So much is happening this month!
With the school year winding down and summer on the horizon, now would be great time to try something new.
First: There will be NO Community Craft Circle this weekend.
However, if you are free from 1-3pm on Sunday (May 5th) come keep me company while I teach a small spinning workshop. There will be snacks!
NEXT: The Spring Fair and Student Art Show will be on May 11th at Oil and Cotton. There will be lots of great art to see and purchase.
Ewe2Yarn from Waxahachie Trunk Show
I am so excited to share one of my favorite yarns shops with you. Trudy and Lee, the powerhouse mother-daughter team from Ewe2 Yarn will bring their beautiful yarn and other goodies to the Spring Fair!
You will love their work!
DYE POT DAY AT THE OIL & COTTON SPRING FAIR
ON MAY 11TH, I will have a Community Natural Dye Pot simmering all afternoon. There will be small skeins of pre-mordanted wool and silk bandanas available to purchase, so you can try your hand at dyeing!
The focus will be on locally sourced dye-stuff which usually means yellow. I am still considering my options. I am trying to decide is it is worth the chigger bites to gather Queen Anne’s Lace from a roadside patch.
NATURAL DYES FROM LOCAL PLANTS
Once upon a time, I participated in a Wild Flower Event at the Cedar Ridge Preserve. I used bluebonnets to make a lovely yellow dye pot. My kids helped me keep a fire going under the pot as we dipped and dyed yards of wool yarn.
You may well imagine the reactions we got from folks.
First, the horror at our beloved state flower in a big pot of simmering water, then the surprise that it yields a good strong yellow, not blue. Not even a little blue. In the end, everyone was delighted to learn about the process.
Somewhere, I still have a tiny bit of that yarn, just as yellow as it was on that day. I won’t be simmering bluebonnets, but there are plenty of other Texas Natives that give a strong yellow dye, including Bois d’arc sawdust!
The human need for ornamentation has led us down some interesting paths. Early on, someone figured out how to extract colors from plants and refined the process over the years. Today, the fashion industry rely on synthetic dyes, nevertheless, most folks still love the magic of dyes made from plants and minerals.
If you come to the O&C Spring Fair, you will get to explore some of that mystery with me!