It’s been a year since the conference. Some of my results are woven and in use, others are still waiting for the right transformation.

The class was taught by Jess Kaufman of Saxon Batik and Dye Studio. What a powerhouse of information! I definitely came home armed and dangerous because I actually used her dying technique adapted to natural dyes and solar heat on a few damask hand towels I had inherited from my mother-in-law. It was a success. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Since so much time has passed since I took the class, I think it’s best I just stick to the outcomes and what I am doing with the results. Here is the entourage I came home with:

I dyed an 8/2 cotton warp which I was very excited about, since the resulting color way was perfect with some Silk Studio 20/2 muga silk I had been hoarding. The next three pictures show from dyed warp to beamed on the loom to the final product. I ended up cutting the length into three panels and sewed them together to create a lovely throw for my couch, which has been very handy indeed.

I’m still not sure how I will be using the linen samples that I dyed. The one item that has given me the most food for thought is the 4 ounces of bleached flax roving from Eugene Textiles. I have never dyed flax in its pre-spun form. And after I got home and dried it all out I was sorry that I had wasted it. It was all stuck together, and I didn’t know how on earth I was going to keep the integrity of the colors I mixed. Sheesh. My first attempt at carding the flax ended up in a disaster of losing way more fiber than I cared to lose. How was I going to spin this mess?

Well, in the meantime I had 250 grams of rose roving from The Woolery. Spinning rose fiber is certainly a steep learning curve for me – it is very flouncy and fine with a beautiful luster. I had about 1/10th of a bobbin on my spinning wheel which I have been working on in bursts and spurts. Life intervened – I had to aggressively re-arrange my room to make way for a new window to be installed (sadly houses don’t last forever and constantly need something replaced). That roving found a way to stare me in the face and sat next to the rose roving. And that’s where I got the idea to card the two of them together and give that a go. And here is the project in process:

I am curious as to how this will wash out – and of course I will be comparing it as a single versus plyed. But I am happy that it cards together well and am looking forward to the outcome of this project!