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Saturday, August 21, 2010

HOPI DYE & STITCHES

Well today was an eventful day at our house! Jeremy and I harvested some of our sunflowers (the ones that have dark, non-stripey seeds) for a beautiful dye that he made. The seed dye is a traditional Hopi Native American dye. It yields a beautiful purple that was used to dye baskets and fibers. We are not huge purple fans but this color is really pretty. And its really funny to watch someone boil an entire 
sunflower head... very dramatic!


 










Meanwhile, I sat on the back porch working on my wood sculptures for my upcoming show at Cinders. This summer I have been trying to teach myself how to carve wood, which has been really awesome, but I guess, statistically speaking, I was up for an injury! I pushed my knife gouge right through one of the little dude's noses and straight into my thumb. J took me to the emergency room and two stitches and a tetanus shot later I am ready to finish carving and fix that nose! 


2 comments:

MommaLeah said...

Hi, I'm growing Hopi red dye amaranth, and Hopi Black Dye Sunflowers in my garden. I haven't been able to find ANYTHING on how to make the wonderful dyes. Would you please share your process?

My email is:
Leahsgarden@gmail.com

Thanks very much.

Leah.

andrea said...

Hey guys!! I have been reading your past entries and marveling over your beautiful garden (!!!!!), dying adventures, artworks, and handmade surfboards...what!! You guys are amazing and so inspiring. Hope to see you sometime soon either in NC or VA...I've moved farther west so C-ville is even farther away for me now, but hopefully we can make the VA-NC craft connection happen again soon. Congrats on your upcoming show; I wish I could see it IRL! Happy fall dudes!!!