Patience

I have learned that with indigo, you must have patience. Or perhaps it is about flowing with the seasons?  I really don't think our western culture encourages that. We want it now--right now! I have had two large jars of leaves fermenting since September. The indigo looks to be settling in them now.  I am going to go ahead and process one of the jars next week to see if it is indeed ready. If not, I have my backup jar.  Pics and info on that next week.

In the meantime, I have started composting my dried leaves. I had two varieties of indigo growing. Polygonum tinctorum from Companion Plants and seedlings from Rowland Ricketts IndiGrowingBlue project. Had I been planning better, I would have composted these separately to test out the colors. The dried indigo leaves were different in color and texture. The plants I grew from seed produced a dried leaf that was both more grey in color and crumbled finer. The plants from Rowland (which were started with his seed from Japan) stayed bluer and crumbled in bigger pieces and was more leathery instead of dusty.  The smell of the crumbled dried indigo is very earthy.

To compost the indigo I am using a styrofoam cooler. My small amount of indigo (three gallon size bags) just fits inside the cooler. Hopefully as the indigo starts to break down, the styrofoam will help it maintain the heat needed for composting. I have placed it in a sunny window in my school room with the lid weighted down.
I sprinkled in layers of the dried indigo and misted it with hot water from a spray bottle in between layers.  After a few layers I stirred it up with my hands and then repeated the process until I had used all of the dried indigo. The compost was covered with a few layers of muslin to help hold in the moisture. Every few days it is checked for moisture and turned. Water is added as needed.  I am hoping as our weather gets warmer and there is more sun, the process will speed up.

The first layer of dried indigo!

Adding water and mixing after yet another layer was added.

The top layers consisted of the indigo I started from seed. It is grayer in color and the texture is finer. 

More mixing!  The smell was fabulous--so earthy and kind of pungent.

A few layers of muslin help hold the moisture in.

Mod Pillows in Stitch

Stitch magazine's Spring 2011 issue is out now and my Mod Pillows design is in it.  I love Stitch and I am very proud to be a part of this issue.  Stitch is not your granny's sewing magazine.  The projects are beautifully photographed and have a hip edge to them. 

My Mod Pillows were inspired by Op and Pop art from the 60's.  I am a huge MadMen fan and the changes in the decor and fashions on the show got me excited about the art movements of the time period all over again. 

I actually submitted three pillows, but these are the two that made the final cut.  The fabric is WoolFelt from National Nonwovens.  WoolFelt is a high quality felt, not a thin acrylic craft felt.  It is a great fabric for fall and winter.  Complicated shapes are easier to applique as felt does not ravel and there are no edges to turn under.

The original set of three looked like this:

I also made a set in black and white faux leather.  I will probably make some other versions in the coming year as well.  I hope others enjoying making them as much as I am enjoying playing with this design.

New Dressform

I am really excited.  My new dressform arrived today.  I am wondering if people give their dressforms nicknames or if I am being weird?  My other dress form, Bertha, is not my size and I am not emotionally attached to her.  She is just a tool for doing work.  The new dressform is my size and as I adjusted her to be like me, I felt this instant bond.  She is going to be my new best friend.  I just have to do a few things to make her more like my twin.  A little padding here and there and she will have this uncanny resemblance to me--minus a head of course.  Magzy is the nickname for my new dressform in honor of my online alter-ego.  Magzy is a wonderful burdundy color and I can hardly wait to start sticking pins into her!  Alas, she will have to wait a bit though as I will be starting on Addy's dress soon.  

I know I have not blogged for quite a while.  I was waiting and waiting for my kakishibui and indigo to do their thing and be ready to work with.  It was actually good to take a break for a while.  My stitching hand is much better now that it has been a year since the surgery.  I made small projects for friends and family.  I also designed a project for Stitch magazine that should be coming out in January.  2011 will be off to a good start after taking a bit of a break.

Bertha will be adjusted and padded to match Addy and when I need a break I can work on Magzy and create some things for me. 

Shibori Clouds

Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing

As part of the IndiGrowingBlue project, Rowland Ricketts teaches participants how to dye with fresh indigo leaves.  The fresh indigo dye creates a beautiful turquoise color on silk and silk/wool.  The color reminds me of the water in Hawaii and can range from the pale greenish blue to the deeper, intense turquoise.  The range of color can be due to the concentration of the dye in the leaves or the concentration of leaves used in the preparation of the dye.  The prepared dye has to be used quickly as it will oxidize with the water used to prepare it.

Indigo Harvesting

My blog has been neglected again.  It has been a busy summer and now it is back to teaching.  I have been following with great interest http://www.indigrowingblue.com/ .  I am lucky enough to live close enough to have participated this summer.  Rowland Ricketts began this project to not only educate people about indigo, but to let them participate in the process.  I have been posting pictures to  the face book page for the IndiGrowingBlue Group, as have other particpants.

Transplanting happened at the end of May.  We were called to the field by banners dyed with indigo using a traditional paste resist technique from Japan.  The large pieces are typical of Rowland's work.  The banners were hung on bamboo poles that turned the banners into the wind and made a lovely creaking noise as they turned.  Rowland shared the secret of getting the indigo plants to grow stronger and bushier.  The transplanting is an important step. 

The first harvest was back in July when our temperatures were in the 90's and the humidity was pushing the heat index up past 100 degrees. 

The indigo is cut, hauled to tarps and spread out to dry in the sun.  Depending on the weather, the indigo may take one to two days to dry.  After drying, the indigo is winnowed to separate the leaves and stems.  The dried leaves are bagged and stored until they will be composted.

Pictures from teh second harvest and more about winnowing will be in my next post as I get my blog back up to date.Indi

Indigo Transplanting

May 14, 2010 (This post was originally supposed to publish on that date.)
The seedlings were transplanted into larger cups in groups of five.  The indigo is proving easy to start.  I hope it is easy to grow in our soil.

Indigo Seedlings Progress and Altered States

My little indigo sproutlings now have leaves.  The lovely little green leaves are arching toward the sun so I turned the Jiffy Planter around.   I will probably have to turn it every day to keep them growing straight.  I am going to do a count tomorrow and estimate how many have come up.

I had forgotten how much fun it was to start something from seed and watch it grow.  I am almost like a giddy school girl planting seeds for the first time in science class.  I do believe I need to start a journal and take notes--although I am doing that here, it might be cool to do one like an altered book. 

I am currently taking Juliana Coles online class "Altered States: Altered Book as Extreme Visual Journal."
I bought several cheap books at Big Lots and have been ripping out pages to make room for the collaging we will do next.  It was really hard to rip pages out of a perfectly good book.  I chose to start with a book called "Dictator Style" that shows the lavish lifestyles and homes of some infamous dictators.  After reading a bit about them it was easier to rip out the pages.

 

I think it will make it easier to paint, stamp, mark and glue all over them as well.  I also used a deckle ruler to make the pages less wide inside the book cover so everything stays contained (mostly) inside the covers.  Creating an altered visual journal is a big departure from what I usually do so I am going to just close my eyes and take a big leap of faith and just do it.  It does not have to be pretty, it does not have to be exact, it does not have to make sense--it just has to happen.  Now to go dig out the supplies I need for the next lesson...

Shibori Samples--Larch

Larch is usually circles stitched on a fold in continuous rows.  Other shapes may be stitched with this technique as well.  It really saves time on tying knots, re-threading your needle, and tying off the ends.

In the pic above, you can see how the thread skips over to the next group instead of being tied off for each circle.  In one row, all the small circles are stitched with one length of thread and then again for the medium and large circles.

In the pic above you can see how the cloth looks gathered up.  The pic below shows the row of three circles dyed in indigo.

Shibori Samples--Maki Nui

Maki Nui is stitched on the fold like Ori Nui.  Maki Nui uses a whip stitch instead of a running stitch.  Depending on the size and angle of the stitches, Maki Nui makes a chevron pattern.