New Look

December 20, 2009

Blizzard of '09

Well, it seems that everyone wanted a White Christmas and so it came.  We had almost 2 feet in the yard and the DH spent most of this afternoon working the snow blower to dig out my VW.  Can you find it?  It's white. 

My view this morning from my bedroom window was delightful.  It was still snowing. I love the season change viewed every morning as I get up.

But you really can't tell how much snow we got from these pictures.  You have to look down ....at the deck and it's furniture.  This gives a better idea of what DH had to dig. 

On Friday night, while I waited for the snow to start, I placed a skein of silk thread in one of the lichen jars.  I let it sit until today.  No heat or mordant.  Initially it was smelly...old *strong* urine  (don't ask how I know)...phew!  But when it was rinsed I got this:

PURPLE!!!
Really purple!  And...interestingly enough...the smell was gone and instead there was this earthy aroma that is wonderful.  So now it sits and drys.  I was so encouraged I divided up the two jars into 3 sections and added silk fabric, ribbon and two different weights of embroidery thread. 
Stay tuned....these will be unwrapped about Christmas.

8 comments:

Doreen G said...

Poor little Vee Dub all wrapped in white fluffy stuff.
You get that colour from urine that's amazing.

..althea officinalis.. said...

fantastic snow!!!

Jasmine said...

Wonderful colour, and this from a natural dye? I wouldn't know where to begin dyeig with lichens. I've put the word out to my family that I really want India Flints book for Christmas. Lets hope the message reached Santa :)

Happy winter Solstice, Yule and New Year to you! xx

t said...

What a lot of snow, I heard about your blizard on the news. Sounds very cold. And I still find it hard to imagine while it is mid summer here.

Love your purple thread, watch out its addictive....

Happy everything...

xt

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Merry Christmas Joei
Sending you lots of love

Carolyn xx

Our Hands For Hope said...

What an amazing color of purple!Not too brown like you usually see. Beautiful.
terisa

india flint said...

magic purple indeed...i'm cautious about using lichens myself but have heard that at certain times of the year one can find windallen drifts of them in various places on the East Coast - if they've fallen off their substrate and are in abundance it makes sense to coax a bit of colour from them
and urine is a much less toxic source of ammonia [besides being cheaper] than the supermarket cleaning aisle.
oh, and i liked that photo of the table looking like a snow pudding!

Ladka said...

Beautiful purple! And even without the smell - that's perfection.