Twistedspinster

We're back- and Colour Congress was great!

I took a workshop on No Pot Natural Dyes, taught by Karen Diadick Casselman on 5/17. Talk about fun! It's not for the control freak, more like the mad scientist dyers like me. Basically, you take things like leaves, flowers, spices, rusty nails, whatever, and sprinkle them all over your fabric. Roll it all up, and beat the heck out of it with a rubber mallet. Then, sprinkle just a bit of something wet on it- like catsup, soy sauce, yucky wine, vinegar, whatever. Don't use too much, or everything will bleed together. You're going for color blotches.

Get Karen's booklet (will post the title when I find where I packed it). She has a lot of good information in there, like the basic differences between dyes, pigments, and stains, and how to use them to your advantage.

Highlight of class- finding out that Karen had sent Reverend Bob (reputed to be a Methodist minister in good standing!) into the men's room with a bottle to pee in. Hey- it's historically accurate. Just nobody wants to deal with it any more. I noticed that even Reverend Bob avoided actually *using* it.

Coming soon: details about archeological digs investigating First People's dyes in New Mexico; dyeing with avocado, dyeing with aphids (!), and John Marshall's technique using soy milk as a dye fixative.

These descriptions will be reviews, not trade secrets, more like teasers to make you want to take these classes too!

R

posted by Ruth S. @ 8:20 PM