News and Blog
"I am still a learner, not a teacher, feeding somewhat omnivorously, browsing both stalk and leaves..."
Henry David Thoreau, 1817–1862
The making of secondary colors, the purples and greens, by overdyeing primary colors, the reds (cochineal) and yellows (weld), with another primary, a blue of indigo, is intriguing as you're never sure whether your intended value will come out—how transparent will the indigo be, how luminescent will the under-color be—with the play of so many variables: the concentration of the indigo in the bath, its temperature, its pH, it's degree of oxygen reduction to name but a few; you may or may not take these many physical factors into account, as judged by the emotional hue of your last dip, remembering the only control you have—a guess really—is deciding how long your next dip in the indigo vat will be—seconds or minutes—you cross your blue fingers to proceed intrepidly and acceptingly of what usually are unanticipated outcomes. Dyeing indigo requires a little courage.
Ocean Teal #2 was dyed in a limited edition of 16 of which there are 15 remaining. Available in the Yarn Store.
Sheep, having no upper teeth, grip the grass between their lower teeth and upper gum then, with a quick move of the head, they pluck the grass. 100 plucking sheep are noisy.
New York Twilight # 7 Pink light comes through denim blue. This Indigo overdye of Cochineal is a natural color in a Limited Edition of 16 skeins.
Skeins available: 15. Available in the Yarn Store.
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The idea of dyeing colors in limited editions enthuses me once again for wool and for the well being of my sheep. The idea is to get smaller, to be unique, to become healthy, heterogenous in contrary to the old farming saw of "get bigger or get out" and bore myself to tears if not to death. Living small is a political act of which my farm and sheep are but examples; and you, trading with me in order to live close to the earth—our earth—cooking for your family with the good food we grow and making clothes for your children, from the good wool of sheep, you are most worthy. You do something worthwhile, caring—private in a public way—and dare I say? Yes, I dare say, noble.
More to come, much to do...colors, small colors, personal colors, private colors, our colors.
From an "agricultural act" (Wendell Berry) to a "political act" (Michael Pollan) eating has now become an ethical act as man's abuse of "dominion over animals," from Genesis 1:26, mounts.
Twitter:
Got an iPhone app that lists produce "with the most & the least pesticide" What do they mean, ‘residue left on,’ ‘raised with,’ what?
Where’s the research as to why an imported grape (no.12) is better pesticide-wise for us than a domestic peach (no.2)?
If you’re going to give us a list of good & bad foods tell us of the science behind the list; give us references to the studies.
Sometimes I wonder about some of the ‘foodies’ on this food bandwagon of ours.
What I like about Twitter is it’s olfactory dimension, “Ooooh that smell. Cant you smell that smell…” Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Twitter:
Isaiah xxii,13 “...let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die.”
And dye we shall, Isaiah; today I washed the spinning oil from 42 lb. of yarn; I have 12 lb. in a mordant to dye with natural colors tomorrow
First, I will dye the primaries Weld yellow & Cochineal red; then overdye them with Indigo blue to make the secondaries purple & green
The blue of my palette will come from a straight Indigo; and Madder in a basic bath will make the orange: 3 primaries & 3 secondaries
A light and dark of each color will give me at a minimum 12 hues for market on Saturday. The stand will be quite colorful.