Natural Dye Workshop

The sky yesterday  morning was astounding.

Check out the rainbow remnant on the right.  It was a fabulous morning.  I checked the weather for the day because I was getting ready to leave for a natural dye workshop which, of course, was outdoors.  It was snowing in the mountains and on the pass.  Holy cow!  I dressed accordingly and headed to town for the first day of a two-day workshop.  I blogged about it here for my guild blog.  It's a new blog that we just started this month.  Beryl and I are sharing the writing responsibilities.  The creative and tech end are all hers, because that's the way she rolls :)  

I talked to Marilyn and Nancy about using rabbit brush which is currently in full bloom for a yellow in lieu of the osage orange.  They are very close friends and share a ton of knowledge between them.  They said that rabbit brush color depends on the time of year when you collect the dye stuff.  Early on in the spring would have provided the "national geographic yellow."  Now I would get a gold using alum as the mordant.  At this stage it's so full of tannin that you don't need a mordant.  They suggested I try a "crackle pot" which is a layer of dye stuff, a layer of wool - and repeat.  Cover it with water and cook it for an hour a day, resting it in between times until I get the depth of shade I desire.  Nancy said she just did a crackle pot that she stretched over a week.  Good grief.  I'll think about it.