July Greetings

Hello again to all my olde readers and to the many new readers who have surprised me by their interest in my take on eco dyeing and on other topics.

My absence from the blogosphere has been due to the death of my Beloved ( from cancer) in March 2016. I have just needed the intervening time to set my little barque aright, as you might expect.  (” O Lord, the ocean is so large and my boat is so small.” )

So here I am, dipping my oar in again, if I may extend the sailing metaphor. What I note in my absence is the huge interest in tutorials and in suggestions for plants that work for eco dyeing. I will be adding to these two subpages in due time. My blog and website are in need of an overhaul so the updates will happen as a we go along with that project.

My garden is an especial refuge and strength these days, as well as my chief source of plants for printing. Starting out in spring (so long coming ), the front garden looked the way I had been feeling for much of the year: the wrecked fence,  broken pathway and desolate flower beds…but a little evergreen here and there…

But soon my old dye friends began  showing up again:

Bloodroot: white blossoms, red dye from the root.

Then the serviceberry (amelanchier laevis) – -another native plant, like the bloodroot, and with printable leaves all season.

Hurry along now to the blues of pansies and irises whose spent blooms, awaiting dye duty, are residing in the freezer: the frozen petals give even more juicy blues than when fresh ( a strategy shared by India Flint ).

BTW – I have a colour obsession with the blue-chartreuse combo as well as any blue-orange pairing: Ecco! Daylily with blue-painted garden loom; my Beloved’s woven pop-can art – a Jaffa orange; grandson Dylan’s flower vase; Shlomo’s wood garden sculpture with orange clay pots by the Sheddio door.

A lusher garden now in July, with eco-dye promises from bioregional plants monarda didyma ( scarlet Bee Balm, a hybrid via a native ), coreopsis ( red and orange), cotinus ( a range of surprise shades..) – and lots more.

And what have I been up to, art wise?

This is just a wee intro to my update on that topic for this post. Some bookmarks made for the Al Mutanabbi project and promoted at the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists’ Guild – members are dropping bookmarks around rhe community, guerrilla-style…Here are my bookmarks:

I have been doing experiments with indigo in a painting:

Took a bookbinding course with master binder Dan Mazza of London, Ontario: Dan’s models here, mine in the next post:

And last but most fun: a pair of Minnie Mouse shoes I was tempted by but resisted (Chicken? You are right)

and Dylan’s bear – how can you not smile?

More art (mine, Dylan’s and Shlomo’s) and dye plants next time.

Thank you for joining the blog, new readers. And thank you, old blog friends, for your interest. And above all for your many beautiful and consoling thoughts, messages and prayers this last year.

Venceremos!