Yet another month has passed. I have been preparing work for Art in Action in July. I am showing both acid dyed scarves and handwoven Indian shawls. For the shawls I am using simple dipping and overdipping in natural dye extracts to create layers or areas of colour. Some shawls have as many as 25 separate operations if I count the sequences of indigo dips. Each weave and fibre has made slightly different demands in technique because of the way the dye spreads, strikes or blends and I have a few which have simply not worked at all. Because I am working with a finished item, there is no way to experiment with small samples first and it has been a stressful business trying to wrest the odd mistake from potential disaster.
I have learned that even the accidental brief touch of some metal implement can modify a colour, make a kind of stain, and spoil a piece if work. Some of the shawls are so delicate that they must be handled with extreme care or the weave becomes damaged and distorted, or snags and pulls occur. Fringes often become tangled. And so on. But I think these shawls are the most fabulous fabrics I have ever worked with and I love the finished shawls. I just hope everyone else does too.
While working I have tried not to waste anything. After mordanting the silk I have used remaining mordant to dye small skeins of wool. These have been dyed with exhaust dyes left over from dyeing the shawls. I sent them to a weaver friend for her birthday.
Above: silk shawl dyed in cochineal and madder with rust modified hems.
Below: a selection of shawls from the collection using natural dye extracts of cochineal, madder, weld, purple and red lac, cutch and dhak. Natural indigo is from garden-grown variety (Polygonum tinctorium) and purchased natural indigo powder
