It does one good to come out of hibernation to spend a cold ontario winter weekend with some very warm, beautiful and talented women. Funny how it was Jo now living in sunny California who alerted me to this workshop by the very talented Thea Haines. I then convinced Arounna to leave her sewing machine for many hours and join me. Thea is a very gifted educator and I loved her scientific approach to natural dyeing and the documentation process. Her art is really amazing to see in person and I am definitely looking forward to the next solo show she does in the toronto area. I loved all the natural colours we worked with and the results were so varied with different mordants, modifiers and fabrics.
Arounna and I both brought screens to play with along with the stencils we cut. I had a go at making a polychromatic print by painting directly on the screen with natural dye extracts and then after drying pulling the image through with a gum guar solution. I loved the watercolor like effect on the fabric and would love to do this on a handmade piece of clothing. The printed fabric was steamed for about an hour to fix the dye.
I have many images of the weekend and I have shared them on instagram. Here are a few of my favorites.
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thank you arounna for putting me up for the night
thank you john for minding the fort
thank you piper for letting me sleep in your room
thank you liam for making me a latte at 7 am
thank you jo for warming us up with your friendship
Wonderful! What a perfect thing to lift the soul in this season of cold.
Posted by: Lisa J | March 03, 2014 at 07:32 PM
So pleased you had that opportunity and Arounna too, how wonderful!
Posted by: joanie | March 04, 2014 at 01:19 AM
Love :)
Posted by: aneta | March 04, 2014 at 04:31 AM
I have been doing lots of research this way recently, it's lovely to see what's possible.
Posted by: red2white | March 04, 2014 at 03:36 PM
Thank you Margie for sharing this with us. If only we could have shared it with you in person ... what a wonderful workshop, lucky you :D
Posted by: Annie @ knitsofacto | March 06, 2014 at 08:52 AM
I would have given a lot to be with you, girls !
Your photos are so wonderful, but not as wonderful as this experience must have been.
Thank you for taking the time to take these photos & to share them with us all here. I enjoyed them thoroughly.
oxoxo
Posted by: Sonia / Cozy Memories | March 08, 2014 at 05:27 PM