It’s snowing again. Endlessly. I’m dying again. Or is that dyeing again?

I haven’t dyed silk in three years, I believe. I’ve been using fragments from previously dyed silk to see: what can I do with this?

I played with single color coils of the more translucent silk.

Then I tried wrapping color inside color:

I cut small pieces and hung them on strands

I had such a good time. They perch on different surfaces in my home. If I move them, the space feels wrong.

Back they go.

This fall I’ve been playing with my silk squares, with light dropping through and colors shifting. I’ve shown them in past posts.

Again, I’ve been using what’s on hand.
But what if I had more expansive pieces to use? What if I could move the color farther? What if…?

I got out my soybeans and soaked them overnight in the blender, ground them up and squeezed them through cloth to make soymilk. I found my Japanese deer hair brush (“jizome”) and spread the fresh soymilk over my stretched silk today.

Why do I do all this? This traditional Japanese technique is a process where the proteins of the fresh soy bond with the protein of the silk. After it dries, they are bonded. The soy allows the color to penetrate the cloth itself.

(Peaches sort of watching)

Let it snow outside.

While I dye inside, right?

for COLOR!