- In a pickle: Taking a second pass at the dye trials

I decided to do some re-dyeing using cloth from the less-than-wonderful results of my earlier dye trials (I did keep all six of the lichen and onion trials, along with one alum-mordanted Salvia amistad), So seven new bundles for good luck: 

• Mountain pinks (I think) from the floodplain
• Twin-leaf senna ditto
• Mexican hats aka Thimbleflowers with dark burgundy and yellow petals from the side yard (bundled in what I think was the alum-mordanted red cabbage cloth from the previous trial)
• A second Mexican hats bundle with yellow petals only
• Lantana and Indian blankets from the floodplain and garden (mixed together)
• Arugula stems with coffee grounds (fished out of the compost bowl)
• Mealy blue sage (reapplied to the previous alum-mordanted mealy blue trial)

All wrapped in copper wire and steeped in a copper pot for half an hour with alum, vinegar and water (aka pickle juice) ...

Then, four more bundles added later, because there were still some other pieces of cloth that weren't all that great ...

• Dried rosemary (from a spice jar that I think came with us from Virginia six years ago)
• An unidentified woody floodplain herb (probably a weed, but I love the resinous scent ... later identified as Prairie Tea)
• One whole prickly pear flower (which I discovered has spines ... ouch)
• And uh ... something else ... oh, now I remember ... large pieces of windfall lichen (I've used smaller bits in the past, but the recent rains have gifted me with several lichens over 1" in diameter)

All four were re-bundled in the bungled steel wire dye trials, re-wrapped in steel wire and put in the copper pot, which was then rewarmed on a hot plate for 20 minutes or so. A few hours later, because I couldn't leave well enough alone, I tipped all the bundles upright, left them overnight, then found them looking like this in the morning ...

Most (but not all) were labelled with a sepia Pitt pen before being rolled up ... it should be interesting to see if it survives the dye pot. Also, all the dyestuffs were laid out and folded as they were here, but at right angles to the previous dye trials, fold lines from which were still visible in varying degrees of faded-ness. I was hoping to get a nine-patch effect, but at this point I'm sort of disappointed to see that there isn't much happening along the fold lines.

Now the question is, how long to wait ...

- Hoping it will all come out (okay) in the wash

After several days of hanging in gentle rain and persimmon-shaded sun, I brought in the newly dyed cloth.

Taking a idea from newfound KINDRED SPIRIT Deb Sposa at Artisun, I decided to iron half of each cloth on a high setting to see if the colors would set better with or without heat.

For sure the dyed images jumped out of the newly pressed cloth ...

But knowing that they might fade regardless of whether they were heat-set or not, I took some before shots to record what was ...

Red and yellow onion skins mordanted with
copper, alum and iron (from left to right)

Windfall lichen mordanted with
copper, alum and iron (from left to right)

Alum mordanted red cabbage, salvias and rosemary (from left to right)

So, with once last look at my favorite alum-mordanted salvias ...

I dispatched them to the (hopefully) tender mercies of the washing machine.

Film at 11:00 (if not sooner).

- The passage of time

As James Taylor says, "the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time" ... whether it's flying by when spending it with loved ones or dragging by when you're waiting for news or a special day.

So my solution to waiting for the latest dye trial results was to go out of town. It was worth it in every way imaginable ...

Of course, the best part of waiting was visiting the grands in Missouri ...

Followed by coming back to our Texas grandson ...

But getting to the dye results was definitely a little less sweet. I hadn't capped the jars tightly enough, so leakage and mold happened over the course of ten days ...

Rinsing off the decomposed plant matter was akin to what I imagine a dental hygienist experiences on a really bad day. Definitely not for the weak of stomach! But the results were pretty cool, some more so than others of course (this photo was taken following a preliminary rinse in warm tap water) ...

Mordants from left to right (note: all the cloth was pre-mordanted in soy milk, kept overnight in the fridge then rinsed):

• Copper
• Alum
• Iron

Dyestuffs from top to bottom:

• Lichen (windfall Parmotrema austrosinense)
• Mealy blue sage (wild Salvia farinacea)
• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
• Salvia amistad and S. greggi
• Red cabbage
• Red and yellow onion skins

My favorite? The alum mordanted Salvia amistad ...

Oh, and I almost forgot! Here's the B-side of Triangulation, now fully reinforced and worth every extra stitch, although the front looks virtually the same as before (which is why I haven't shown the A-side here) ...

The final reveal will probably be in pillow form, but only time will tell.

- Dyeing to peek

Well, I'm trying dyeing again, inspired by India Flint's Bundle Book (which I bought in digital form) ...

this time using 14" squares of unbleached cotton muslin soaked in store-bought soy milk (I blush), dried overnight, rinsed and spun through the washer until  just damp.

I laid various dyestuffs (listed below) across the middle of each muslin square ...

folded over one-third of the muslin and laid out a second layer of material ...

folded it over yet again ..

rolled snugly ...

then wrapped each bundle in cotton or wire (detailed below) ...

The dyestuffs I'm using this time are fresh rosemary (shown above), dried red and yellow onion skins (combined), chopped red cabbage, windfall lichen (Parmotrema austrosinense), mealy blue sage (wild Salvia farinacea) ...

and a combination of cultivated Salvia amistad and S. greggi from Don's garden beds ... 

I made three packets of each dyestuff, then wrapped them in either copper wire, steel wire or crochet cotton. 

The copper wire bundles went into a copper pot with untreated well water from our outdoor tap. The smell of sulfur from our 900' well is unbelievable and I'm hoping there will be a chemical reaction with the copper. After simmering the bundles for just over an hour some blue is starting to show ...

After a couple of hours, I'll put the copper bundles and the sulfur-rich steeping water into canning jars with used tea bags and seal them up.

The steel wire wrapped bundles have already been put into canning jars with boiling tap water, used tea bags and fine steel wool. However, after one hour the color got so dark (see below right) that I chickened out and removed the steel wool (leaving a small bit behind, no doubt).

Finally, the cotton wrapped bundles were put into a solution of boiling tap water and pickling alum (1 tsp. per canning jar) along with the obligatory tea bags, which are also starting to show color (below left) ...

Now the question is, can I keep my hands off of the dye trials for at least a week?

Fortunately, I have a plan. Having finished the kantha stitching on Triangulation ...

I'm now "design mending" (a Jude Hill term) by invisibly basting strips of cloth onto the back along the intersections since the original cloth weaving strips don't meet closely enough ...

I started design mending with dyed sheeting, then decided to switch over to muslin for the remainder

It's gonna take a while ...

The bottom shows a 1" strip of muslin invisibly basted across the length of the cloth
which will be the method used for the remainder of the design mending

But my reward for finishing will be the dye trial reveal. Motivation times two!