It's amazing what you can get done when most of the family goes away for the weekend. On Friday, straight after lunch Tom went off to Devon (near Clovelly) with the boys and suddenly the whole weekend loomed large for me and Amber. It was lovely - Amber pottered around in the afternoon while I did some mordanting and then in the evening we watched a film together. Desperately Seeking Susan with Madonna, if you're wondering. I first watched that film in Tokyo when it came out and it's amazing how watching it again brought back such memories - I could still remember walking out of the cinema at the end with 'Get Into the Groove' playing.
Anyway, on Saturday we got up early and went shopping to a big mall about 40 minutes from us. Except that it took longer as the motorway was closed at our junction and we were diverted all around the houses. We went through some amazing villages - it was like being on a wildgoose chase and we breathed a sigh of relief when we actually found ourselves at the shops. Back home at luchtime and I knew I just had to get on with the dyeing - it was now or never. So whilst Amber seemed to spend hours in the bathroom washing her hair and waxing her legs or whatever, I got on with it. This time I was dyeing blanket and silk squares as well as fleece.
First off it was brazilwood:
Then I did some cochineal on blanket:
and some on fleece - I love this colour:
and then logwood, which came out a dark purpley grey:
I didn't like it on the fleece so I overdyed it with cochineal and then brazilwood:
I also dyed with some osage orange which is a lovely colour. Then all too suddenly it was early evening so we collapsed in front of another video and then on Sunday morning I started my indigo vat around 8 o'clock.
I overdyed some yellow fleece and blanket. The fleece isn't wonderful but will blend into a nice shade once I card it. However, I do need to re-dip some of it in either blue again and some in yellow as it's too bluey:
The blanket was first dyed with onionskins and osage orange. I love the result:
Isn't it gorgeous? However, the backs of some of the pieces have gotten streaks of blue on them where the blanket touched the base of the dyepot that had some unblended dye on it. I'm pretty annoyed about that but I guess if you just use the nice side it's OK.
Then I had a marathon blue session - on blanket:
and on fleece:
some of this fleece will stay blue and some I will overdye with yellow to make green.
So, all in all a pretty productive and tiring weekend. By 3 o'clock on Sunday afternoon I was ready to drop and drop I did. I curled up on the sofa and went to sleep. Still, it was a lovely weekend. I had no cooking to do - Amber and I just ate what was in the fridge. Not cooking frees you up so much doesn't it? Then I got to spend some quality time with Amber and I got to do my stuff too. It was bliss.
Tom and the boys came back at 6 o'clock absolutely shattered. They'd had a great weekend - been to the beach a lot and on Saturday the whole party hired a boat and went fishing around Lundy island. Too many late nights meant they were all in bed by 8.30 last night. That gave me time to sort through my dry piles of blanket:
and silk squares which need ironing yet:
I will have most of this stuff up on Etsy soon but I have to card the fleece first and the carder is at school - I keep forgetting to ask for it back. Hopefully, by the weekend so keep a look out here or on Etsy. Or if you're interested in anything in particular email me and I'll save it for you. Incidentally, the silk is 8mm so not as sheer as the lighter stuff so would make great playcloths or nature table backdrops.
OK, I have to go and tidy up after myself - the garden is a tip.