blue as summer

blue

tonight

new things in the shop tonight

HERE

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and now i'm headed out to a friend's house for dinner.  we dug up the last of our potatoes, carrots and onions today and we're bringing a big plate of roasted root vegetables with sage and rosemary to share. oh, and a big bottle of cheap red wine!  i hope you're having a great night.

xo

indigo scarf

babies, i put a couple new indigo scarves in the shop.

the exact bend in the river

Gradations of Blue

The scent of pig is faint tonight

as the lime trees hang their heads against gradations of blue,

looking at the lone suitcase in the middle of the farmyard

with a sense of solidarity. Also forgotten.

Its owner never once looked up at them and exclaimed

I was still soft-fingered when I planted you.

In the plane, her gaze rests on a flock of cloud-birds,

pinkish purple with elongated necks, rests

on the plane’s wing-tip colored pink by the sun.

Her head is heavy with this childhood cargo,

like the hawk that usually flies between or above their branches,

found skimming the ground with its catch of mouse or mole,   

or the barge that passes every day at four, its metal nose

just out of the water, while empty at eight, its sleek sides

flash signals to those on shore. Later, on the highway

a row of trucks lit like orange squares in the setting sun—

a colony of ants each with a piece of chrysanthemum

on their backs—begins to reassemble memories;

the petals become lining, the shape of the flower is lost,

so that years later, looking at an old photograph,

she will not remember the names of cousins and uncles

but the exact bend in the river behind them, the pattern of trees.

BY MATTHEA HARVEy

(THIS and THIS are reduced at least 30% off the original price today)

foxy

this fox has been hanging around my yard
and this morning it ran right by my kitchen window.

there is not much that is more thrilling to me than spotting wildlife.  

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i also wanted to let you know that
i made a few indigo dot zip pouches this afternoon

HERE

i'm going to have dinner with my friend
erica walker tonight and i'm looking forward to it.
i've got to rap up work and make some garlic scape pesto to bring with me.
the scapes are ready in the garden!
if y'all are interested i can give you my pesto recipe monday.

xxxxxx

liane

3

i made a few indigo tie dye scarves for the shop

HERE

new in the shop today

HERE

new indigo in the shop this morning

HERE

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i'm dyeing some hemp canvas today along the way to becoming black fabric.  it's a process which takes several days and several dye baths and several plant and mineral materials to come about.  

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i'm also pondering the heating situation here where i live.  the woodstove is too small to heat even the 2 rooms we live in.  and the size requires me to wake up a few times a night to add more wood which isn't fun.  part of the problem is also the fact that the place is poorly insulated so i may be able to rectify that a bit before winter really sets in.  there is an alternate heat source of a propane fueled unit but i don't like using it for multiple reasons.  so anyway, i ponder.  

and i did do some solid work here recently, aesthetically speaking,  and i will share some pictures soon but i'm needing to focus on work and other projects before..

x

liane

morning.

my current music addiction is jolie holland.  here she is singing that yeats poem from the previous post.

also, though i've been out of the studio a lot lately i did manage to do some indigo dyeing the other day.  some new things are in the SHOP HERE with more indigo and vespertine to come.

*from images above, the tarot cards are new and from HERE.  the items on the shelf include relic bits i found on the river bank across from my house.  there's a whole treasure trove of discards back there behind a couple historic houses.  my own private dead horse bay.

julie floersch

here's the problem.  i'm not a terribly wanty person.  but i have some open windows at the bottom of my screen here that i can't make myself close.  there's a dress i want and there are boots i want and i want to wear the dress and the boots together.  but both cost a lots of money.  stupid.  annoying.  

here's pictures:

here

here

i need to come into some greenbacks right quick.  cuz the sweetness of this outfit is making my eyeballs hurt.

new indigo tote in the shop.

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hello hello.

i've been busy preparing for the squam art workshop fair coming up june 4th.  so far i've made stacks of fragrant balsam and lavender cross pillows.  it smells good in here.  i've also been making zipper cases like the one above (that one's for sale in my shop) with my pile of hand-dyed indigo fabrics.  that's been a real pleasure.  i've got some larger bags in the works, too.  i can't tell yet if they will be completed by fair time because i'm still working out hardware choices.  my fingers are casually crossed.

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and here's a rainy day music video for you:

sincerely,
liane

indigo/lifedom

via

via

via

via

via

it seems to me that the process of natural fabric dyeing is a real sensual one.  

it's an active process with multiple steps which take time and patience for results and transformation.  i think it's something like baking bread from scratch the way you handle materials; the way your hands get doughy or wet and blue; the way you leave it and come back, leave it and come back.  

in other ways it reminds me of dancing till you're sweaty and your troubles are forgotten.    

or can i mention sex?  there are comparisons to be made.  messy and risky.

i'm writing this on the fly.  after several nights of vivid dreams chock full of symbolism and metaphor.  i'm tired.  i'm reviewing these dreams in my mind.  i'm reading into things.

but i can't escape the feeling that i'm standing on the edge of something.  a messy bed or a big vat of blue.

...

...

new indigo pillows reminiscent of the ever-changing clouds and sky in my shop

you'll find some recently aquired vintage there as well

indigo

I'M MADLY IN LOVE WITH IT.

actually, i'm infatuated with the whole of natural fabric dyeing.  i spent yesterday doing indigo and now i'm working on making a black.  i love the way different fabrics take the dye differently.  i love the mottling.  which is good because it just comes naturally without much care.  i love the surprise and variation. 

yesterday was a nice mild partially sunny day (as opposed to the insult of today's cold dark rain) and as i was crouching outside at the water spicket with my bucket of fabrics rinsing them on the pavement i felt all humming and happy.  so YAY for fabric dyeing.

what i'm doing now is drawing out some bag designs and thinking about the details of bag pockets and hardware yadda yadda yadda and trying my best to do this fabric justice.  so anyway, what i'm saying is there should be some indigo bags and some black bags showing up in these parts sometime soonish.  also pillows 'o course.

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on another note, i went to my sister's 40th birthday party saturday night and drank a variety of mixed drinks and went to bed in the vicinity of 2:30 AM.  crazy time old lady.

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also here's a link to eli's new trampoline tricks video!  if you click over there and increase his views he will be psyched.

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and last, i watched this documentary and also this one last night.  i recommend them both.

BIG LOVE-

liane