Yesterday three friends came round and we had a wonderful time with an Indigo Vat. It was half of one 5-gallon container left over from the Newbury Coat. I realised that they might be bringing a lot to wrok on so I did my own before they turned up! about 800 gms of wool and 500 gms of silk. The various shades of blue are deliberate. I was dyeing some yarn for other weavers and the colours had been specified. They were only allowed light, mid and dark. 
The photo on the left is of silk trimmings indigo dyed. They are patchy because (I think), these have not had the sericin washed out. It is intended for making silk paper so the patchiness is not a problem.
The others brought wool yarn and several pieces of cotton and silk fabric in shibori. Rosie Price bought brought 16 (?) balls of white boucle cotton (commercial). So we tried dyeing one ball without skeining it. It worked although she had to skein it when wet to see what it was like all the way through!! Anyway we then dyed all the rest in balls. I should have taken a photo to show how much we all did. I had to refresh the vat a couple of times but it all worked okay.
I still have an ikat warp to indigo dye but I could not do it yesterday as it has not been designed, never mind wound and tied up. I am having another indigo day next week and winding the ikat warp is high on the priority list for this week. As is weaving samples on the 12 shaft loom.
No comments:
Post a Comment