Following the thread of a thought

page one ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

page two ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

page three ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

In retrospect, I probably should have named this playful compendium

The Imaginary Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

or

The Illustrated Imaginarium of Dye Plants

for I don't believe this will ever be anything but a little book

that lives solely in my mind, produced for a bit of fun on Instagram.

But I suppose it's been good practice should I decide at some juncture

to try my hand at the real thing ...

Along another line of thought, the title of this post is not original to me.

I'm sure I gleaned it from jude at Spirit Cloth at some point and

I sincerely hope she is given fair credit & attribution from others

for all she offers there.

This is a sore subject with me at the moment ...

the *borrowing* - no, let me speak plain - the stealing

 that I read and see running rampant on the internet amongst

artists, creatives, workshop organizers

and a whole host of wannabes, coat tail riders and ladder climbers.

It's a double-edged sword out here on the web; the need & desire to share work

counterbalanced by all those who are watching, researching,

and will so blatantly 

rip others off

in

a

 heartbeat.

Is it really so hard to come up with one's own original words or works?

Is it that difficult to ask permission first?

Or to put some dedicated energy

into coming up with personal work that is truly authentic

and not just a blatant copy of someone else's work?

I've seen this rampant in the world of photography for years

and now sadly, I see it running rampant amongst the cloth dyers

[eco-dyers, eco-printers, contact printers, natural dyers, and many stitchers],

a tribe I am somewhat new to and a little on edge about of late ...

it's incredibly disheartening.

And I'm feeling the need to take care.

::::

I have no intention of getting into arguments with folks over this subject

and I'm half inclined to close the comments section because of it,

but there are some friends who visit here who I don't want to silence

so I'll leave it open.

Talk to me.

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Sweet, sweet spring

An explosion of petals everywhere I look!

How I love this time of year ....

purple-leaved plum in the parking lot at the post office

variegated dogwood, 'Blue Muffin' viburnum, 'Midnight Masquerade' clematis, and a

spritely pink volunteer aquilegia in the front garden

a rose and her bud in the back garden

street rose gone wild behind the grocery store in Friday Harbor

and my favorite petal of all, snoozy in the back of the car,

riding with her new cotinus bush ['Royal Purple' all a'bloom]

and baskets from the Thrift

for the new studio digs  ...

More on that wonderful story in the coming month.

HAPPY SPRING

to all my pals in the northern hemisphere

(and a beautiful autumn to you southerlies)

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Windfall for the dyepot

Foraged a bit in the garden this morning.  It's been a fine stretch of summer

weather - plants are filled to bursting with blooms.

Found these spent petals, a cache from the 'black' hollyhocks ...

known around my place as

* promises waiting to happen *

Powerful mark-makers are these little sputniks !

Am still as head-over-heels as ever

and can't wait to give them a try on paper ...

: : :

Photo mumbo-jumbo:

shot with iPhone

fine tuning & adjustments in Snapseed app

blur, focal point & vignette added with Jazz app

final adjust & copyright added with PicMonkey

Joining with the gang over at Kim's place for Friday Finds ...

lots of great stuff to be seen over there, go peek.

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Here they come

Finally had myself a leisurely stroll through the garden.

Amazing what one can see when it is not

lashing

with

rain.

My old friends are reappearing ...

it's so good to see them!

so I made the rounds, said a few hellos, took their portraits.

Both the white & red flowering currants are already near to bursting,

important for the hummers who have little else to feed on when they arrive

[which should be any day now].

I did spy the first pair of tree swallows this afternoon, a sure sign

that spring is winging in ...

Call me a plant nerd, but I have an enormous soft spot for clematis and 

how they appear to regenerate new limbs from

absolutely dead-looking wooden stems ... it's a wonder

and I marvel at the process every year.

And I also marvel at this beauty, the evergreen Clematis 'Snowdrift'

for she's  scented

and this year she's almost covered the arbor ... standing under there

is going to be something quite close to heaven itself.

open

open

open !

A BIG welcome back to my reliable dye friends, too ... rose leaves,

maple leaves

and my dear old scrubby friend, the native willow

who generously gave me such deep, rich color last fall.

More on that story will follow

because although my friends here have been laying dormant all winter,

I have not.

I've been finishing a few things and that feels mighty good ...

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Gone vertical

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Cliffhanger in the garden

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The circle that binds

There are many things to astound as one hangs over a dye pot and in a curious twist of timing

(fate?)

a question I've been asking myself presented a sealing wax answer.

The question was, why am I spending so much time learning about natural dyeing

when I could be spending all this time on stitching and beading?

Surely there is enough dyed fabric available to use as it is ...

Let me backstory just a little to fill in some blanks ...

Our merry band of shibori stitchers here on the island has morphed a bit 

into a quite smitten (still merry!) band of natural dyers and we've been meeting regularly to 

dip into uncharted waters (so to speak).  It's been a wild time with some raucous experimenting.

We met last week and one member brought a  HUGE  selection of clippings to share ...

that's her garden above, so lovely ...

in the mix was a red-leaved barberry (Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea sp.) which produced

such a yummy mauve it caused considerable swooning.  Much swooning, in fact.

She was very productive that day.

What a stash!

But I digress ...

the dye pot had been so full there wasn't room for many bundles

so this generous owner of said barberry shrub offered to let us come and clip some more,

should we have the desire ~

which I sorely did.

I brought my treasure bag home and chopped up everything - leaves, stems, thorns, everything, 

and put the pot on to simmer, marveling at the brilliant red color

before covering tightly to raise the heat quickly.

Inside, I wrapped my bundles and periodically stepped out onto the porch to give the brew

a stir.  This took a fair bit of time ... one-burner hot plates are not the Ferrari's of the heating world.

In about an hour, I raised the lid and was engulfed in the magnificent aroma of steaming roses.

Roses???!

I kid you not.

It was then I knew for sure and my question finally had an answer:  the mystery of plants 

has long held me in its grip ... I am a 

flower floozie and plantaholic from way back, a garden "ho"... does it not make complete and utter sense

that I'm now captivated by one more of their alluring properties,

their ability to dye cloth?

I see what's happened now ... I've come full circle.

Here was the barberry shrub in the garden (far right)

...and here it is on the cloth.

: : :

Resting quietly in the shade until unwrapping day, July 30th ...

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Hunters & gatherers...

While the light continues to wane, so does the harvest from the garden.

All that remains has been cooking up mighty fine...

my favorite soups, made from everything local.

If true confessions be known, these are my personal elixirs of life.

The nights are much colder now yet I don't even care...what a year for fall color!  

Such extraordinary veins on thus copper-toned ninebark...

Seed collecting is underway

for everybody who lives here.

And we are all greedy.

These chickadees are quite tame, almost TOO tame...

hard to get anything done in the garden because they will find you wherever you go.

They'll land on your shovel or the brim of your hat, your glove...and if they're not landing on you

they are scolding you incessantly, "WHERE ARE MY SEEDS???"

So I gave in and set up this impromptu feeding station on a fence post

right next to the veggie beds.

Cheeky devils.

I've resorted to some other rather drastic measures 

like covering seed heads with used dryer sheets.

Who knew that one of the beloved foods of chickadees would turn out to be my 

prized Angelica stricta 'Purpurea'?

I'm not alone in my ways...

if you want a good chuckle, go see what my blog friend, Kaite, gets up to

with little nylon sockettes in her garden Down Under.

We do what we must do.

Home is where your hair is.

(you've heard that old saying, haven't you?)

After many years of scattering my hair trimmings around the garden

finally,

I've discovered evidence that it's been put to good use.

It's the little things in life that make things homey, that can

make your day.

Doesn't take much to make her day...

best shotgun rider ever.

I wonder if she can pick up radio transmissions from Canada with those ears?

We went looking for these.

Well, I did anyway...she's not much for sticks.

Frisbees and wabbits, now that's a whole 'nuther story.

Hoping for good tannin in bundles...

...ingredients for more stories.  This time, written with

bracken, salal, red amaranth and wild blackberries.

More end-of-the-harvest cooking.

Before I forget...the dryer sheets prevailed

and I did claim my due share of that Angelica seed (quite the bounty!) 

so if you are stateside & would like to try this lovely specimen in your own garden

let me know via email.

I've plenty of seed to share.

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A reason for a list...

Outside the window today was this sight...a 'Jelena' witch hazel blooming her silly head off.  My first blooms of winter on the first shrub planted in the first garden of my very first home.  Whew, that's firsts  a'plenty.  I am grateful, deeply grateful for each.

And this color, what does one call it?  Copper-orange?  Burnt orange?  Deep melon tipped with pumpkin?  No matter.  Because all I could think was I wonder if Jelena would be considered a good plant for dyeing fabric.  Could I possibly get THAT color to transfer to textiles?  To felt??  Oh, be still my beating heart!

A list, yes, must start a list..."Dye Garden Plants."  Two columns; must haves & already have. Later I can add the column, already killed.

Note to self: research, buy more books, ask more questions, welcome the wisdom of blog friends with dye stains on their clothes  :>]

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena'

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