Yesterday morning I heard that Keith's brother had died. He had gotten very weak, and finally succumbed to Sepsis. He would have been 88 this year. That suddenly brought back losing Keith of course, so it was a sad start to the morning. Gabby and I will try and get across to the funeral, but it's in Essex - HATE the M25 bit of the journey.
Anyway, I was glad that Tam and I were meeting up for our Bundle Dyeing afternoon in Aberystwyth. There were half a dozen of us, and we had a lovely time. Some garden flowers gave amazing colours - Scabious Black Knight (purple), and Cosmos sulphureous (orange).
In the picture, dyestuffs - Rosemary, Ivy, Cleavers (Goosegrass), Brown Onion skins, Rose petals. These gave shades of yellow, the the petals, a pink. There were red Onion skins too and they gave a more tawny browny yellow.
We used wool skeins and strips of old sheeting, pre-mordanted with Alum, to lay out and decorate with dye plants. The bright yellow on the piece at the back is Daffodil petal pieces.
Other dyestuffs on offer were Hibiscus flowers (gave a red), Buddleia leaves, Eucalyptus leaves, and Yarrow.
This looked so pretty even before it was rolled up. My table-neighbour's 2nd piece.
My first attempt produced muted colours. I used Ivy, Cleavers, Yarrow, Brown Onion skins, and a little Hibiscus. Seen when not through a camera lens, it has a little more colour.
For my 2nd attempt I went for colour:
Guess who went shopping this morning?!
In the evenings I am now working on the Rowandean Rosebay Willowherb kit.
The dark leaves are nettles (worked in dark blue wool). Now I am on the French knots for the Willowherb flowers. Such pretty pinks in this.
Hoping you have had a good weekend, and praying that friends in America are surviving the awful winter storm cutting a swathe through the country, and those of you in Australia aren't in the areas affected by bushfires - well, hoping anyone who is can get out safely.
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