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Sunday, October 5, 2014

playing in an indigo vat

Accordion pleated, held with clothespins
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do some more indigo dyeing in a workshop with Catherine Nichols.  I have to say, I find it truly amazing how you can start with white cloth, put it in the indigo vat, pull it out and it's a pretty yucky yellowy green, and then you can watch it change colour right before your eyes as it oxidizes, and you end up with these wonderful indigo blues.  I don't think I will ever tire of watching this happen.

I can say, with all certainty, I am not really great at planning out a design and spending a lot of time stitching it, as much as I love the designs that can be created - just check out my friend Momiji's blog for some beautiful - controlled! - indigo pieces!   I am definitely more of the lets just try this and throw it in mentality!  Either way, I love the thrill of waiting to see what I am going to get.  This time, I got some pretty interesting pieces!

  I did try a little stitching, and quite like my circles in the middle of this one

 I think this one is a fave, though.  Catherine had pre-dyed some bamboo skewers in fuchsia.  I rolled them into a length of dupionni silk, and then into the indigo vat.  Love the strippy effect!
Here's a sampling of what I ended up with;

sample 3

You can see more of the pieces in my Flickr photostream

More fun happenings this weekend, details to follow!
Happy quilting! 
Janet
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6 comments:

  1. RenateOctober 6, 2014 at 9:09 AM

    What a wonderful array of indigo pieces. Love the piece done with the bamboo skewers. Oh how I wish I could have joined you.

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  2. Vicki MillerOctober 7, 2014 at 4:24 AM

    I love these pieces, especially the cerise and blue striped one!

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  3. momijiOctober 7, 2014 at 8:16 AM

    What fun--looks like you had a great time! The fuchsia/indigo piece is really interesting, and I'll look forward to hearing more about the process sometime. Did the dye just sort of leach off of the skewers?

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  4. GinaOctober 8, 2014 at 6:45 PM

    Great pieces! I have a stack of clothes and fabric waiting for the indigo bath. Such fun.

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  5. MaggiOctober 13, 2014 at 12:51 AM

    What a great selection.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BethOctober 14, 2014 at 4:04 PM

    HI! For a while I was unable to comment on your blog posts, but I was reading. The Hubby got me a new laptop and after a bit of frustration I am back.
    Love the dyed fabric. The circles and those stripes are so cool.

    ReplyDelete

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