka samples

Though hand weaving is their priority they are promoting the use of natural dyes including indigo.  Most of the indigo you come across in India is synthetic though presented as natural. Dastkar’s indigo fabrics are yarn dyed in fermented vats by a master dyer who is 90 and still working. Unfortunately, though he has taught over 300 people, there is no one to take over from him which is very sad.

I was lucky enough to  purchase some of his natural indigo to bring home. A tip I was told to test the quality of your indigo cakes. If you drop it in water they should float.  I can’t wait to experiment with different fermentation vats using this, next year

Then on to Chennai and monsoon rains where between downpours I managed to buy some hand spun and woven silk before traveling down the coast to Auroville to visit  The Colours of Nature.

The founder of The Colours of Nature, Jesus Ciriza Larraona, went to Kashmir many years ago to produce silk carpets. Disappointed by the polluting dyeing methods he witnessed, he started to collect information from all over India on traditional dyeing techniques.

Eager to put his knowledge into practice he started a Research & Development Unit in Auroville, an international township dedicated to human unity, located in the south of India. The Colours of Nature is one of only few remaining natural dyeing units in the world, who are entirely focused on an environmental friendly, vegetable dyeing process. Their research in natural dyes is ongoing. Their specialisation is developing natural indigo fermentation and his dream is to develop his indigo fermentation on an industrial scale.

cotton drying after scouring

Casiatora seeds for fermenting the indigo

Indigo fermentation vat

indigo dyed leather

indigo dyed cotton drying on bamboo

cotton dyed with madder

indigo dyed shirts

water filtration

As well a his commitment to natural indigo fermentation Jesus has been experimenting with  other natural dyes for twenty years and claims to have a quick and fast alum mordanting process which he is keeping secret for the moment.

 

 

Beautiful blues with Japanese indigo

I’ve spent a weekend immersed in Japanese indigo dyeing. Picking and stripping leaves, fresh dyeing silk wool, hemp silk in a cold bath and then using the used pulp and dye bath to make a more conventional vat for wool. I’ve updated the page on growing and dyeing with Japanese indigo with new instructions and pictures so please have a look.

squeezing

silk starting green

turning blue

jade green and sky blue on wool

beautiful colours on silk and wool

So many colours from sky blue wool, turquoise silk, jade green and a soft muted blue on wool gauze. I have also bundled some leaves in silk and hemp silk and waiting for the indigo to be released. I had such a lovely result last year and I hoping for a repeat performance.

bundles

last years experiment

Persicaria leaf print on silk

This is such a great dye plant and for those of you who I gave a plant this year. Hold back from harvesting. Let your plant flower which should be very soon and set seed and you too should have a good harvest from more plants next year.

I plan to run a weekend indigo workshop next year around the middle of August in time for the first harvest. The plan is to harvest my indigo and make different baths using fresh indigo and  perhaps, some different fermentation vats. Let me know if you are interested

More Blues

I’m busy getting ready for the first of the two three day mud resist workshop this weekend and so I’ve had to put my work on hold for a few days. Cotton is being scoured, menus planned, blocks oiled,  dabu ingredients are ready for mixing.

I’m looking forward to this weekend as there will be a couple of familiar faces from previous workshops as well as a few new ones. Though there is a good number for the August bank holiday The September course on the 6th, 7th and 8th still has spaces left, and so please get in touch if you are tempted.

Dan has been busy experimenting with bread recipes, as well as making some new printing blocks which look really promising. We are so lucky to live between Coleshill Organics where we buy the fruit and vegetables we don’t grow and Factory Furniture who very kindly give me offcuts of wood for blocks.

 

Singing the Blues

We are actually having a summer it seems.

The weather was kind again this weekend. The sun shone down on us all, while we folded, tied, clamped, wrapped and stitched fabrics for the indigo vat.

Dan played music, made focaccia and kept us supplied with lemon verbena, tea, coffee and cool home made elderflower. Loved the Richard Hawley and Ry Coode and Taj Mahal

Pole wrapping

tying andclamping

sea creatures

ready for the indigo vat

pre soaking

in the indigo

after their first dip

 Fresh stock solution to sharpen last weekends vat. I  find better results when the vat is kept just on the tipping point and a dark green rather than clear yellow green colour which doesn’t seem to build such a deep colour.

Here are some of the pieces of blue that were made by the group.

Inspired, I got down to some blues of my own working over the top of some less than successful samples

double dabu sample

arashi

You never tire of the blue alchemy.

Even my spattered toenails got the blue treatment thanks to my friend Billy

Next I will be dyeing with fresh Japanese indigo leaves

Mud Glorious Mud

It’s been a while, and much has been happening in the Stable Yard. I had a most enjoyable time last weekend with lots of indigo, dabu mud resist and five lovely women who ventured from as far away as Cornwall and Monmouthshire.

I love the way that everybody had access to the same blocks, though made very different pieces. Sadly, many of them went away unwashed. Thank you for your enthusiasm and here’s hoping for some pictures of the finished pieces to share.

I think I will let the pictures speak for themselvesMaking dabu

Printing with blocks

Mud resist drying

First dips in indigo

Busy, busy, busy!

Dan’s focaccia for lunch

Second print and more indigo

Drying Indian style

Jennie’s deep indigo tablecloth

Before washing

Indigo, Iron and a bit of imagination.

Saturday it will be a day of shibori and indigo. Really looking forward to it.

Grateful

What a good week. The exhibition in Stanford in the Vale has been really successful. I’ve met lots of people who have shown interest in my work and the workshops.  I came home from the show yesterday to find a copy of the Western Daily Press on the doorstep (thanks to Denny) In the Colour supplement, is a double page article about Denny and my connections with India, textiles and natural dyes, with pictures including one on the cover. Wow!  You can read it here

Next Saturday 17th May 10.30 – 4.30 there will be a Summer Fair here in the Stable Yard in Coleshill where I will have work on show and my studio will be open.  Denny will be selling her clothes, Sallie and Jim Ead will have wonderful vintage textiles for sale and there will be  Jewellery, pottery and bread and preserves on sale. The weather forecast is good and so a lovely day is on the cards.

My first workshop is the following weekend and is full and others are beginning to fill up. The garden is looking great. I’m looking forward to some warm still weather next week  to continue some indigo work and  I’m feeling content. I am also grateful to my friends and hubby for supporting me in my endeavours and fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.

 

Oxfordshire Artsweek

I have been really busy for the past month neglecting both my blog and the housework. My summer studio is up in the garden with printing tables and indoor washing lines for the Spring showers.

A trip to London to see the final dress rehearsal of The Winters Tale at the Opera House with fabrics and clothes from Denny Andrews followed by a wonderful exhibition of Boro textiles at Somerset House.

My indigo has been sown and is growing happily ready to be planted out at the end of May along with Coreopsis and Weld.

Spring leaves have been steamed in handwoven khadi cotton and prints and last years indigo vat has been revived for some mud resist printing.

I was invited by my friend and Potter Noriko McFarlane to show at her studio at Manor Farm in Stanford in the Vale for Oxfordshire Artsweek. The exhibition opened last Saturday with a stream of people coming through the door and is open until the 11th of May.

Now to prepare for the workshops and new work.

Puddles, Planting and Useful Weeds

Walking in the mud and puddles between showers in an unseasonably warm February I have come across uplifting signs of Spring. There are Crocus’s and daffodils flowering, of course, and carpets of Snowdrops lighten the forest floor even primroses are blossoming.

Elders are starting to produce leaves and dandelions are showing themselves with short necks keeping their heads close to the ground for now. Soon the fields will be glowing with successions of untamed plants which will give plenty of opportunities to experiment for the botanical alchemists amongst us.

The time for planting has begun. My sweet peas have emerged and broad beans and onion seeds are planted. Next it is time to plant Woad, Coreopsis and Weld and then April  for the less hardy Persicaria Tinctoria.  I plan to grow much more Japanese indigo this year to add to last years harvest with a view to ferment at some point.  This won’t be on the scale of Rowland Rickets project though I have been encouraged by a post here to ferment on a much smaller scale. The first harvest is in August which will give me an opportunity to perhaps incorporate it into a workshop. Shibori and a fresh indigo bath could be a happy addition  to the the mud resist workshop.

Working with plants as a gardener, grower, cook and mark maker is great for your health. It heightens your awareness of time and sense of place.  I go wandering with a deeper appreciation of my environment and a quest to know more about the seemingly endless variety and potential of plants. In Spring plentiful wild plants regarded as weeds can be gathered, including docks, dandelions, nettles (which are also  good for soup, gnocchi and butterflies) and brambles which are rich in tannins will between their leaves flowers and roots give a variety of yellows, greens and browns.

achillea millefolium

My reading has led me to find out other interesting things about wild plants used for dyeing including, that common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is used to stop bleeding and was carried into battle in medieval times. Comfrey, is also known as knitbone, is another addition to the natural medicine chest as a poultice for breaks and bruises, and plantain has leaves which are better for Nettle stings than Dock leaves and are also good for bee stings.

Visiting the Masters in Kutch

I’m still working on the a new website for Denny Andrews.  The photographs of the new seasons garments and shawls remind me of last years buying trip to India.

Always an adventure, I love traveling on Indian railways. Long train journeys, often overnight  in two tier second class air conditioned.  You are provided with a paper bag containing sheets, pillowcase and towel to make your bed. Meals are brought to you and in between there are always chai wallahs and snacks being sold. Families bundle themselves into small spaces and the carriages burst with people and luggage. The Indians have the capacity to sleep on a shelf in a sari, stay amazingly still and leave the train in the morning looking serene and composed. I on the other hand toss and turn, get tied up in the sheets, look crumpled and baggy eyed and emerge from my cocoon looking, well, less than serene. Still, I believe it is the best way to travel to  experience the luxury of hours spent reading and looking out of windows at vast landscapes and the extremities of life.

seeing us off

Our Train

Our Carriage

Living on the edge

After a couple of days in Delhi our first adventure was a 27 hour train journey west to Bhuj, Kutch a part of Gujarat. The purpose of this trip was to visit the Ajrak printers in Dhamadka and the weavers of Bhujodi. Gujarat has an amazing textile tradition, renowned for its printing, weaving and intricate embroidery.

The Khatri family are generations of master printers and dyers and represent the longest and finest of printing traditions in the world.  As we are shown around advice and knowledge are generously shared as I take pictures and ask numerous questions about process. Though they have been supplying Denny with wonderful block prints for years some things have changed. Synthetic indigo has taken the place of natural indigo fermentation vats and alizarin for madder. Other vegetable dyes such as pomegranate, turmeric and even rhubarb are still evident.  Myrobalan is still used for it’s tannins to mordant cotton, which with iron rust gives black. Traditional and complex methods of mordent and resist printing continue, with pastes made from lime and tree gum, tamarind and alum.  Though things are changing business is thriving.  There are concerns, however, about ground water quality and levels since the earthquake in 2001 which devastated the region. Lack of water does remain a threat to traditional dyeing practices all over India.

Back in the village we are shown new bedspreads designs, printed and dyed with rhubarb and indigo on organic cotton grown in Gujarat. Hand printed fabrics in indigo, Indian red and Kasis (iron and tannin) are chosen for suits, dresses and shirts.  They show us printing on both organic and non organic cotton and explain how the organic cotton seems to improve the take up of dyes and intensify the colours. After a very informative and productive day and a  lunch of chciken, goat and vegetable curries with rotis seated on the floor of the office we leave with our bundle of sample fabrics and cotton stoles.

Three generations of Khatris

ajrak blocks

Printing

mordant paste curing

indigo vat

indigo landscape

Dhobi wallah

wringing

drying

indigo cloth ready for folding

waiting driver

non organic cotton compared with organic

organic cotton bedspread dyed with rhubarb and indigo

looking at prints

bundle of samples

The next day a drive to Bhujodi to visit master weavers and choose shawls and stoles. We are shown yarn dyed this time in indigo fermentation vats in the ground . They are kept to an even temperature by burying the vats in goat dung which keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

The master weaver noticed a shawl that Denny was wearing. One which she bought in 1996. He recognized it as his work and so a wonderful reunion took place followed by a celebration meal seated on the floor of his home. Wonderful hospitality in such a beautiful place.

The master dyer

The master weaver and brother shows me the indigo vats

healthy indigo vat in goat dung

indigo dyed yarn

weaving shed

a shady haven

lunch

Sacred calf

Denny’s shawl is reunited with it’s maker

A visit to the legendary, Mr Wazir, who shows his amazing collection of textiles to those who share his passion and might help him with his dream of opening a museum.

Mr Wazir

Next day we head off on the 12. 25 for the next18 hour train journey of books, twisted sheets, calls of the chai wallahs walking the corridors and food sellers calling “ommelit, cutlit “. In the morning the Pink city awaits.

Inspiration and familiar faces

Took my silk stoles for an outing to a Textile Fair at Bisley village hall on Saturday. I sold my Japanese indigo stole, even though I was determined not to, but a lovely lady fell in love with it. I was also promoting my workshops and there was quite a lot of interest in the eco bundling which was encouraging. India Flint breezed through Stroud this summer and many people who were interested in the process but either couldn’t afford or get a place want to know more.

Ann, one of the lovely workshopees from my last workshop in Herefordshire appeared and we had a lovely chat. I think I will be seeing more of her next year on a mud resist and eco – bunding course. There were a few familiar faces from other workshops and other connections and it was lovely to renew contact.

I also spent time talking to the very interesting and knowledgeable Martin Conlan of Slow Loris who had wonderful textiles from south west China. Intricate indigo and wax pieces, tribal hemp, wedding embroideries and the most lovely woven pieces made using rags which really appealed to me. They had the same aesthetic appeal and spirit as Japanese Boro textiles. The one I particularly liked sold before I could summon up the justification to buy it. How much for inspiration?

We talked about indigo and hand weaving and the rapid changes that are occuring in SE Asia and the rapidly rising prices of textiles. He had some lovely Chinese decorated  chinese folded thread books or Zhen Xian Bao. I have had an idea to incorporate making something similar in a workshop.

They have lots of origami type of pouches and compartments to hold threads, needles embroidery and keep sakes.

I spent yesterday working on a newspaper prototype while not as beautiful was very enjoyable to make.

Stormy skies and indigo seed

We are bracing ourselves for the storm due to hit tonight and have been gathering the last of the dye plant seeds from the garden.

I’m very pleased with my crop of Japanese indigo (Persicari tinctoria) this year of which 3 plants were encouraged to go to seed. The last of the flower heads are now hanging and drying to add to the harvest. I have a very good supply of seed this year and hope to sell some to anyone wanting to grow and dye with this wonderful plant. You have to use fresh seed as it isn’t viable for long. The good thing is that it is easy to grow and will layer easily. Look at my Indigo page for more information.

I have dried both my first and second harvest and hope to ferment it as they do in Japan. I don’t have enough to create a pile as Roland Ricketts is doing in Indiana. However, I have been looking at Bryan Whiteheads blog  and he ferments smaller quantities using another traditional method which I might try this year or wait until I have another harvest next year. It would be wonderful to make a natural fermentation vat using indigo that I have grown from seed.