Today, we concluded our advanced weaving seminar, which has been newly dubbed Camp Weave-A-Lot, and we started our Natural Dye Retreat. We met at Burnham’s Trading Post in Sanders, AZ and got a look at some of the vegetally dyed colors that Marie Begay is able to achieve. We were also treated to a weaving demonstration by Jennie Slick, who was working on a C-cactusflower loom that she carries with her. After we left Burnham’s, we headed north to Window Rock and started our natural dye work with cochineal. The Quality Inn let us use their shade house and we set up our hot plate and dyepot. Just as we were getting started extracting the color, some of the Spider Rock Girls stopped by and spent some time visiting and spinning while we were waiting for the dyepot. Here’s a picture of grandma Rose Yazze, (left), granddaughter Alyssa Malone and mom Emily Malone.

We’ll have pictures of the dyed yarns over the next couple of days.