Weaving in Beauty

From left, exhaust cochineal, madder, first bath cochineal, osage orange, indigo over osage orange and indigo.

Mesa, AZ It’s April and the thermometer in the Valley of the Sun is in the 90 degree range.   It’s indigo weather!   Add some cochineal bugs, munjeet (a type of madder) and osage orange sawdust and you’ve got a rainbow in the making.   Cochineal and indigo color some of the yarns used by Navajo weavers in the 19th century and some of fine artists among Navajo weavers, like D.Y. Begay, Roy Kady and Morris Muskett continue to work with them as well as some of the other dyes that I taught students how to use yesterday and last Saturday at the Fiber Factory in Mesa, AZ.

Working with these dyes helps you to develop a profound appreciation for both history and chemistry.  The sources of these colors span the globe and they are integral players in the flow of events from the earliest times.  There are textiles found in Egypt dyed with madder, the Aztecs exacted tribute in cochineal and the Scots dyed their faces blue for battle with woad, an indigo bearing plant.   These are colors of the finest of the Chief Blankets, the Late Classic Blankets, the British red coats and Bayeux Tapestry.  By manipulating the properties of their vats and baths, dye masters developed proprietary formulas and methods that were guarded every bit as closely as the design of the next iPhone.    It’s a real privilege to be able to teach their use and legacy to others.   I have to go rinse some yarn…..

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Yarn dyed with ground lichen has come off the fire and you can see some dyed with wild carrot being checked for color.

Window Rock, AZ Let me get you caught up on the activities of some of our recent classes in Window Rock.  I was forced to abandon daily entries during the classes because there were continuing connectivity issues both with the hotel broadband and with the broadband service that I have on my laptop.  Being forced to contemplate life without cascading style sheets and PHP would probably make for interesting reading for somebody out there, but let’s face it, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Navajo weaving beyond not being able to write about it when you want to.    There’s also the security issue that things can be a little too real time and there may be somebody out there saying, “Hey, if Ann’s in Window Rock, I wonder who’s watching her house?”    But enough of that, let’s talk weaving, which in the Navajo way of looking at weaving encompasses dyeing.  When Navajo people talk about weaving, they mean the whole process from taking care of the sheep to taking the weaving off the loom.   Especially in the summer, it would be a shame for people like us to be in Window Rock and not explore the dye potential of the local plants.

The yarns dry on Rose's fence under the watchful eye of the Dedman's dog.

We ventured out on Tuesday, August 4, to meet with Rose Dedman, gather the plants for the dyes and to dye some wool under her supervision.  Rose’s late mother was an active dyer all her life, and Rose does her dyes the old fashioned way, over an open fire.  We had already stalked The Elusive Wild Carrot, so Rose had us gather ground lichen, sage and rabbitbrush.  Tammy Denhard had brought black walnuts with her, so we were set.   Once Rose decided that the pots were ready, we immersed the pre-washed yarn for about 30 minutes.   The pots stand for about 20 minutes off the fire, and Rose’s mother might have left them in overnight or longer to achieve the color she was looking for.   Since the temperature was perfect for it, we also had an instant indigo vat and did some great over-dyes as you can see in the picture below.

Sarah Morse with some of the indigo dyed and over-dyed yarns. Rather Zen looking, don't you think?

Rose graciously showed the class some of the biil dresses that she has made for her granddaughters to wear on important occasions.  The dress is made by sewing two rectangular weavings together, leaving openings for the arms and neck.  A sash belt, concho belt, traditional moccasins complete the ensemble.

Lorna Stone (center, back) admires the biil dresses that Rose Dedman (left) has woven for her granddaughters

We cleaned up the dye pots under Rose’s supervision and cooked some hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch before heading back to the classroom for more weaving.  Luci Hicks, as you can see below was well past the halfway point in her piece and we started to plot various schemes to slow her down.  We settled on a trip to Canyon de Chelly for the next day.  Yeah, that ought to do it….

Hey, Luci, you've got until Saturday morning! Note the excellent weaving form and the unique design.

I’ll share some pictures from Canyon de Chelly next.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Wild carrot plant ready to harvest

Window Rock, AZ How can it be Wednesday night?  We’ve been busy going through our itinerary for this week’s class and I realized I haven’t had time to write this week.  Monday, we went wild carrot hunting with Rose Dedman.   Wild carrot, also called dock root or canyaigre, has the Latin name rumex hymenosepalus.  It grows on sandy mesas in many areas of northern New Mexico and Arizona.  The carrot is prized as a dyestuff because it yields a deep burnt orange color that is extremely colorfast.  It is high in oxalic acid and requires no mordant.   Fans of wild carrot learn to look for the plant’s dark green leaves in the late spring.  In the summer, when the leaves have died back is the time to harvest the tuberous roots of the plant for dye.   The carrot harvest starts by scouting the selected area for the blackened remains of the leaves, which you can see in the picture above.

Jeanette Hicks does shovel duty in the carrot hunt.

Once you’ve located the leaf remains, you dig down around them to find the carrots.   Although they can be close to the surface, they are more often about a foot or as much as two feet down.  We usually work in teams with one person handling the shovel and a second person checking the hole to find the direction that the carrots are growing in.   Both new or fresh carrots and dried carrots can be found in the same hole.

Tammy Denhard enjoys carrot location duty.

Sometimes, the carrots just aren’t there or our inexperienced fingers can’t find them.  Rose gently prods us to “dig this way” and we begin to fill bags with the tubers, filling the holes and strategically skipping plants to ensure that we don’t overharvest the spot.  Finding the carrots is very satisfying as you can see in the picture above.  The carrots that are nicked by the shovel give tantalizing hints of the color potential in the dye pot.

The interior of fresh wild carrots

Before the carrots can be used for dye, they are crushed to help expose the pulp and make it easier to obtain the color.  They’re boiled for at least an hour and then the fiber to be dyed is added and simmered for about 30 minutes.   The yarns dyed with the wild carrot (see picture below) add rich shading to the textiles woven with them, an accomplishment gained by the discovery and understanding of the gifts of Mother Earth and Father Sky.

The skeins at left are dyed with wild carrot

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

A bevy of naturally dyed yarns show the range of colors that can be derived from plants and bugs.

Tempe, AZ I’ve just set up a Facebook page advocating a new printing of Jenny Dean’s Wild Colour: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes. The book was originally published in 1999 and has been out of print for about three years.  It commands prices of nearly $100 on the used book market, putting it out of reach for all but the most affluent dye enthusiasts.

The book is an excellent reference for anyone interested in natural dyes and covers a wide range of  dye materials, making it relevant on a world wide basis.  It is a particularly important book for dyers who want to understand and limit the toxicity of their activities and focuses on getting optimum results without negative environmental impacts.  Jenny details the expected results to be achieved using the dye material by itself, with an alum mordant, an iron modifier and with both mordant and modifier.  The book sets a standard for documentation of methods and results that I would like to carry forward to the locally available dyestuffs used in Navajo weaving and I think the book deserves to be reprinted.  You can get a feel for the quality of the book if you check out the limited preview at Google Books.

Jenny Dean has tried several times to persuade the publisher to do a new printing, and you can read the details of her latest efforts in her blog.  Since Jenny does not own the copyright to the book, self-publishing options like lulu.com are not available to her.   I’m hoping that by establishing the page on Facebook, we’ll be able to build up a fan base that will show enough support for the book to cause the publisher to reconsider.   You can become a fan of the page, or write the publisher, Mitchell Beazley,  directly if you’d like to see the book reprinted.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Berdina Charley with two of her weavings (left). Berdina's sister D.Y. Begay's weavings are at right

D.Y. Begay’s sisters, Berdina and Berdine are getting serious about their weaving and brought some of their work to this year’s Indian Market.  Berdina’s work, seen above in the two pieces in the left of the picture has strong graphic impact and a contemporary focus.  Every time I look at the pictures, I find that I like Berdina’s designs more.  Her weaving skill is phenomenal too, but she’s got good genes.   Berdine was away from the booth when I was here, but I think you can see one her weavings at the lower right in the picture above.   I’ll have to catch up with her at another show.

D.Y.’s Shadows of Cota is to the right of Berdina.  It’s dyed in many shades of Navajo tea, which is also called cota or greenthread.  The color produced depends on the mordants used, the length of time in the dyepot, and maybe a little bit on how much tea you pour into a pitcher for later before you start using it for dye.   There’s a somewhat closer view below and a close-up of the weaving detail that shows D.Y.’s unique weaving style and the fine gradations of color that she uses.  What may look like pixelation in your monitor is actually rows of color carefully chosen to achieve the visual effect that D.Y. is looking for.

D.Y. Begay with Shadows of Cota

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Shadows of Cota detail

My coffee cup is empty and there are rugs to be washed and fixed.  Let’s visit with more weavers tomorrow!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

From left, Heather, Sue, Karen, Jaime and Nancy with their dyed samples

Mesa, AZ Last Saturday, I did the second of two dye classes that I do for the Fiber Factory in Mesa, AZ every spring and autumn.  The second class builds on the skills from the first class and we add dyestuffs that are a bit trickier to work with but which offer big payoffs in their results.  We used freeze dried indigo crystals, cochineal bugs, madder and osage orange.  Since we had access to each primary color, any color on the color wheel is possible with some experimentation.  As you can see in the picture above, which was taken at the end of the day, we were able to get a nice range of colors.

We started off the day by adding some osage orange sawdust to a pot of water to get a source of yellow.  Once that pot was boiling, we started our indigo vats in individual plastic buckets and ground up about six ounces of cochineal beetles to a flour-like consistency and started them boiling in distilled water with some lime juice and a pinch of cream of tartar.  As the cochineal color was extracting, we were ready to do our first indigo dips.  Students working with indigo have to teach themselves to avoid letting things drip into the vat, as this introduces oxygen that inhibits the ability of indigo to bind to the fiber.   “But I’m losing all my dye!”, they shout as blue liquid drips onto the parking lot, when actually they’re saving their dye by doing this.  The axiety is quickly replaced by awe and curiosity as the indigo color oxidizes from a pale green to a rich and unmistakable blue.    The skein below was dyed late in the afternoon as the vat was exhausting but shows a bit of the range of blues that are possible.

A skein of cotton dyed with inidgo later in the day.

The trick with cochineal is in the control of the acidity and alkalinity of the dyebath.  Acid yields the red part of the spectrum, while alkaline dyebaths yield purple and orchid shades.  One of the more exciting shades that can coaxed from a carefully controlled bath with stannous chloride (tin) is the brightest red possible in the natural dye spectrum and dates to the early 1600′s.  The ability to produce this color, which had never been seen in a dyestuff,  was zealously sought by dyemasters from London to Venice.  It’s so tricky to achieve given the alkaline water in this area that it took me two tries to get there, but as you can see below, it’s a very beautiful color.

Cochineal skeins mordanted with tin dry with an indigo dyed skein.

Another source of red color is madder, which is one of the original red dyes used in western Asia and in Europe.  Madder is the basis of the historic Turkey Red, the most colorfast and brilliant red that was available prior to the introduction of cochineal in the 1520′s.  Madder requires very long processing times, and for classes I use a  potent powered madder called mungeet that’s used in India.  We explored the brick red tones that mungeet produces, but tin mordant also brings out more red tones.

A sample of mungeet dyed yarn

Many of the dyed commercial yarns imported for classic Navajo weavings used these dyestuffs, and modern Navajo weavers continue to work with them to expand the range of design possibility available to them and to increase the value of their work.  If you’d like to try some natural dyes, try one of the suppliers below and prepare to be amazed at the ingenuity of the craftspeople who lived before us.

• Freeze dried indigo: John Marshall
• Cochineal and madder: Aurora Silk
• Full range of natural dyes: Griffin Dye Works

Mary Walker