I ran out of rice paste working on a long piece of my minnows and mussels pattern with 2 repeats to go. With each experience like this I refine my understanding of the amount I need to make. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and dye the work. I tend to make my rice paste a bit too thick/dry, and along with this, the paste was cracking a bit. This is not something I want generally, but you could encourage cracking on purpose and make it work as in batik. There are a couple of additives that can help prevent cracking — salt is one, glycerin is the other (either/or). I dissolved a bit of salt in water for this batch, which is supposed to help the paste hang onto humidity. As it is still winter here, the air is quite dry. More water and more salt next time.
I really enjoy how a fresh layer of wet dye shows up the contrast in the pattern. It makes me anticipate the final wash-out. This photo shows the 2nd of 3 layers of pigment dye in progress. The ochre+rust I used to make orange is at this point the same value as the rice paste. The indigo is just that — oxidized indigo pigment from an indigo vat.
dyeing 2nd layer on minnows and mussels
new used book
Scanning the textile shelf at my local used bookstore yielded a serendipitous find: a small paperback entitled Dyes from Nature: Plants & Gardens (Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record, Vol. 46, No. 2). Published in 1990, the 96 page volume features 28 articles by 21 different authors, experts and/or dyers, describing natural dye traditions from Mexico, Turkey, Japan and many other cultures around the globe. Each article includes color photographs. Fanning the pages in the bookstore, I noticed two articles written by M. Joan Lintault, a fiber artist and author of two blogs I follow (Magic of Light, Mystery of Shadow and My Wabi Life).
I’ve wanted to link to one of Joan’s posts for quite a while, so here you go! Check out this inspiring project using natural dyes in the Japanese tradition of kusaki-zome (grass and tree dyes).
image of Kusaki-zome dye project from M. Joan Lintault
Joan sent me a few paragraphs describing her background and passion for natural dyeing:
“I can hardly remember when I became interested in natural dyes. It was certainly when I was in the Peace Corps 43 years ago. I was living in the mountain village of Quinoa, Peru. The village ladies taught me to spin, dye with walnuts, cochineal and dahlia flowers.
My interest continues today because I do love a mystery and I still can’t believe it works. I especially love indigo dyeing because it is the mystery of all mysteries. I love giving control of my work to the dye pot and receiving in return the random flashes that can be likened to fire marks on a piece of pottery.
I like that indigo is considered a living entity in many cultures. Most importantly learning about natural dyes is empirical knowledge handed down from one person to another. My love of dyeing led me to research the processes from India then to Japan. I wanted to go to these places and see for myself what processes existed and how the process changed from culture to culture.”
I am a textile artist 
