Friday 1 October 2010

Life and Jenny Dean's book Wild Colour

I am madly busy.  I keep trying to write a blog and not getting it finished.
Here is some of my busy stuff.
Open art Studio  (known  here as Helfa Gelf art Trail)- the first bit being Welsh for Art treasure hunt

Very successful please note my new till  ( top right hand corner and now I can also take credit cards wow! That really made a difference to my sales) . The pictures were in the summer  house as was my shop except for the stoles hanging up on the left.  ( I sold two)  The dog  is my dog's doggy friend Rosie saying "what are doing and why are you not throwing balls for ME"
And here is the fun I have had with patterning silk with rusty nails or tieing flower heads in.

I meant to write  a review of Jenny Deans Wild Colour. But what can I say .  It is a dyeing classic,it is superb, get it and just make sure before you read the recipes you understand the symbols and you will have a reference book for life It is the best dye book available for anyone wanting to dye their own fibres and fabrics safely and get fabulous colours.  She has a really good mixture of the major world dyes such as logwood and madder  and garden plant dyes  such as coreopsis and dyers chamomile which she also tells you how to grow.

7 comments:

  1. I could spend hours in your little shop....what wonderful treasures. Your dye patterns are really lovely.

    I am about to start my very first rust dyeing experiment and I haven't quite worked out how to wrap my material to get a good coverage of rust imprint yet. Hope they look as good as yours :)

    Cheers
    Joan from Down Under

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  2. Hi Joan
    Thank you.
    I am not sure not either how to wrap to get good imprints and some of mine have white edges for that reason. Hope your experiments go well

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  3. I thought I had a lot of stock, the studio looks great...I love the rusty nails and flower head scarves...wonderful feast for the eyes

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  4. Hi cedar
    Some of it had been put into the house so really there was even more stuff Glad you liked the silks.
    best Wishes
    Helen .

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  5. Your shop is gorgeous--packed with wonderful things. It really is a treasure hunt!

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  6. Helen you'r so right on Jenny's book.
    Together with your blog no dyer can go wrong.
    XXXm

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  7. I've also been madly busy - just getting a little free time this week, at last! I love the idea of an "Art treasure hunt", especially ending up in your super shop surrounded by so much wonderful colour.

    I love Jenny's book. I keep picking it up, reading more, learning more.

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