Wednesday 1 September 2010

A lovely day in the Dye Garden Frogs and Solar pots

On Monday, bank holiday Monday here in the UK and the last bank holiday before Christmas , the skies cleared and the garden was full of dappled autumnal  sunshine.
We got up late. So we had Breakfast in the Dye Garden
Lythrum salicaria - purple loostrife behind
Lunch in the Dye Garden.



 Lythrum salicaria the other way outside my studio  -the original lot.  The stuff by the pond planted itself there but  I love it and so do the bees.

The Solar pots got to about 35 degrees C
and we heard a little splash and saw the Frog in our dear little pond.
 He/she  eyed us up without concern and went slowly under an overhanging ledge form where we heard a soft croak .


Many of the solar pots have ceased to develop colour much so soon I shall have an Opening and see what  is there.
And finally my little fermentation vat is going at full steam ahead! Here is some teeswater I dyed in in it  I stir it daily and add a teaspoon of washing soda if needed and it is fine.
at

9 comments:

  1. kathyinozarks1 September 2010 at 18:20

    what a beautiful day in your dye garden-I loved reading your post

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  2. Helen1 September 2010 at 18:37

    Thanks Kathy-lovely to have your comments too.:)

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  3. Dorothy4 September 2010 at 11:45

    I read as far as "lunch in the dye garden" and suddenly remembered that about an hour ago I stood a pot of japanese indigo leaves in a bain marie and left it to heat slowly ... oops! ran to the kitchen and fortunately it's o.k., has reached about 50 degrees now. I am so glad of your dye garden blog to drag me out of internet land and back to the dye pot!! Now I can read the rest of your post ;)

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  4. Dorothy4 September 2010 at 11:46

    How pretty the solar dye jars look standing in your garden in the sunshine!

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  5. Helen4 September 2010 at 22:33

    Hi Dorothy-it is good to hear you are managing to find time to dye. I always use your hot bath method for Persicaria tinctoria but recently forgot mine and it got very hot at least 70 if not 80 and gave very good blues.
    The solar jars are indeed very eye catching and the one with the hopi red dye flower head in is particularly lovely now a re deep purple.

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  6. Artis-Anne11 September 2010 at 07:00

    After your inspiring ideas re solar jars I did a couple and I must go and investigate how they turned out , they seem to have done okay.
    I thought your post re the fermented vat sounded good too , so must give that a go at some point. So many 'must do's' on my list :)
    Thank you also for you lovely comments re my indigo vest , I too love it.

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  7. Helen11 September 2010 at 11:43

    Hi artisanne
    I have found people trying out solar pots around the world, form Finland to Australia It really seems to have caught on.
    well there are load s of thing I mean to do like for example learning to knit!

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  8. Leigh13 September 2010 at 02:56

    What a lovely place to have a meal! Beautiful Helen.

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  9. Benita13 September 2010 at 16:24

    Lovely! I am really looking forward to the opening of the jars! Such a cool experiment!

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