At long last Rachel, Cecilia and I were ready to spend a day dyeing what we’ve been working on for months. It seemed the perfect day – sunny, a slight breeze. Only problem was the 100% humidity.
As I worked to get the vat ready, put up the clothes line, the table, and filled various buckets with water, it clouded over – and I thought, this is great. We wouldn’t get sunburned!
So we started dipping, dipping, dipping. A couple of neighbors dropped by to watch – but were disappointed, I think, that all that dipping takes time. They wanted to see the finished product!!
Out of nowhere, there was a downpour! We sheltered under the eaves where the vat was set up – it came so suddenly we didn’t have time to run into the studio. As soon as it stopped, the neighbors left, and we continued dyeing.
Suddenly, a huge flash of lightning struck very close by, followed immediately by a tremendous crack of thunder – so unexpected, we all screamed. Then there was a mad dash to the studio, scooping up the 10-week old puppy asleep on the porch.
There was rain, rain, rain. Thunder, lightning, high winds, hail. The clothes line broke in the wind and our work ended up in the flower beds and grass. The puppy slept through it all.
Finally it ended and the sun came out. We went back out, rescued and rinsed our work, fixed the clothes line, and continued dyeing.
The first thing I dyed was a shirt I had spent hours stitching patterns on. It’s for Danny’s birthday in September. I’m really happy with it – the dragonflies on the yoke are a little disappointing – too finely stitched for the fabric, but you stitch, you dye, you learn. It’s a process.
We are regathering today to unpick stitches and possibly dye more. I have a lot of shirts and jackets ready to go in the vat. Today I did all the small things as well as the shirt and a very long spiral scarf. I’m getting ready for a 6″ x 6″ show in December – so I am in full work mode.
Alas, the puppy has gone to his forever home, and won’t be joining us again. He is not the first pup to join us, but he was the first one I wanted to keep. Oh, well.