bee creative

#78 it rained all day and I probably spent too much time thinking

Thinking about "why's" today. 

Because it's fun is a good answer...sometimes.

Because we need multiple ways to communicate.  That always works for me.

Because it can heal.  That's good too.

There are more reasons, but what is really important here is...

the why is important to me.

I did some knitting and sewing while I watched the rain.

The fabric to the left are remnants from a past project. I am stitching them together to make a poncho sort of thing. The original project, a coat, didn't turn out well and is stashed away somewhere waiting for a re-do.  I kind of suspect that the remnant project is going to turn out better than the original. 

Interesting things to listen to:

-The On Being conversation with Janine Benyus 

“Nature runs on sunlight.
Nature uses only the energy it needs.
Nature fits form to function.
Nature recycles everything.
Nature rewards cooperation.
Nature banks on diversity.
Nature demands local expertise.
Nature curbs excesses from within.
Nature taps the power of limits.”

-Feedback Friday conversation with Brece Honeycutt and Anita Cazzola. They addressed "waste" products. 

Thinking about...what if we stop using the word waste?  What if everything is just material for another project, another something?  How does it change our perspective on making, on the things we bring into our homes and lives? 

#72 over the garden, from a garden, in the garden

It was a beautiful day...while puttering in the garden this morning I heard a flock of swans go over.

At the farmer's market there were a few yummy things to get...eggs, beets, Swiss chard, honey, and bread.

Gibson would have liked to have gone but I told him he had to stay home.

This afternoon I pruned blackberries and roses.

Using the rose hip ink seemed appropriate for tonight's marks.  Also a coffee ring and oak gall/iron.

If I get brave (it would require a wood fire), I might make charcoal from the blackberry vines. I also saved a few canes that seem about right for basket making. 

#64 random

I worked in the garden for a few hours today. 

One project, making a raised bed with materials that I have.

Today's square.

 

I made a lot of random marks today...like this. 

The green in the bottom is a watercolor pencil, not a pigment that I've made.

Yesterday's dots. 

As it dried the indigo and oak/iron dot transformed.

#59 just like that

It felt much more spring like today.

Almost 50 F degrees! I spent several hours in the garden doing some tidying. And dreamed of digging and planting.  We are still having lows around 32 though so I held off. 

I didn't get to making ink, but I did get started dehydrating the stone fruit gum I made during the pigment class.  It will last better this way. 

For today's mark making I flipped yesterday's 90 degrees and added some more details.

Today's lunch was yesterday's leftover dinner:  roasted potatoes, carrots and onions pan fried and topped with cheddar cheese and mole sauce.

It's time to start using up the potatoes and onions.

#58 signs of spring but still feels like winter

Not much rain, but cold and gray.

A few more yellow blooms on the forsthyia each day. 

A small flock of bushtits flew through this afternoon. 

They are always too fast for me to take a picture of them.

Today's mark making, experimenting with different ways of making lines.

I may go back in and add some turmeric ink.

Another of today's experiments. 

Always more projects...

 

#57 mending

It was Hazel (cat #2) that shredded this basket. I thought it might be mended by wrapping yarn where the raffia was thin.

But that would take forever so I switched to pulling fabric strips through and then tying them.  I hope this will keep the cats from being interested in further shredding.

Today's marks started as three drops of rose hip ink that I pulled down with a card.  From left to right, a drop of oak gall/iron, then a drop of indigo, and last coffee ink.

I am hoping to make some new inks this weekend.

#36 use it up

I almost always have assistance...

They love paintbrushes and if I leave one on the table, will knock it off in the middle of the night and then roll it around on the floor.

I was very happy with today's ink experiments. 

The pink is rose hip ink. 

I also did a little collage, the papers are a mixture of marks made with inks and acrylic paint. This is for a book being made for Carla Sonheim's year long class, a project I am really excited about as it seems like a good way to use up supplies I have.

#28

Dipping the tip of a pencil in ink makes nice thin lines.

Possible collage element...painted with acrylic paints that I am trying to use up. 

connections hold us

I finished listening to Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer today.  It's as beautiful as an audio book as when reading it page by page. 

Thinking about that...oral traditions and written.

As I listened I went back and forth between shelling beans, cleaning the kitchen and making ink.

This is the best crop of beans I've been able to grow.  I think because I was more careful to keep the soil moist as the seeds germinated.

I will eat some of them and save some to plant. 

I grow beans because it is a connection to one of my grandfathers.  Today I thought of watching him shell beans, of him sharing his collection of bean seeds with me and the stories that went with them. 

Also I grow beans because they are beautiful.

Two of the inks that I made today, one with onion skins and the other with coffee grounds.

The coffee sample on the right was made with coffee grounds still in the liquid.  I brushed them away once it was almost dry to have a better idea of the color.  The coffee sample on the left was diluted a bit. The coffee was roasted by Mom, another connection.

The onions came from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box.  I love these onions enough that I might need to grow some just be sure I have them. I love this ink because I know who grew the onions; I know where the onions were grown and that they are local.

The other ink I made was with indigo.  The indigo was purchased from a business I feel good supporting.  Not quite local, but not too far away either. 

Thinking about how a family tree of pigments could be created and about stories. 

About how stories and relationships lead to care...

 

kinda blue

Today I harvest almost all of my indigo and blended it up with an immersion blender.  Works way better than the blender I've been looking for and haven't been able to find.

This is a dish tub full of indigo and water. It was strained for dyeing and added to a larger tub.

I used this technique because I wanted to dye some yarn and there was a lot of yardage. I dyed about 5 yards of fabric and over dyed a jacket that I've been working on. All the fabric is silk or wool.

The first layer of color on the jacket was walnut.  The jacket seems darker but nothing is blue.

Along with another 2 yards of fabric that I dyed earlier this year, I now have enough fabric for a skirt and 2 tops plus a bit more for something else (maybe a vest?). My goal is to make a capsule wardrobe of clothing dyed with plants. So far I have a pair of pants dyed with walnut and a top dyed with indigo. They don't really go together though. I am hoping these projects will solve that problem.  

I am probably going to use the yarn to make a shawl I have a bit bigger (it was dyed with indigo as well) and make some wrist warmers.

Should keep me busy for awhile with everything else I've got going on.

It chases away that other kind of blues...