Tuesday, July 7, 2009

taking it a step further


i've been in woody point in gros morne for the past couple of days. i spent sunday night with a friend who has a summer home/print studio which overlooks the ocean and while she worked late into the evening pulling prints,i sat out on the back deck knitting and allowed the stillness to flood over me. that night i slept with the sliding door by the bed wide open, the sound of the rain, the waves, the lights of norris point twinkling across the bay. yesterday morning we went over to brenda's summer artist residence in glen burnie for a 1 day wool dyeing workshop (both natural dyes and acid dyes). i learned so much. that dried banana peels give a rich tan colour. by adding a drop of tna detergent to the dye bath you can avoid soaking the fleece ahead of time. how to safely mix up the acid dyes... and much, much more. like most artist, i learn best visually - actually watching the process rather than reading about it in a book. i feel i can approach dyeing my fleece with alot more confidence now.

4 comments:

Niki said...

I'm sure it was a lovely day...I thought about you lots...I was there in spirit that's for sure.

Taos Sunflower said...

I love your description of sleeping with the door open, the air, the lights, the sea...

What is tna detergent?

idyll hands said...

Okay - this post makes me want to be you! :)

You don't sleep with doors open in Arkansas unless you want to be devoured by a mosquito. However, once, while staying at a B&B in Marin County, California, the door somehow opened in the night and it overlooked San Francisco just beyond the bay. Something woke me up just as the sun was starting to light the sky that early morning pink but it was still so dark outside... it was beautiful. I would have slept by that open door for the rest of my life if I could have.

Stitching Upstairs said...

What a lovely get away and a workshop on top of that. I am very curious as well about tna?