Lunchtime

I have no idea how to mordant, with wood ash, (or more accurately, Pine-Douglas-Fur-Junk-Mail-and-Chicken ash; I cooked a whole chicken Sunday night.) I scooped about, oh, two or three cups of ash and put it into a doubled layer of old pillow cases; put the bag in my new kitchen-rubbish-bin-for-dyeing-only; added about, oh....., six to eight litters of the hottest water from the tap; agitated the bag and the water a bit; the water became murky; I left the bag in, but let the ash fall to the bottom, making the liquid quite clear.

I added my cotton fabrics. Even though there was more than enough liquid, fabrics kept poking its head above the liquid, so I agitated the lo , making the water muddy again.

India's book discusses mordanting multiple times, but I'm not sure how long to keep it in there; I assume I don't rinse, and my liquid may be too strong for the amount of liquid.

India's book discusses curing the mordanted cloth. I'm doing this now, because her workshop is in November/December time, and I won't have any wood ash that time of the year, usually. Hopefully.

Anyway, I grabbed each piece of fabric, waved it in the water, squeezed it, and hung the white ones to dry while the purple and mocha checks stay in longer. (The sun is out but we've been having showers every hour this morning, so it's been a tight squeeze in our bathroom.) I shall swap them after lunch.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, I just grabbed the usual coffee implements and drained the well-cooked coffee. Some wool samples, both yarns and shibori experiments, are waiting in the green tub. I shall stew them after lunch.