Tuesday, March 13, 2012

time for indigo again?



















the weather in toronto has turned gloriously spring-like this week, and it's got me thinking about dyeing again.  i never feel much like dyeing in the cold weather, and since it's my busy season with the hats, my dyepots often get put away for much of the winter.

we just spent the weekend in montreal visiting mohssine's family, and sunday was so warm and sunny that we spent hours and hours just walking around the city, being happy to be out and about, people watching and window shopping.

i saw quite a few things that got my dyeing juices flowing, including this bag in the window at the gap, which i actually think is kind of ugly, but is clearly inspired by shibori.  it's likely printed fabric made to look like shibori though, rather than the real thing.  one of the mannequins in the window at harry rosen was wearing an indigo coloured ombre scarf just like in the photo of me up top.  mohssine had on another version of the same scarf that i had made him, but his is in a beautiful unbleached linen so the blue is even deeper and richer.


anyways, like i say it all made me want to get the dyepots cooking again.  i was even thinking about trying to wake up my indigo vat, which may be a bit premature, since it will likely not stay this warm for good.  


what about you?  does the spring weather inspire you to dye?

3 comments:

  1. that scarf looks just like mine :). i know what you mean about not dyeing much in the cold weather - i haven't felt very inspired for it this winter. but i'm thinking it's time to start playing around with it again. i'm not sure what to do about indigo though; i don't think it will ever be hot enough here to keep a vat happy, so i suppose i better look into a hot plate if i ever want to dye with indigo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hells ya it's time for indigo again! I was just thinking that if I got a coat of paint on my baseboards this week that I would reward myself by starting to ferment something. I have a micro climate on the front landing of my house. True story.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After your recipe for an indigo fermentation vat of last year, I bought everything that was necessary for it. It only took very long before my indigo arrived, too late to start a vat. So I am more than ready for it this year! I just had a look at my big plastic bucket-with-lit that I want to use for it, but it might be too big, 15 liters. I just bought 50 g of indigo. Should I use more indigo for such a big vat, of is it better to use a smaller vat? Or even first start a mini vat to see if I'll manage?

    ReplyDelete