Spinning to dye for

After building up a sizable basket of handspun, it was time to dye. 

Most of my dyeing experience has been with natural dyes and I do love them--from the collecting through recycling nature's color-laden gifts to the lovely, soft colors. 

I've done my share of roadside collecting, but two things have spurred me to consider dye alternatives. One, most free and readily available dyestuffs--marigolds, walnut hulls, onion skins, etc.-- result in colors that dominate the yellow end of the color chart. And two, it may be fun, but it takes time. Precious time. 

As I'm focused primarily on wool fibers, I've puttered a bit with acid dyes but it's effect on the environment has been an ongoing concern. We live in a beautiful but fragile ecosystem--the Pinelands of New Jersey. We also have a septic system. 

Seeking a greener alternative

Dyed skeins drying

At the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last month, I came across Greener Shades dyes offered by Still River Mill in Eastford, Conn. As advertised, "Greener Shades is a non-hazardous, non-chrome, low impact, heavy metal-free acid dye for use on silk, wool, nylon, or any animal fiber. 

Formulated without the use of hazardous metals, these dyes provides superior light and wash fastness without relying on metal compounds to achieve bright and beautiful colors."

It seemed worth a try so I bought a starter kit. Then I proceeded to gather the tools and equipment needed to dye. My old stainless steel dyepot was long gone (It had been appropriated to make beer!). It's been replaced thanks to New Jersey Guild of Spinners and Weavers member Pat, who alerted guild members to cheap pots at a local discount store. pH paper was harder to come by--at least locally. After trips to four pharmacies and one medical supply store, I ordered it online, along with an inexpensive thermometer and citric acid. Oh, I also bought a burner.

Directions to use the Greener Shades dyes are simple, but I still needed to get into the rhythm of doing it. Perhaps most surprising to me was to discover that our well water is pH neutral! These dyes require an acidic pH of 4.5. Citric acid does the trick.

I dyed several batches over the weekend with depth of shade ratios ranging from 0.5% to 1% and played a little. That lovely soft mauve came from throwing a skein into the pot before all the amethyst dye had been discharged. It's the skein on the right in the photo and I like the effect.

Thanks also to the kind soul at the recent New Jersey Guild meeting who offered the yarn drying rack for a donation to the guild. It's perfect and I promise to share details about it (Click here for details.)

Got rust?

Rust not only dyes, it can create unique patterns on fabric

Anita Luvera Mayer

Just ask Anita Luvera Mayer. In her MAFA 2015 workshop, she taught students a range of dyeing and embellishment techniques. One focused on the use of rust and black tea to dye and design fabric.

I came close to taking her workshop, which was entitled, "Don't Change the Sheets, Change the Cloth." It sounded fun. And that's exactly what one of the participants told me when I asked about her weekend experience. "It was fun!" she exclaimed.

Anita is a fiber artist, author, and mentor, but above all that, she is an inspiration to others not only for her creativity and expertise, but for her passion for life. "Live now!' she urges, explaining the essence of her approach to life like this:

"I believe that if a person has a passion for any activity, they will have a full and exciting life. Do not wait to "follow your bliss." Celebrate the moment and day and take time to do what you love. This sometimes means making hard choices and saying no, but if you are clear as to your priorities, this is essential. 

"My priorities for years have been and are: myself, my creative time, my family-- and in that order, because if I do not take care of my health and my need to create, I have little left to give to the people I love. Live now!"

She swept through MAFA 2015's weekend retreat like a queen and charmed us all. She's tall and slim with a model's posture and bearing. Almost anything looks great on her. She wowed the audience at the Fashion Show as she modeled a striking white top. A professional model couldn't have shown it off better.

Student scarves dyed w/rust and tea

Then, when visiting her workshop the next evening for  Open Studio, we found ourselves entranced with her  enthusiasm and genuine love of sharing her craft and her passion.

Anita is a teacher in her heart and in her bones. She is also extremely organized. For example, her students leave with a  reference notebook of instructions and samples. 'How many times do you leave a workshop and can't remember exactly what you did or how you did it?' she asked rhetorically. The notebook solves that problem.

There is much to admire about Anita, but I am most impressed with her proud and unapologetic acceptance of who she is--a mature woman who knows and accepts herself. Not content to sit on the sidelines, she accepts her age, but is not defined by it. She celebrates her age as she celebrates life. 

"I celebrate my age of 82," she says. "Age is only numbers and I have places to go and garments to make so I have no intention to retire." Anita Luvera Mayer

Looms in the living room

Rust-dyed jacket, Anita Luvera Mayer

Anita credits her start in weaving to a wedding gift from her mother-in-law. A  well-respected Seattle weaver, Marcelle Mayer gave each of her three daughter-in-laws a 36 inch floor loom and weaving lessons. Although most daughter-in-laws would likely find this a rather presumptuous gift, Anita subsequently dedicated her first book, "Clothing from the Hands That Weave," to Marcelle Mayer for raising a son who thought looms in the living room were perfectly normal. (Isn't it?) 

As Anita says, "My moment of truth regarding my passion for clothing was the result of a two hour seminar at the first Convergence in 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. Ros Berlin, presented a program on clothing and I knew immediately where I was going with my weaving and wrote in my journal that night, June 1972, "from this day forward any major piece of clothing I wear I will make.""

And she proceeded to do just that. Known for her clothing that requires little to no shaping in construction, she explains, "I "discovered" modular clothing--or actually clothing from simple rectangles and squares--because I did not know how to tailor handwoven fabric." That simple. And yet, not simple at all. 

Inspiration, creativity and life experiences

it is easy to see the connection between Anita's work and the designs of ethnic cultures. She is inspired by their clothing and the creativity of women who work to adorn their bodies and clothe their families. She says, "My work always speaks, in some way, to these cultures either in the color, embellishment,  or shape." 

Her sources of inspiration have remained much the same over the years, but her work has matured, much as her interests have evolved and she has matured as an artist. "I have created clothing that speaks to my love for the sunsets and sunrises. Then, as I got older, all my work was about honoring women with each garment speaking to age, wisdom, loss and love--all that I experienced living my life," she says.

Her current body of work continues to be inspired by clothing and textiles of other cultures, but she has been working more with interesting techniques in creating the cloth. This interest was readily apparent in her workshop at MAFA 2015.

She has met her 1972 goal--and then some. In addition to creating interesting pieces to her personal wardrobe, she has inspired many, many others to not only have fun in the process of creativity, but to celebrate themselves as individuals. 

"My goal from 1972 to 2015 has been to "wear on the outside who I am on the inside and do honor to my individuality by what I make and weave." Anita Luvera Mayer

Teaching to the tribe

Purple jacket. Anita Luvera Mayer

Teaching is exhilarating but it is not for the faint-hearted. Mastery of a particular skill and the desire to share knowledge are not enough. Anita is one of the select and gifted few who are natural teachers, so I asked her to share her  words of wisdom for fiber artists who teach--or would like to teach. Here's what she says:

"My goal in teaching is to help women find their own self-esteem and to honor who they are by the the clothes they wear.  

"Every time I teach, I come home with new ideas and questions but mostly my passion for teaching is that I so respect and enjoy the women who are involved in fiber. They are "my tribe" and I want to be with them.

"If you love what you do and want to share that love, put together a workshop and submit it to conferences and guilds. I wrote articles, did "free" lectures, kept applying to conferences even though I was turned down many times."

Anita Luvera Mayer wants to make it clear: She has absolutely no intentions to retire. She remains eager to do lectures and workshops for guilds. Invite me and pay me, she told us, and I'll be there. 

Conferences are on another scale, however, and Anita foresees a fitting end to her leadership role in conference workshops. The plan is to end where she began--with the Association of Northwest Weavers at their 2017 Conference, Treadle Lightly, in Victoria, B.C. It was the first conference she attended wearing her distinctive handwoven clothing. 

I, for one, can't wait to see what she'll be wearing to that event!

The wonder of Ikat

The MAFA workshop was total immersion for both yarn and me

Ikat warp on the loom and mini-skeins
ready for the indigo bath

I am deadline-oriented. If it's important, give me a deadline. I'll meet it. 

With my transition to full-time fiber earlier this year, I set two concrete deadlines for for myself. Each addressed a specific goal. The first, which was Stephen&Steven MixTape Tour at my LYS, Woolbearers, was to expand my thinking and approach to knitwear. It did.

The second was to sign up for the MidAtlantic Fiber Association's (MAFA) biennial weekend retreat, also known as MAFA. This goal imposed a deadline for re-immersion into weaving.(Coverage of the event here.) 

Since weaving was my goal, my workshop had to be one that required a loom. I have always loved Ikat, which involves dyeing and weaving, so settled on "Expand Your Design Repertoire with Ikat" with Polly Barton as instructor. It was a good choice.

I hadn't warped my loom in...ahem...years...so I did a trial run on my Schacht eight-harness table loom. I forgot to tie the yarn cross properly, but otherwise, the how-to memories were there. The loom is portable, but just barely. It's mostly bulky. It took me three trips to get all my paraphernalia to the workshop room, but if getting me back on the loom was the goal, the weekend was an unqualified success. 

Planning and preparation

The process of making Ikat is not quick. In addition to standard prep for warping, there is dyeing, tying, and overdyeing. Often the processes are repeated. Double that if you plan a complex Ikat weave that involves both warp and weft. 

A design and tying plan for an Ikat warp

There were nine people in my workshop. Each of us brought a warp. Mine was white 5/2 perle cotton purchased from Yarn Barn of Kansas and did not require scouring so one step was  eliminated. As my first project, I chose a straightforward design, tying off the warp at regular intervals as opposed to a  more complex design such as the one shown at left.

Dyed warp

After mordanting the warp yarn with alum, I dyed it first with Shibuki dye. The dye stuff--from wild peach bark--produced a rich yellow gold that you can see at right. Then, after learning the proper tying technique, I tied off the warp at 8 inch increments with Poly Ikat tape, covering about half an inch sections to protect them  from the next dye.

Then it was into the indigo dye bath. This was a new hands-on experience for me. Three separate dips, opening up the fibers between each dip to allow the color to develop, dyed the yarn with rich colors that transitioned from deep green to blue to yellow. I love the resulting warp. 

The bloom of color after each removal of the yarn from the dye bath and exposure to oxygen entranced me. If you are a 'how?' person, J.L. Liles provides straightforward details of the oxidation process in his book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use. 

Next step: Get it on the loom. I warped back to front using a 12-dent reed with a tabby threading on two harnesses. Threads are double-sleyed on the outer two inches and single-sleyed in the center section, which you can see in the photo below.

Ikat warp and weft on the loom

There is a lot less love with my overdyed  weft threads. Time was running short and I shortcut the processes (Do note the plural.) I didn't dye the whole mini-skeins first, so my ties produced a white contrast, rather than a yellow. Second, and even more disappointing, the indigo bath was spent by the time I got to it and even after three immersions, the color was pale blue. But, as Polly noted, the result is very 'Monet-like.' Indeed, it is.

Deadlines met...for now

Now, little more than a week later, my mind is still entranced with the colors and the potential--and filled with 'what if's' and 'how can I do...?' It is a good mindset for me, even if I do wake in the night with ideas!

It has now been six months since my focus on fiber was set in motion. As I tick off projects--and meet self-imposed deadlines--I find that I continue to add projects to my to-do list. Reluctantly, I must conclude that there will never be enough time to do all the things I want 

A fiber bash

MAFA scores 10 out of 10 for instruction and inspiration 

Rainforest evening bag
Charlene Marietti

It was a fiber extravaganza! The MidAtlantic Fiber Association (MAFA) represents nearly 60 guilds in eight states and the District of Columbia. Its regional biennial event, also known as MAFA, is organized and managed solely by volunteers. The workshop weekend, which was held July 16 to 19 at Millersville University (Millersville, Pa.), drew 306 attendees.

Keynoter Jennifer Moore set the tone for the two-and-a-half day event with an inspiring retrospective, "Weaving my way through life." Like many fiber artists, she was 'called' to weaving. Trained as a medical illustrator with a minor in pipe organ, she sees her loom as another string instrument--but one that allows her to create color and design instead of  sound. And she excels in the space.

When Moore hears music, she visualizes colors and images. Look at a musical score, she urges, then compare it to a weaving draft. She is an expert in the ancient technique of doubleweave pick-up, which she often works on hand-dyed fibers. 

To understand see why I'm so awed and inspired, look at her wall pieces, silk scarves and shawls, and her Chromatic Fantasy series inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Chromatic Fantasy' for the harpsichord.

Learning, doing, networking

Internationally-known fiber artists led 34 workshops that focused on broad categories of dyeing, felting, spinning, weaving, learning garment construction, ply-splitting, tablet weaving, tapestry, or temari. I say 'broad' because some of the workshops combined techniques. Mine did.

My Ikat warp

My workshop focused on Ikat as a design tool and involved both dyeing and weaving. Polly Barton, a silk weaver from Santa Fe, N.M., was the instructor. My warp was first dyed with shibuki (wild peach bark), which gave a yellow-gold color, then over-dyed with indigo. I came home with a gorgeous green/blue/yellow warp on my loom--a warp that is purely experimental. I dyed some mini-skeins with different patterns, but the indigo bath was spent and the effect is muted. I'll weave them up any way. Although I have long vowed that I was not interested in maintaining an indigo pot, I've changed  my mind. Now I just need to find a place for it. 

Two not-to-be-missed scheduled events 

A beautiful shawl at the MAFA Fashion Show

Friday evening was called a "Fashion Show," but it's really a show-and-tell. Anybody can participate and--I'm estimating here--40 to 50 people did. It was great fun and some fabulous work was displayed. I shared my 'Rainforest' evening bag (above) and was pleased with the reception.

Saturday evening was 'Open Studio.' This was a chance to see what all the other classes had been doing for two days and talk to the instructors. It took us nearly three hours to do the rounds. IMHO this is a 'not to be missed' part of the event. Workshop highlights included Amy Tyler's spinning and plying; Inge Dam's tablet weaving on a loom; and Anita Luvera Mayer's dyeing and embellishments. Oh, and I drooled over the groups that learned fabric marbling and shibori and.....and many others. Below are three examples of works in progress plus a tapestry by instructor Kathe Todd-Hooker.

And I would be remiss not to mention a very important part of the weekend--and that is meeting and talking to other fiber people. Dorm life is far behind most of the attendees, including me, but staying and eating onsite is a very valuable part of the experience. 

Oh! And I nearly forgot another valuable resource: The vendor hall! Nearly three dozen vendors offered yarn, tools, and equipment.

And last, but not least: Thank you to the MAFA volunteers!

MAFA volunteers did an amazing job and I am grateful to each and every one of them. 

Fabric marbling

Tablet weaving on the loom

Tapestry by Kathe Todd-Hooker

Color work for iridescence

My cherry blossom scarf

Sakura-dyed silk scarf.
Photo by Maurice Marietti

A marvel of dyeing and weaving

Upon returning from a recent trip to Japan, my son and his family gave me an exquisite silk scarf. Dyed with cherry blossoms, the scarf is ethereal. Its silk warp is so fine it is nearly invisible and it is so light, it's like wearing a cloud. It is spectacular. 

The silk threads in the warp are so fine they are nearly invisible. Grouped in three's, these warp threads stabilize the heavier silk weft threads that produce the wave-like pattern. But the color puzzles me: I wonder how they extract and fix the dye from cherry blossoms?

Flower blossoms aren't unknown as a dye source and some, such as marigolds, coreopsis, and chrysanthemums, produce nice strong colors. However,  the dye colors derived from most plant material, including blossoms, is heavily concentrated in the range of yellows and tans. (Note, this is a gross simplification and excludes complex dyeing processes and dyestuffs less readily available, which may well be part of the cherry blossom dye extraction process.) 

Close-up of woven silk scarf pattern. Photo by Maurice Marietti

I was interested in learning just a bit more and started with the documentation from the maker, Hanagoromo, that accompanied the scarf:

"No artificial stuff....100% from cherry bloss [sic] All commodities of 'Somekobo' are made in a unique way, and dyed with extraction of cherry blossom. We don't use any artificial stuff. The color from cherry blossom is soft, beautiful and attracts people...."

Close-up detail of silk warp and weft. Photo by Maurice Marietti

Not a lot to go on there. Next I turned to the Internet, where I expected citations and references to the dyeing process. Perhaps because I neither live in Japan nor read Japanese, I found next to nothing.

Hanagoromo's website has beautiful photos of their products and a little more information, but not much. The products are "Sakura dyed" ('sakura' is cherry blossom) and "100% natural dyed pure natural color," it states, and includes the following (Google-translated) description:

"In "Around dyed workshop flowers", only 100 percent cherry dye staining in a unique method to express the hue of the petals, and we have a production.

"Without using any chemical dye, the color that is dyed using only 100% natural dyes extracted from the cherry tree, it brings only natural thing, a soft, gentle shades."

I don't know anybody who has used them as a dyestuff and was unable to find much of anything in my online research.  but I have come to the conclusion that the dye is probably extracted like other blossoms commonly as dyes. Soak them. Maybe mash them. Probably let them ferment in the liquid for a period of time. Add a mordant to fix the dye and dye the fabric.

I recognize now that my biggest stumbling block was 'pink.' As I consider the color of the scarf, I realize that I was overlaying a visual memory of the intense pinks of blooming cherry blossoms on the color of the scarf. 

The scarf isn't pink at all. It's really a very soft peach--more orange than red and lots of orangey-tan in the color.

Now it all makes sense. It may not be the right conclusion, but it's mine for the moment.

Have any of you used cherry blossoms for dyeing? If so, I'd love to hear about your experience!

Finding the Stirling unicorn

Tapestry above the fireplace, Queen's Inner Hall, Stirling Castle

The Stirling Castle tapestries

The original itinerary to the cruise-that-didn't-happen included an excursion to Stirling Castle, which is about an hour by train from Edinburgh. The castle wasn't my primary goal. I wanted to see the set of seven  recently completed tapestries that now hang in the Queen’s Inner Hall in the Royal Palace. 

I appreciate tapestries much as I appreciate any great art. I've tried my hand and have woven tapestries, but I'm no tapestry weaver. There is a difference. A big difference.  

The Stirling Castle project is part of a master plan to furnish the castle as it would have been in the 16th century. Two inventories of goods--1539 and 1561--list two sets of "unicorne" tapestries belonging to James V of Scotland. After 1578, when the inventory lists only four pieces, the tapestries disappear from recorded history.

Tapestries, Queen's Inner Hall, Stirling Castle

The Stirling Castle tapestry project, which was commissioned by Historic Scotland and managed by West Dean College in West Sussex, tapped the college's West Dean Tapestry Studio and its master weavers. One of only a handful of remaining tapestry studios worldwide, the Studio specializes in using heritage techniques in contemporary design. 

I know of two remaining sets of unicorn tapestries--in Paris (Musée de Cluny) and in New York at the Cloisters Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). Both are stunning and well worth a visit.

The project's leaders considered the Met's "Hunt of the Unicorn,"  ca. 1495 to 1505, "one of the most majestic surviving sets" and developed a collaborative working relationship with that museum to research medieval techniques, materials and colors. 

Tapestries, Queen's Inner Hall, Stirling Castle

The project launched in 2001 and two teams of three or four weavers began work in 2002. They wove in concurrently over 13 years. Nearly 20 weavers from Scotland, England, United States, Canada, Japan and Australia worked on the project, which was guided by West Dean's Master Weavers. The college-based team in the south of England completed the first three tapestries. The remaining four were woven in a purpose-built studio in the castle's Nether Bailey.

At the beginning, the task seemed enormous. The description of the path described by West Dean Studio Director Caron Penney captures the sense of remaining true to the historical essence while interpreting the scenes from an artistic perspective. She describes it as, 

Weaver at work (mock-up)

"akin to walking in virgin show with one track running through it. You set out not wanting to break into another path however stepping into another's footprints is quite hard. You need to tread your own path as best you can; eventually you find the confidence to break free and find your own route."

The materials and techniques

Materials. The tapestries are 90 percent wool with gold metallic threads and mercerized cotton also used in the weft. The warp is cotton. All the yarn was specially dyed at West Dean. 

Wool, weaving studio, Stirling Castle

Techniques. Using 16th century weaving techniques, the weavers used hatching, hachures, demi-duite, and slits--techniques not commonly used in current tapestry weaving. Like the originals, the tapestries were woven sideways.

Although the looms, tools, and most of the weaving materials and techniques were the same as those used in the 16th century, there are some differences between the Cloister tapestries and those woven for Stirling Castle.

• Warp ends per centimeter (epc). The Cloister tapestries have about seven epc. The project's tapestries are warped at four epc.
• Weft. The project substituted mercerized cotton, which is more durable and preserves its color better than the silk used in the Cloister tapestries.
• Color palette. The wool yarn was dyed using modern chemical dyes, whereas the yarns used in the historic tapestries would have been dyed with natural dyes from plants, invertebrates, or minerals.
• Weavers wove facing the front of the tapestry, rather than from the back as in traditional Gobelin weaving. 

This completed project is quite remarkable and well worth a trip to see the tapestries hung as they would have been. But if travel to Scotland is outside your plans, Stirling Castle and the West Dean Tapestry Studio have a wealth of information about the history, the techniques, and the weavers on their web sites.

Some weavers shared their favorite scenes, weaving studio, Stirling Castle