After two years I can plant my weld. Here’s hoping the seeds are still viable. Thank you to my California dye buddy for the seeds.
In the Texas Hill Country I have to be thoughtful with the seed placement by the drip system. Weld is going in now since I know from when I last grew it in this terrace bed weld is one of the first plants to mature. By the time June’s heat cranks up this bed will be up and done for the season. Here’s hoping for germination!
Today I finally got to play with my soy milk, watercolors & natural dye pigment. These ideas came from the Japanese Katazome tradition taught by John Marshall. John covers the basics here on his web page.
My friend, Marge, helped me figure out my support frame. Once that puzzle was conquered we sized test scarves with soy milk. We let the scarves cure for a couple of days and after Marge left I got to do some color play.
The watercolors mixed nicely with the soy milk. I do need to work on my brush work and stencil skills.
My pigments that I precipitated with calcium hydroxide were definitely not as bright as the watercolors. The lichen oxidized from purple to brown during the precipitation. The weld exhaust was….well, exhausted. I got a nice yellow back wash but not weld yellow.
The pieces are drying and tomorrow I will mount them on their frame and give them their final coat of soy before I set them aside to cure. Once cured they will get a hand wash and steam pressing and I’ll see how each method, natural dye precipitation and watercolors work with soy. I am happy with the possibilities!
I haven’t posted lately as I have not been on the dye patio. The drought has dragged on and we’ve had a slight break this week with almost 6 inches of rain. I’ve been reluctant to run dye pots with the slim chances of rain. I have been tending the dye plant garden with some success and a major failure, more on that in another post.
Now, my weld has come into blossom and is going from bloom to seed, it is time to harvest it and run some brilliant yellows. Since I’m not a yellow fan these skeins are destined for over dyes with indigo and iron for greens.
And the persimmon is coming along with the fruit forming and another great crop coming on line.
I plan to experiment with both the weld and persimmon dye stocks and try to precipitate the color out with sodium carbonate in order to store the extract long term. More on that if I can made it work.
My shoulder surgery went well and after a year my arm is working normally. I have spent more time in the weaving studio to finish old projects and plan new ones. Here are some old and new scarves done with the natural dye yarns.
I’ve found I am either on a dye path or a weave path. It is difficult to run both side by side. So, eventually, the dyestuff harvest will determine the schedule and I’ll be back on the dye patio at the dye pots. So…see you soon when I am back at the dye patio.
My weld and madder root are close to harvest, both for color and seeds. Below is a photo of the tiny weld blooms.
I did end up with shoulder surgery on May 8th. My bicep head tendon was partially torn and needed stitches and some shoulder spurs had to be removed. Fascinating! Both combined to create pain and slow me down on the dye front. I’m out of lifting action until Aug at least.
In the meantime I’m pursuing time at the loom with some light short term weaving and designing for some rugs. I’ll be ready to create once my arm recuperates !
But I’ll need to be very nice to my hubby so I can run this weld seed dye pot soon!
debmcclintock 
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