after playing around a bit and reading a bit and listening a bit and thinking a bit i have made some decisions about the dyeing thing. i know i prefer natural dyes from an aesthetic point of view. i like their softness and their unevenness and the color palette they produce and even their willingness to fade. i have chosen to stick with both locally available (including the pantry or the trash of others) and substantive dyes, those being those that will bring color with out mordanting . because it is simple and safe and sensible.
and i have been thinking of dyeing within the context of my own life's path. i am certainly not planning to be "a dyer" in the large sense of the word, or to throw away what i already have or buy a lot of new stuff to work with. i am happy to watch and support others in their expertise. no. i will just keep a pot simmering on the wood stove during the winter or a jar or two out in the sun in the warmer months. maybe a bundle or two in the compost, wrapped up like a present, a gift of new life to some old tired scraps.
...i think i can produce enough to play with by dyeing the browns and the yellows and content myself with using what i have here by over dyeing bits of already colored cloth to fill in the palette or softening the artificial brightness.
this round was a pot of pomegranate rinds (the man loves these) from the compost. i added a bit of tumeric for brightness. tumeric can be very bright! so i ended up with a walnut dip to tone it all down. i am so intrigued with the color range possible with over dye and also with the over tint on natural linen or hemp which allows the natural brown fibers to show through. perhaps next year's big cloth project will be a cloth of many new colors.
(above left to right: pomegranate/tumeric/walnut over ugly purple eyelet, over linen heringbone, over baby blue linen, over natural silk mesh, over natural hemp, over white wool, over stained kimono silk, over lavendar print, over natural linen, and below the other wool sock)
