Yellow

 "Yellow is the color of the east, childhood, and morning."

Jeffrey D Anderson

A lovely use for spotted knapweed. The card on the left is using an alum mordant (along with some other plants) and the one on the right is using copper as the mordant.

The leaves of arrowleaf balsamroot also make a lovely limey to citrus yellow, see below.

It never ceases to amaze me that most everything starts out green!

The magic begins!

Arrowleaf balsamroot and spotted knapweed on silk

If you would like to see the yellow scarves in person I will be at the Manito Art Festival this Saturday from 10-6. Come by booth 37 and see all the pretty things!

If you are interested in eco printing on paper, I am offering an accordian journal class at the Spokane Art School on June 29th. 

Hope to see you soon!

Snow Day

"Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart."

Victor Hugo

One has to ask why in the world one would be eco printing when the outdoor studio looks like this, but here we are. I am doing up some scarves with dried oak and currant that will get a bath in an overdye at a later date. Snow makes our gray winters a lot more attractive and at least the temperature is up to a balmy 19 as opposed to Saturday morning's -8.

Cheers!

"Every year you make a resolution to change yourself. This year, make a resolution to be yourself."

Unknown

I think that is about as good advice as any. I am sure by now you have received a million messages about making resolutions-or not. I don't make resolutions as I am an incessant list maker so therefore have too much to do already.

I have been focusing on ceramics and my Etsy shop as it is pretty hard to eco print in this part of the world as all the plants are asleep. Ceramics does have a meditative quality about it; I listen to books while rolling the clay out and cutting out the buttons or pendants. I did do some experiments with the mucky leaves in the flowerbeds, with mixed results, as expected. The thing is that by now most or all of the chemicals that produce color in the leaves are soaked out and washed away (leaves that have been saved and pressed are a different matter-more on that later), but here are some samples of what I did get:

The top picture is a maple leaf that must have travelled from across the street, over my house and into the backyard; the bottom is black walnut. The orange/rusty marks are onionskins. This was done on silk noil, a fabric with quite a bit of texture, so the prints aren't as crisp as they would be on something like crepe de chine.

We had a good Christmas, I got a wonderful book called "Blue: In Search of Nature's Rarest Color" by Kai Kupferschmidt. It goes through the history of the study of color and then has sections about plants, birds, animals, and sea critters. Oscar, as you can see, got a catnip pillow from a dear friend of mine in Portland Oregon. And for some deranged reason seems to be a fan  of the book as well, he has already managed to put teeth marks in it (see bottom right hand corner of the book). I practically have to lock myself in the bathroom in order to read it, otherwise he is trying to take it away from me!

So, January will be spent hacking away at the never ending to-do lists. Updating email lists, rewriting a syllabus or two, deciding on an art fair schedule, taxes, etc. We haven't gotten much snow this winter, which is a shame. Aside from needing the moisture, when chained to a desk staring out the window, snow is much nicer to look at than the gray foggy winter we are having.

Happy New Year! 

Happy Thanksgiving

 "Rest and be thankful."

William Wordsworth

This happened a few days ago. The season of rest is upon us.

Harvest

 "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

Robert Lewis Stevenson

This fall's harvest, in part anyway. Tansy flowers at the back, safflower petals in the jar, horse chestnuts, acorns, and black walnuts.

I spared you the picture of the leaves being pressed and dried in a mountain of newspapers and cardboard weighted down by giant art books (see, the history of art does have practical uses) as well as the sleeping bag sized ziploc of avocado pits in the freezer. While not much into whole cloth dyeing these days it does pay to have some dyestuffs on hand to overdye with. The acorns are for tannin solution should the need arise and the horse chestnuts will supposedly make a laundry soap with a "blueing" effect-if you know what blueing was. Anyway, I thought it would be a fun experiment provided I can find the bookmark on my computer for the recipe. As I remember it is dependant on pH to a certain extent. The safflower petals are another experiment for the winter. While not known for being a completely permanent color (even though the ancient Egyptians used it as a dye) if done following exact directions it will impart pink to silk. We will see if I get it right. To my understanding even if I don't I will end up with a really lovely orange/yellow. Avocado pits also make a pink as well.

Over the last few years I have had a hard time making plans for the future. Can't imagine why, what with the Plague and all. I tend towards depression and anxiety anyway and wasn't doing all that well in 2019 to begin with. But, in the last few months I have decided to stick to my plan when I can't decide what to do. Pick the option that will offer the most options down the road. So, for instance, when on the fence about whether to do a particular art fair or not, go ahead and apply anyway. Burning $35-40 on an application isn't the end of the world and if accepted, I can decide at that point whether to accept and pay the booth fee later. If I hadn't applied, I definitely wouldn't be in the show.

That's kind of why I have been scurrying around like a squirrel this fall. As I said above, my emphasis is really on eco printing, not whole cloth dyeing. But having the dyestuff to work with does give me other options if an eco print doesn't "come out well", overdyeing can sometimes give you something so much better anyway. The other stuff just keeps me entertained! Last year the snow was so early that the leaves didn't change  color, they just turned brown and crumbly on the trees and then hung on all winter. Strangest looking thing. So this year I made sure to get out and pick up some of my favorites for winter time eco printing.

Even though this is harvesting, it is a way to plant seeds of ideas for the future.

Out and About

It is going to be another busy summer! Here is a list of where I know I will be so far:

May

5th-28th

Tea Show

Pottery Place Plus, 203 N Washington, Spokane, WA

The reception on May 5th includes a tea tasting! Click HERE for info. 

6th and 7th

Moscow Renaissance Fair

City Park, Moscow Idaho

Click here for more info. 

June

3rd and 4th

Troutdale Art Festival, Troutdale OR

Click here for more info.

10th

Manito Art Festival

Manito Park, Spokane WA

Click Here for more info.

More info about shows and classes coming soon!

"Spill the Tea" my piece for the Tea Show at Pottery Place Plus.

Waiting on Spring

"Despite the forecast, live like it's spring."

Lilly Pulitzer

This tiny little sprout will eventually become part of a scarf similar to the one below if we all hang on a bit longer.

Spotted knapweed and arrowleaf balsamroot on silk crepe de chine