Conjuring colors

There is a line somewhere between production and manifesting. I don't care for either word, one being too "widget" and the other too "woo".  Neither word nor anywhere in between describes my process.

Once I've set the pallette of colors, all my intentions get very flexible. If I get sick of seeing that yellow and that purple, I'll dump one on top of the other and come up with a warm olive that I never planned for. 

Has that blue slipped too cool? Bring on the goldenrod. There's never too much green because I never plan for any.

It's going to take time to process all this cloth and thread. After four days, I am out of personal gas and will take a few days unrelated to dyeing.
 

There's still a ton of cloth to be hand washed and dried.

The best part of Saturday? A surprise visit from Charlie and Jake. We went out to lunch and got caught up. Since they moved, time with them makes the minutes we get more precious. 

Today, r&r includes a little stitch, some reading, pool time, and some walking. Putting those needles in my back to the test. 

Ripe fruit

 

Despite weather reports promising another perfect day for the dye deck, Colin sent this sunrise from the airport where he works. "Red sky in the morning, sailors warning." 

Scientifically, more humidity in the air will affect what I'm planning for the day.

I washed out one piece of lines last night and hung it up with the threads to dry. Just one.

Because there have been requests, I'm going to experiment with selling these pieces whole. See how that flys for a while before I rip or cut them up smaller and blend them into the general basket.

The blue/green threads were hiding in the dryer from the last dye-fest. This wire and mesh contraption, which folds up to take up almost no space in the closet, has become an essential tool. 

I somehow tricked my phone camera into giving me an accurate (to my eye) rendering of the colors in this one.

It's part of a light linen blouse. Most of these will be parts of deconstructed garments. 

This one is 12"x 24".  

High Adventures in August

I used flag-shaped lengths of that midweight linen toweling to cover the table and catch the dye leaking out of skeins and bundles. The famous table moppers. 

BIG LESSON - do NOT wash out the cloth in the machine. As tempting as that is, these will get hand washed in a bucket with Dawn and cold water. One by one.

Tomorrow. 

I'm pacing myself. 

 

The mids of August

 

About four, I ran out of threads and called it Good for the day.

 

Left the mess as was.

I see a very hot field. There was rock music.

Tomorrow* I will dial in the Blues.

*tomorrow being now. Me recovering horizontally from back treatment. Gimme a few hours. I'll do the Blues when it's hottest out.

Dharma

 

Evidence of a life well lived. 

Before dawn, I opened all the upstairs windows and doors to the fresh air. 68 degrees, clear and dry. A gorgeous day in the making. James Lee Burke would write "Aborning". I don't think I've ever seen that word in print beyond his novels. 

The post title set me surfing for meaning and I have never gotten back such a load of conflicting crap. I won't even dwell on it.

At the post office, an elderly (listen to me talk) gentleman from Pakistan proselytized gently while we waited in line. I usually have a "Praise Beelzebub" for such conversations, but he was doing his thing and I let him roll on without dishing any snark. He was there for a passport picture.  I advised him. "Don't smile."

Business accomplished, I met a friend for lunch and we cackled and rattled our scaly claws over the indictments. Naming the prosecutors one by one. Cackling some more. 

Came home to a smorgasbord of sense delights. My garden, run wild with some alien-looking weeds. Cicadas tuning up. The big Joro spiders webbing up the windows again. Sleeping cats. 

And a fat package on the doorstep.

I am so in love with these colors. Imagining what they will do dancing together!

 

This is going to be a very special dyefest. 

dynamite

dragon fruit

bright yellow

marigold

blue violet

houdini blue

peacock

but right now, the Braves are still in NY slaying them.  I listen to the game on an AM radio station. The closest thing to time travel I know of.