Posts Tagged ‘Fiber Factory’
The Best and the Brightest (Natural Dyes, That Is)
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…
Read MoreThe Brilliance of the Navajo Germantowns
Tempe, AZ The Germantown period, which lasted from 1864 until about 1915, represents one of the most vibrantly creative eras in the history of Navajo weaving. The very existence of these textiles is a testimony to the perseverance and will to survive of the Navajo people. Although commercial yarns had been available to the Navajos…
Read MoreThe Dyer’s Picnic: Cochineal, Indigo and Madder
Mesa, AZ Last Saturday, I did my semi-annual dye class for the Fiber Factory in Mesa. We take a full day and use cochineal, indigo, madder and osage orange. Since this combination includes all of the primary colors, theoretically we can derive any color on the color wheel. Although both indigo and cochineal were used…
Read MoreDyes that Madder: A Rainbow of Colors from Indigo, Cochineal, Madder and Osage Orange
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…
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