Category Archives: the daily dyer

Quite the month…

If I told you what I’ve been going through this past month, you would likely unsubscribe here, so we won’t go into the gruesome details at this point. It’s really not relevant to the topics I post about here on the blog. Just know that it has bitten into the time I have been able to spend here and in the studio and that it shall pass, eventually. The best I can do here for now, is to speak about it metaphorically (the last post is an example).

So I begin THIS post with some fun stuff- a squirrelly girl is back. Has been for a while. She is showing up regularly for some walnuts, fruit and water and appears to have taken up residence in the palm tree-as squirrelly girls are likely to do. I think I’d like to join her up there.

She’s been obviously nursing in the recent past but I’m guessing that at this point in the year the youngsters have all left the nest. She was seen and heard the other day from way up high in the palm tree chattering like crazy and when I went out to see what was going on, there was Kuro the cat on the garage roof pacing around. He can never outsmart a squirrel, knows it (and so do they), but it’s a fun game they play.

Here is the current front porch atmosphere with only the one up on the column being mine (Kuro). The neighbor kitties spend a lot of time here though. Some, most of their time as there is a great cool, secret garden to relax and hide out in out front. School kids stop to pet those that will allow it (mainly one of them) on their way home. I talked to one boy who always looks for them and he told me he loves cats. He can’t have one as his family is allergic so he befriends the locals. We talked a bit more and I discovered he is in the 6th grade, his name is Leo, and he plays the sax in the school band. I was instantly smitten! I’m probably the strange old cat lady to him! Ha!

It’s back in the 90’s this week but we are thankful for cool evenings. The cactus fruit high up is ripening out of reach to the delight of the birds AND squirrelly girl. BUT, we were lucky to get a first dragon fruit on the fairly new dragon fruit cactus that was grown from a small cutting gifted me a few years ago. It was so beautiful and tasty! Did I post photos of the flower here? I can’t remember so adding one here. Sometimes I forget where online I post certain things.

Here’s a little gallery that sums up certain things without going into lots of detail.

Another note, I am doing away with the old Daily Dyer site here. It renew$ later this month and I will see what might be saved and repurposed here eventually. So POOF! as Jude likes to say. There is so much available online it’s dizzying and it has served it’s purpose. It’s fun to look back on though.
HA HA- I just went over to take a break from this post and look at the settings for the Daily Dyer. I am going to remove the passwords there and you can look at it between now and then. I have to do it post by post and there are about 40 posts there. It might take me a day or two to get through it all. Looks like it renews on October 25th. I saw an option to place a banner for readers to “gift” the renewal costs so if anyone wants to do that they can, otherwise POOF! Read through all the posts and changed my mind about this option.
Basically the Daily Dyer blog was a paid subscription site for 6 months with about a couple of posts a week (40 total) talking about what was going on in the studio. Behind the scenes stuff. So have at it and maybe something there will resonate with you. I actually did not enjoy doing both blogs at the same time so did not continue it. It ran Dec 2020-July 2021. Not that long ago really. considering I’ve been blogging here 17 years since 2006!

Enough for now. It’s a new month and some new workshops are floating around in my mind. Will get another post up about that by Monday. Have a great weekend!

let your creative wonder grow roots

Today I was planting more seeds. I got to thinking about the growing roots. The snap pea seeds I planted last week have sprouted and are forming their first roots. Roots are essential to the growth of the seed and the eventual plant it sprouts. I water the seeds, put them in the sun during the day, take them inside on cold nights, move them to bigger containers when they get too large, and weed out the weak or unwanted plants.

And so it is with wonder and creativity. Once I have been exposed to the seeds of creativity or inspiration, I cultivate that creative wonder in order for it to take root. It’s easy to skim the surface of something (and I’ve skimmed many ideas, techniques and processes) but once I develop enough wonder about something to the point that it starts to take root I want to move forward in a way that continues to develop those roots and lets it become much more. And that requires fertilizing and cultivating those roots with more wondering and practice. The more roots something grows, the stronger it can become.
Not everything takes root. But everything I learn along the process carries me forward. Some things I choose not to cultivate in the moment-I may come back to them another time. Things need time to generate roots and grow.
But enough …. meanwhile in the garden-

Moving from garden to studio…

A few posts ago I showed you some jeans i had refresh dyed in the indigo vat and repaired. That led to a friend dropping off some old pants he wondered if I might be interested in doing something with them. Only one pair was really of interest to me but seems like quite the project!

Now, I’m not quite sure how they came to be in this condition but I’m suspecting the garment industry had a hand in it. I’m going to give them a couple of dips before I put them in the mending pile. I might be up for the challenge. Thinking on it.

Meanwhile, I posted this ol’ moon today and although it is long sold, I received a very special request for one like this. I will make it with intentions of holding on.

-the complicated simplicity of disappearing

Over on the Daily Dyer, I explained the making of these pocket squares for a special order. Indigo on silk satin. One is double arashi, the other triple. having them in hand is akin to playing with a slinky- mesmerizing.

Other goings on in the studio involve completing a shibori ribbon order for a customer in the UK and doing some indigo dyeing of vintage fabrics.

Shop Update Alert!

AsiaDyer (aka Richard) and I have collaborated on a plan to relieve him of some of his growing pile of “cloth with character” (aka imperfect and assorted). This involves lots of sorting on both our parts, shipping from Japan, and in some cases overdyeing to get it into some really lovely and fun packages for your projects. Each pack contains one moon and some indigo thread to get you started. The packs include katazome, shibori, kasuri, stripes, and solids. The end result is a takaramono (treasured items) pack of inspiration for your creative wonderings. Pair it with a pack of solid indigo shades dyed in the fermentation vat and you have a project in the making. in the shop here.

In kitchen news, I have been the fortunate picker of my neighbor’s orange tree. They don’t use them and they are just now finishing their season (started in December). This week I made orange marmalade for everyone and also am making a jar of orange liqueur. Most recipes tell you to use the peel and slice the oranges but my method is simple…from a friend in Poland.

We spent a week worried about Bella- our aging dog. She’s better now after a couple of vet bills- haha. Getting older isn’t for sissies no matter person or creature. Milo the cat is still hanging in there but the time is coming. I’m spoiling him rotten right now.

There’s more, but enough for now…

on a friday night…

time has seemed irrelevant lately. things just happen as they will.

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take this sunflower for instance. during the summer i had these growing outside the kitchen sink window where i could admire their happy faces smiling at me while i washed the dishes.  when they went to seed and needed removal, i cut the flower heads and dropped them in the driveway for the squirrels and the birds to enjoy (where i could watch them from where i work).  now, months later in December, a volunteer from that act is blooming in the middle of the driveway with the ginko tree shedding its golden leaves behind-definitely fall.
all it takes is a seed to be dropped, or an idea to be planted on fertile soil to generate something beautiful.

i received two intriguing books on kanoko shibori yesterday from Japan.

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some new seeds were definitely planted.

plus, he sent me an old apron from the Kyoto temple sale. we will visit there in 2017 on the silk study tour to Japan.

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and no matter what time of year, squirrelly boy hears me at work and lets me know he is hungry and needs fresh water! i’m so lucky to have such in interesting studio friend.

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ribbon orders are in full swing- thank you for being patient! there have been a few disruptions lately…
and thanks to those who have been emailing me and enjoying the Daily Dyer reruns. glad you find something useful there.

 

Finally Fall(ish)

Finally Fall-ish here.  Wearing a sweater in the house.  I swear I will not go out today and into the madness that is now known as Black Friday.  I have for years chosen to call this day Buy Nothing Day.  I was introduced to this concept back when the kids were in preschool- so, that’s been a while.  What a weird name for a day- Black Friday.  It sounds ugly to begin with-somehow ominous.  I think most of us would prefer to stay home and continue to enjoy our friends and families, eating leftovers and playing games or whatever the day brings.  I saw a photo of a store window in the newspaper this morning- it said “Celebrate Black Friday!”, huh?  But somehow this nonsense beguiles us to venture forth with the promise of one time only savings on things we might want to have.  I can’t say “need” here because it is mostly on luxury items.  In any case, we’re just staying home. I hear Cyber Monday is coming up…

Weird, just weird.

With that madness behind us, I will report that the workshop at the Japanese American National Museum last week was great fun.  Almost half were returning students and the other half soon to be returning.  There really is something about the exploratory process of shibori that draws you in.  I am interested in seeing that many of the returning students are becoming more and more interested in the nui (stitched) shibori.  Interesting that in the beginning, it seemed as if they were more interested in the pole wrapping and the clamped techniques.  I have been collecting more samples of stitched shibori to show them and I also think that the indigo vat has charmed them. Stitched shibori is very indigo friendly.  I have seen some great explorations on their part over time.  They inspire me to up my own game and challenge them further.

The museum hosted a trunk show coinciding with my workshop weekend there from the Nuno company. The students also enjoyed that and made several lovely purchases.  I spoke with the two fellows there and told them I had been fortunate to see the 30 Years of Nuno Textiles in Tokyo when I was there recently.  I bought the book  ZokuZoku as a reminder.

Thank you to everyone who is patiently waiting on your order.  I have been graced with a bit of the flu this weekend and have slowed a bit.  Soon better with turkey soup.

Also, I received an email reminding me that my Daily Dyer blog ( previously a subscription only blog from 2013) is up for renewal again on WordPress.  It’s a paid blog with the ability to load video and privatize so I had to decide whether to renew or not.  I went back and viewed a few things and thought -why not add it to the Feeling Freer section for the next year?  Then I will delete it when next year rolls around.

And so it is. You may find something useful or entertaining there.  You will have to use the sidebar to navigate as the newest post appears first.

and a few photos to spice it up…

 

summer indigo dyeing blues

I know that many of you are finally coming into your spring – with things warming up, plants budding out; gardening and planting might be on your mind.  As you get some of that done and look forward to summer are you considering some indigo dyeing?

indigo flowering 4/30/13

indigo flowering 4/30/13

If so, you might consider taking my online indigo dyeing class “Let’s Dye with Indigo“.  Now is a good time to consider starting your vat as the weather warms up.  I just started a new 40 gallon natural fermentation vat and within one week it was already producing beautiful blues.  My class consists of two parts- the 5 lesson workshop plus the student forum. Both are very informative.  You can easily jump from one to the other through links in the sidebar of each.  Four (4) types of vats are explained and maintained.  You choose which one is right for you.

adding the wetted out indigo into the new vat

adding the wetted out indigo into the new vat

Although this workshop covers 4 different vat types, continuing posts will focus on the fermentation vat. There have been a lot of things fermenting around here over this past year. Many having to do with how we go about our lives- what we add to it and what we take away from it; the marks we make, the marks we leave behind, perhaps leaving no mark at all!  Fermentation has produced many of the best things we can enjoy in life- wine, beer, miso, bread, yogurt, cheese, pickled vegetables and so much more (even compost!).

Fermentation is a cellular process that occurs in an environment lacking oxygen that converts organic matter into simpler compounds and releases energy as a result (along with the byproduct of many delicious and useful things).

Pretty cool huh?  Simplifying organic matter to create energy and other good things.  I’m gonna stick with that.   I’ll also be adding posts about growing and using indigo as well.

So let’s continue to dye indigo by fermentation this year.  Let’s Experiment. Let’s Wonder. Are you in? If so, sign up here:

Let’s Dye with Indigo-online workshop

Why should you sign up now?  For “This Week Only” (sounds like an infomercial!) I am adding in the Shibori Techniques on Silk -Self Study Online Workshop (usually sold separately for $25). The principles in the shibori techniques class can be applied to your indigo dyeing as well. This sale will be available only until this Saturday   – giving me enough time to add you into the class before the Silk Study Tour to Japan departs. So both classes for the price of the indigo class.  A sort of Sayonara Sale!

the daily dyer preview

Additionally, if you have been a part of my series the daily dyer for the past 5 months, you know we are entering the final month which will be broadcast from Japan.  Thank you to all who have participated in that little experiment- I hope you have found some of it useful or at least entertaining.  This last month should prove to be an exciting month.  I have decided to continue there as well and will be offering  two options for the daily dyer in the shop:

option one: continuing. for original subscribers only. this will secure your subscription through the end of the year.  cost is $35

option two: new subscriber. here you will get access to the full year; the upcoming Japan Silk Study Tour posts and whatever lies beyond that.  the past, the present, and the future. cost is $95.

Sign up in the shop here.

rainy monday

but a nice rain. a rain that doesn’t drown us but one that feeds and wets everything to the core.  the  plants seem happy and thankful.  since it was rainy yesterday too (and for several days before that) i stitched up some holiday reds that will go out in orders today.

if you need one or two, just visit the shop.  i’ve got my poinsettia groove on at the moment.  (also available as a kit with video instructions)

poinsettia

and since i was working on video too, i made this little “movie trailer” for the daily dyer. we aren’t very  far from Hollywood you know…

i would embed it here for you but for some weird reason Youtube is messing with me.  it keeps inserting the wrong video despite restarts, browser clearing, and all other sensible fixes.  so just click the link- i’ve got other stuff to do…it’s Monday.

daily dyer trailer…