the scarf sewn into a tube
‘Tis the season to whip up some gifts for friends. I’ve been dyeing some quick and easy shibori scarves for my gal pals. Too bad more of you guys don’t wear silk scarves! I used the 12 mm “Silk Satin” from Dharma Trading. The eleven inch scarves are just the right size to wrap around wine bottles. I sew along the hem on the sewing machine (use the longest stitch you have) to make a tube and slide them on to the bottles.
It can be a tight fit depending on the size of the bottle. Wearing rubber gloves helps to add traction when getting the tubes onto the bottles. Wetting the fabric helps it to compress as tightly as possible to get the best line definition.
Once they’re on the bottles I dye them by spooning dye mixed with Fix Mix (one part soda ash, three parts baking soda). You can apply as many colors of dye as you want. I like to use a mixed dye color.
maroon and rust orange dyes
Some dyes will give you really interesting shadowing and multiple colors because the chemicals set at different rates during the batching process. I got great results with Havana Brown from Prochem and Avocado from Dharma. Pure dye color will still give you a striated texture but you won’t get the color variation that you get from a mixed color.
I wrapped the bottles in plastic newspaper bags and batched them in a tucked away spot next to a heat vent overnight. The next morning I rinsed them in cold water still on the bottles, then slipped them off and into the washer with some synthrapol. After they were dry I took out the stitching. That was actually the most time consuming part of the process, or maybe it just seemed that way! Once the stitching was out I wet and dryed them once more to take out the crease, pressed them and starting giving them away to oohs and aahs. They make lovely gifts and it’s such a simple process it seems like cheating.
warm out of the dryer
It’s been stormy this morning, hailing, thunder, and pouring rain all before the sun came up. Now it’s getting lighter and the rain is easing off. It’s turning into one of those muted Seattle December days of grey. I remembered some photos I took a few weeks ago during the rain when my Purple Smokebush, cotinus coggygria, still had its leaves. This is a great plant in the garden. Ours is in the planting strip between the sidewalk and the street and has the most beautiful, vivid purple leaves and sprays of foamy, pink flowers in the Summer. These flowers are what gives it its common name. You can imagine them as clouds of purple smoke. In the Fall, the leaves turn from purple, to yellow-green, to brilliant orange and red with a pattern of brown spots. Gorgeous, and even more so when intensified by the rain drops. And, great inspiration for the studio on a grey, rainy day.
Our family celebrates Hannukah which started December 1st this year, incredibly early. It’s been a little bit of a struggle to get into the holiday spirit, especially since I’m so busy with my work. But I did get some fabulous gifts on the first night. My husband gave me the book Bark, by Cedric Pollet. It is so beautiful and inspiring. The author is French and traveled around the world taking pictures of trees. Every page is a work of art and a source of inspiration.