cotton loom controlled shibori yardage in the brazilwood pot day 3.this time i did not forget to use bottled water and the difference in color is amazing.it's almost fluorescent!! i am taking all the precautions and doing solar dyeing because i don't want to wreck this great color. and heat is hard to control and ends up destroying the reds, turning them brownish.
it will take however long it takes, but i'm taking care of this baby. it is some sort of an elliptical resource which started a few days before reading
this post,( thank you
Cally for the great discussion you've been holding) and
this other one, a presentation at ISEND on the paradoxes of marketing natural dyes.
i understand the points raised, in the looking into a standard , but my thinking is that you can't control everything. and the variables or aspects that are not controllable is what gives natural dyes their character. they are living things dependent on water soil quality, sunshine and weather. just like wine.
i think that a lot of responsibility lies in dyers for educating people. why is it acceptable for a store bought garment, no matter what price range, to fade and it is unacceptable for handmade garments? a fact that coincidentally ties in with the first link dealing with the throw away culture.
dyers are also responsible for carrying on good mordanting and dyeing practices away from fashions and trends. cool aid dyeing??? well it can be fun, but do not expect returning happy customers.
there are cloths some hundred, a thousand, two thousand years old and the colors albeit muted are still going strong. note the operative word muted not faded, which carries in it no small difference.
when i dye i always think of sensei, my dyeing super ego. how would she do it? would she approve of a shortcut here? or would she wrinkle her nose and say it's not the japanese way ? i can question experiment, learn,and all of that will make me understand the craft more and learn to respect it. and hopefully become better at it.
it is fun, but it is hard work.
lichens on linen
neki desu
