Been tied up with weaving for a while and felt I needed to get back to sketching. These tulips (from a super market, not my garden) were on their last legs (stems) and I loved their nearly spent – never give up enthusiasm.
Watercolor and ink
Archive for April, 2018
Dyeing Tests
I have been exploring natural dyes with my Harrisville Koehler Yarn to use in mixed bundles for my tapestry. These small balls were dyed with madder, and iron & black tea.
Samples of dyeing with madder, and with rusty iron and tea
The one on the upper right is just iron and tea in a jar left to set for days. The others use madder from a plant I grew and harvested years ago. The top left ball is pre mordanted with alum and a bit of cream of tarter – the lower left was a mixture of iron, tea, and madder all together, the lower right was pre mordanted with alum, then soaked in the just the tea/iron mix for days and then into the madder dye overnight.
I’m not going for exact dye recipes as I did years ago but rather letting the magic take me where it does. And it is magic!!!