I dyed two newborn articles of clothing purple once upon a time. Afterwards, I twisted the cloth and secured the twists with rubber bands. And then abandoned them.
When cleaning out a storage area in the basement recently — there they were. They’d sat untouched for many years, maybe as much as a decade.
The garage stinks nowWhoops. May overdye with Ritz orangeBetterSewed the cloth into a tube, scrunched into a jar, then added sewing clips
This square plexiglass resist (above) left a lot of white, so I redyed. First, then second results below.
Turns out the powder I purchased is “pre-reduced” meaning it’s synthetic. Oh well. I don’t really understand the difference. It sure smells like natural indigo. In any case, I’ve appreciated how simple the process has been.
“This violates the natural order”
Cleaning out the space underneath the cellar stairs is part of the impetus for dyeing here. It’s where I kept everything. Another part of the impetus is forward looking — to an indigo workshop in October. Looking back. Look forward.
Since Danny died, culling things for giveaway has changed. It’s easier somehow. Most material possessions just don’t seem to matter much anymore for one thing. Maybe they never did.
For another thing, we’re acutely aware that at our deaths only Cary will be left to deal with everything. That makes these efforts satisfying but also heartbreaking.
One of the happy consequences of diarrhea lettuce is that I’m shopping my town’s Farmers’ Markets. Salad above features radish sprouts, a spicy addition to already tasty salad. I tossed in some pumpkin seeds for extra crunch.
We also had melt-in-your-mouth corn on the cob. Local. It was so tender Ken said that I could’ve risked it, referring to the fact that ever since my front crown fell out of my mouth twice, I shave my cobs.
Sounds like a guilty admission: I shave my cobs.
TODAY? I plan to finish piecing this with a simple edict: when solving a dimension issue, GO SMALLER NOT BIGGER.
Jeez.
Legs knit w/yarn I dyed with indigo. This was in hospital waiting for Dan’s arm surgery to be done. He was 14. It was the second break.
I ordered some indigo powder from Dharma Trading Company yesterday. I don’t have the bandwidth for leaf processing and who knows, I may not have what it takes to make up a batch with powder either. I’d like to though. It’s been a minute. In cleaning out the basement, I found piles of white t-shirts, rubber bands, resist plates of glass, a thermometer. All kinds of dye supplies, in other words.
In October I will be spending a day with an African dye master, Gasali Adeyemo. More about this another time. A writing friend is hosting him in New Mexico.
This beautiful shirt (you may have seen on FB or Instagram) was made by my friend Lisa up in Maine. She’s really talented. She knew I wanted to wear indigo to the book reading this weekend and just whipped this shirt up using katazome indigo from a workshop we attended together this past summer (blogged about here).
And that’s not all. She was a beta reader who read the entire manuscript. And that’s not all. She’s driving down from Maine to hear me read at NEWTONVILLE BOOKS this Sunday (Jan 26 at 2:00).
My mother was her art teacher in high school and her father taught me history. We go way back. Our brothers are very close friends.
Some scribbles got typed up yesterday and emailed to Deb. Deb is what’s known as a Critical Reading Partner. Much more involved than a beta reader.
Beta readers read when you are well along. Their responses can range from chapter edits to a general “I liked it.”
In the two years leading up to Deb’s publications (PROPHETS TANGO) and mine, we exchanged chapters with regularity. To do it again with new material feels like getting back in the saddle!
Early today. When it was 5 degrees.
We made only the Oakmont/Maplewood figure eight with Finn today. It wasn’t booger-freezing cold, but almost.
It was the kind of cold you really bundle up for, but it felt normal. Normal winter weather. Something people in Florida and Georgia can’t say right now.
One of my indigo projects started with this beautiful terrarium garbage pick. Yes, people throw objects like this out around here — in fact, this is the second glass terrarium we’ve found on the curb.
Filtered as black and white to see the lines
I decided it would make a good stencil, if a little complicated. I had to practice.
In Leverett, Chinatsu, the workshop leader, had some cool hole punches, so I added those dots on either side. We pressed a thin mesh on top prior to using.
You carefully smear rice paste on and hang to dry before wetting, then dunking in the indigo vat for 90 seconds.
These two days reminded me that keeping time is challenging for me (yes! Even 90 seconds with a giant clock in view) (which BTW is different from the ability to show up to things on time, which I do easily). Also, how I make messes became obnoxiously evident (rice paste smears, anyone?) The big tell regarding challenge-level was how tired I got mid-afternoon — even though I was having fun and otherwise not stressed.
After letting the stenciled and dunked cloth drip back into the indigo vat for a bit, you took it out to a rinse station and used a soft paint brush to wipe off the rice paste.
Healthy vats make for deep blue
A library of stencils was available to us.
I carved a little bird which I didn’t think would work but did.
I tried a clamping technique, using two boards and two metal Home-Depot-style clamps. First picture (below) shows the clamped result. Subsequent pic shows the clamped-cloth-result with rice paste design.
You can achieve lovely and subtle results by doing two rice paste applications with a dunk in indigo in between. I only tried it two times. Here’s one example, below.
Dots first, triangles second, with dot paste left on for second dip. For a different effect, you could have rinsed off the dot rice paste after dipping it in dye and then applied the triangle paste. The white dots would have been variations of blue and white.
Chinatsu Nagamune
Born and trained in Japan, Chinatsu also spent two years training in India. She was lovely. Highly skilled. Really knowledgeable. Humble, non-intrusive, funny, and yet still an effective instructor.
Sideways reveal! With husband, Andy.
Lisa and I stayed in Northampton around the corner from where I last lived in 1979 before graduating from UMass. It all seemed shabbier than I remembered. Fewer trains, though, passing on the tracks across the street.
There’s lots more to say about that, but not now and perhaps not publicly.
Even two short days away and I am inordinately glad to be home. Is that a defect or a blessing?
You know you live in an affluent suburban neighborhood when sitting on the stoop (like now), you hear only tree frogs, cars occasionally passing, and one or two jets going overhead and you declare it HEAVEN.
You know you live in 2022 America, when your battered psyche swings between icy panic, disbelief, and both lazy and full-throttled escapism. Oh, and rage. Did I mention rage? Who knew how important wordle, the spelling bee, crossword and jigsaw puzzles would become to one’s mental health?
This week escapism overlapped with current events in the form of a gripping novel full of political intrigue. Such a page-turner, I devoured 500 pages in two and a half days (see escapism, above).
The very week the Washington Post disclosed that among the stolen papers at Mar-a-Lago was a document revealing the nuclear capabilities of another government, I read the thriller that Hillary Clinton co-authored with Louise Penny.
It’s pretty much ripped from the headlines.
Among the things to love is how the protagonist, a female Secretary of State, makes sweeping critical commentary about the former guy. He was called Eric Dunn, or moron, or corrupt bad actor — you get the idea.
And if you’re a fan of the Three Pines mysteries by Louise Penny (I’m looking at you, Jen), the detour to that Quebec town and the appearance of Chief Inspector Gamache are just added kicks.
I won’t spoil anything here by saying the plot turns on the infiltration of the US government at the highest levels by domestic terrorists, features nuclear bombs, and showcases the sharp wits of a few American politicians.
In other news, yesterday I mailed off two quilts to C. in California. Of my two boys, he’s the bigger gamer, hence the wall-hanging based on a first-person shooter game, Lost Planet. I sent him a vertical landscape as well. For some reason, it’s one of my favorites.
In closing, I’ll share a secret. K is soon making his first international trip in more than two years (he used to be gone about a week a month), and I can’t wait to make pancakes for dinner AT FOUR O’CLOCK!
PS I shouldn’t have said anything! A backyard neighbor is having their house power-washed. All our back windows now closed (and it’s still loud).
PPS Below’s the figure quilt is based on. It’s not the exact magazine ad, couldn’t find that. But you can see outline, weapon, garb, etc.
