an outing to wine country

st. marti sarroca, medieval castle and  romanesque church in the middle of penedes wine country.
my yearly visit to my friend is always full of pleasant surprises.

details of the castle

my present fluo orange crush

view of montserrat from the castle

vines everywhere

 until september.




neki desu

good to have adequate tools

the weather is overcast and muggy, awful  for being outside brushing dye to a pre mordanted scarf.

i know i am going to regret my wishes for sunshine, but at least it is dryer. i have been working inside after creating some space out of  my ever chaotic studio full of lots of everything .

anyhow  paraphrasing my beloved sennet and the craftsman it is good to have the required  tools  to complete a task.

note the harite on the foreground stretching taut the scarf. underneath some shinshi completing the task. 

i was mildly upset because all the tool nomenclature at tanaka nao has been changed and i was left in the dark.that said no one fabricates craft  tools like the japanese. they have elevated tool making to a craft itself.

the brushes;  works of art in themselves. the fat one is a small ground dyeing brush. if you regulate the amount of dye / paint you can get nice gradations. the other brush is for painting edges sharp. i think painting  fabric is my excuse for using these and getting extra pleasure from the job.

the scarf will be cured for a couple of days, then folded shibori like and dyed in ai perhaps? stay tuned.

neki desu
 

and now wools

fluorescent orange!!these mushrooms are awesome. the wool was mordanted in alum + cot then put in the dye  simmering liquor for about an hour. left there to cool until next day and resulted in this very bright orange, very similatr to mx deep orange.
the other skein is boiled over madder yucky brownish red. it will be overdyed in cochineal today, but need to throw away some dye to liberate at least one pot. such is the life of a wanna be dyer!
waiting for the weather to change to start the ai vat. in the meantime sewing a muslin for a skirt. need to get the fitting right before cutting the actual fabric. i have lost weight-not complaining- and what was valid last year isn't this year.





neki desu