Left Alone With the Dye Vat

It all started out so innocently...

We had all this indigo left over from our dyeing day and thought we'd knock some more out.

We were deep into experiment mode.

A little of this

A little of that.

Everything looked so awesome!

I'm starting to appreciate the hippy dippy tie dye look that really, as a Madison resident, I should like already.

Cuz it's dang pretty

Dang Pretty.  I mean that's just beautiful.

 

Then, Jennifer had to go home and I was left alone with the dye vat...
My conundrum was that I don't own any white napkins; I sew my own out of funky colored cotton and linen.  I had already dyed any of my light colored dishtowels.

Then I had this sudden realization:  I can always buy more undershirts!

 

I also threw some of my regular every day clothes in there.

This shirt was looking very faded and worn

 

Not any more.

 

And this white shirt was too sheer - I never wore it.  

Honestly, I only bought in the first place it because it's a large (the XL was too big) and I'm a sucker for vanity sizing.

 

 

 

That's ombre dyed, people.  Thanks to Tanya, I know how it works.

Perhaps I went overboard.  I started at about about noon.  It felt like I worked for an hour.  When I went into the house, it was 3:30.  No wonder I was so hungry.
I learned a ton about how indigo behaves and ways to tie things and about good ways to get different hues.
I love learning new stuff!! 
And I had the chickens for company.  

I did exactly this much to finish my linen quilt. So...basically nothing. 
Also, all my clothes are now blue. 

Worth it!

I still haven't finished my quilt top.  But for a good reason!  We ran a test indigo dye class with friends.

 

We have dyed on our own but really want to share the fun with more people so we experimented on some of our friends

 

Don't we look organized?  

We happen to have amazing, creative and fabulous friends so it was bound to be fun even if we did everything wrong.

  

We set up a Shibori (tie dye) station.

When collecting scissors, marbles and other fun stuff starts to feel like work, I'll let you know.

To me it just looks like treasure.

Why else would I take a picture of rubber bands?

We had some Shibori half way put together to share some techniques.

There were samples to show and, because I just have to be me, library books for reference.  

The library is an amazing resource,.yo.

 

Then we were ready to get serious. 

This is about the time that Miranda (of Miranda Beyer Photography) started taking pictures.  You can tell which ones are hers because they are beautiful.  She specializes in newborn baby pictures but every picture she takes looks awesome, she has a great eye. 

I make my own Kombucha but I happened to have a bunch of Nessalla Kombucha for some guests.  I decided to forgo getting my bottle deposit back so we could use their growlers to tie fabric around. 

When I see what folks made using the bottles...

...all I can think...

 

...is...

  

Worth it!

We tied.

We dyed.

We untied.

We revealed and then...

...we smiled.

 

Check out these socks.

We were all in it together.  Here three people are undoing the shibori stuff because we can't wait to see...

This!

This yarn is ombre dyed and knotted so that it achieves a kettle dyed look.  None of us quite knew how to do it but Tanya was willing and excited to experiment.

And it worked really well.

Here are three pieces made by a woman who said she wan't a crafty person.

 

...seriously...

What was she thinking?  Her work is awesome and creative.

Another woman who said the same thing.

I'll never believe them again!

Everyone felt really comfortable trying out new techniques.

Indigo is a great medium to play with.

A great and messy day was had by all.  We plan on offering an indigo dyeing class this fall in Madison WI.  You can follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter to get an announcement closer to the date if you're interested.

Now get out there and make a creative mess.  I will too.  I'm gonna finish that quilt top, dang it!