It's Blue!

The Felt-A-Thon really was a Blue Day.  Not that any of us were unhappy....no!  We laughed and ate and drank and talked and felted and dyed.  Unfortunately, I took all too few pictures...*but* both my partners in felting have taken pictures....and pledged to make blogs.  More Felting Blogs for ether world.

But back to the Felt A Thon.  Diane and Jane arrived on Friday and we made up the indigo vat after dinner....before we had toooo much wine.

It turned bluegreen right away and was easy to set up.  The first couple of dips were green when they came out a lovely teal.  Then they darkened slowly as we hung them up and let them rest. I got the "kit" from Griffin Dye Works.  Bjo was very helpful by e-mail and it was as simple as she said it would be.

There is a seedling warming tray and heater under our vat to keep the temp at 92degrees F for good silk (and a little wool and a bit of cotton) dye uptake.

The 'hang out' where the pieces 'rested' before the rinse then back to the vat for another dip.  And so it went....dip, rest, rinse then dip again.  The silk, cotton and wool were sewn, clamped, twisted, knotted and rolled to do a gradation.

Jane did a lovely piece that she unrolled off this tube by sections.  The resulting chiffon went from white to a moderate blue .... she says it too lovely for anything but a garment. 

Diane unraveled several pieces that she had folded and sewn to reveal wonderful patterns.  But she wanted green.  So many of her pieces were overdyed with a mix of Acid Fast yellow for these lovelies:

Jane left early because of expected snow in her more Northern climes.  Belately I realized I had no pictures of her placemats she felted.  Suffice it to say....they were lovely.

Diane decided to do something different (hehe) and she felted a landscape.  Just right out of her head.  No picture, no sketch, just a bit of roving laid down then snips and bits of mostly recycled and hand dyed scraps from a bag. 

And me?  Well, of course I did a bit here and there.  I spent most of my Friday evening sewing one piece.  But I think it was worth it.

The color is much brighter than this...and although the folds flattened from the rinse and wash at the end.....I still love the pattern.  It is a long strip with 5 and 1/2 of these Blue Moons (it is the year of the Blue Moon, ya know).  And I did a bit of felting.

But that will wait until the next post.