Spirit Cloth

Coloring Thinness

The warm weather is holding.  So odd to be outside in short sleeves in March.   I have my  indigo vats  going  inside for now because nights are still cold.  The radiant heat in the floor seems to be a real plus.  The vats are happy.  Thanks to Glennis, I am understanding them a bit more.  And the  walnut pot has been outside all winter and never seems to give up.    I guess this will be the year of brown and blue.... so it goes.    I like dyeing thin cloth.  How you can see the weave when the light comes through.    I need some thin window coverings for the warmer season.   A bit of shade, but  not too much.  I figure I will stitch a lot of my thin dye samples together as window coverings,  just to look through them for a while.   I can cut them up later.  There is  a lot of thin cloth here.  Because I have always been on the lookout for it.   And then, I am weaving some too.  Just small pieces.  Using some very thin cotton linen yarn leftover from my textile industry days... trying to use it up before it  ages  too much.  Or I do.  It is harder to weave thin cloth, to get an even beat.  Dense cloth you can really slam together, but thin cloth, you have to leave space, develop restraint.  I use a little rocking dance, the distance of my leaning back as I pull the beater regulates the space rather than just judging how hard to press against the web.  It works much better for me.   The only handwoven cloth here is the second ring with the square dobby weave.   When I find some extra time... ha... I will try  a small piece of new cloth that makes those squares more like nine patches.  Right?

some old thing

Great Grandpa's pipe. isn't this amazing?   i love the pipe with the carved beast, with burned edges and smell of old tobacco still in it.  but I also love the little leather pipe case.   how the velvet lining has worn to a shine. how the initials are burned into it. i love when things have a specially made home like this.  keepers.  and i love that Mom has kept everything safe in an old cedar chest.  even the smells... there is a story in a smell.

PS. turned a certain way while open, it is shaped like a heart.

cloth on cloth

  What I am thinking here started way back. Was on hold. And has just started to continue. Cloth to cloth. Cloth on Cloth. Cloth into cloth, Cloth through cloth, Cloth...