stains

a while back (in august!?), i had the great pleasure of celebrating lanz's birthday at her home. she hosted a natural dyeing party. i have always wanted to do more natural dyeing and even took a class at the oregon college of art and craft way back when i was newly pregnant with colden. this time i had a whole slew of stuff to try dyeing, but i didn't want to take up all the room in the communal pots. (plus, lanz and i have some future plans for more natural dyeing dates!) so i chose these onesies that needed the transformation the most - one stained with mud, the other with watermelon. mud went into the onion skin pot and watermelon into the madder.

the onion skin one (left) was actually a brilliant gold shade until i washed it in hot water, and next time i will try a vinegar soak to see if i can get more of the gold to stick around. i soaked the madder in vinegar before washing and i think it helped. i just love them and i'm excited to do more! you should have seen the silks coming out of these pots! oh so lovely! and i fully intend to get my own indigo pot a-brewing. maybe this weekend?

i did use an alum mordant for the onesies, but there are some dyestuffs that do not require any. one is walnut. i've read most places to use crushed walnut hulls, but one of my books said you could do it with leaves in a sealed pot left for one week. i did it, after a neighborhood stroll, and now my week is almost up! i put lots of different bits of wool and such in to see what happens! i am in search of a giant pot for doing larger pieces and batches. i plan on pretty-ing up some grey and tan sweaters from the bins with some lichen (also needs no mordant). this will require more hiking in my future. oh yeah.

ray & michael

i had a few wild ideas for some handmade gifts for our friends' wedding. but true to my nature, i left the making of them until the last possible moment and crafted into the wee hours of the morning (just a few hours before we got to the airport). and marc even convinced me to take sewing along for the trip (but that is another project).

the first piece was inspired by another etsy seller (by way of janna) who makes cute little hearts with names in them for weddings. i personally don't dig hearts, so that was out. i actually went through tons and tons of ideas for other icons - i think i have 2 more canvases with drawings on each side AND many pages of notebook paper littered with designs. in the end, i went with some of my more abstract curliques (again with the curlies!). i love how it turned out:

i also glued a backing on, with some really old craft glue. so it isn't as nice as it could be. luckily, i have plans for another. at the wedding there were special kippahs for 'michael & ray's great adventure', and i can't pass up the opportunity to commemorate that, in the style they chose (complete with tree icon - i came close earlier with a leaf design! if only i had known!). so if you are a friend of ours getting married (*hint, hint*) and have an idea or icon - speak now or forever hold your peace or let me know later, cause i don't mind making lots of these. so fun! i'll take custom orders for your friends getting married too!

my other idea for a gift was a little out there, i realized, when i described it to anne. bendy pipe cleaner people wrapped in wool and needle-felted, with a super silky soft finishing layer of very special fiber. they are quite fabulous:

ray is one of my dearest oldest friends, and i actually hadn't met michael except through pictures. most of which were adorable photos of the two of them wrapped in each other's arms. after seeing those, i had to make these bendy people, who can spoon in as many ways as the real couple (a few wedding guests took care to point this out in a rather illustrative manner).

marc helped me lay the wool base on the pipe cleaners and needle felt it on a bit, then i took over shaping them more and finally wrapping with the extra special fiber. it is divine to the touch, and seemed just right for this endeavour (english spelling for ray). i bought it at the sock summit, entranced by its texture and the shop from which it came, a verb for keeping warm. here's the one. baby camel and silk tussah. *drool*

i was totally in love with all of the yarns and fibers from a verb for keeping warm because they are truly natural - dyed with nature. and there were lots of informative tidbits on history, how-to, and even dyestuff available. their logo is even curly! unfortunately, my budget was limited, so i will have to come back for some more fibery goodness another time.

oh, i didn't mention sock summit before? hmmm, sounds like another post...

happy wedding, michael & ray!