Later that Night
Published On: July 18, 2010

After a full day of dyeing, you might think we’d have had enough fun.  Nope.  There was more to come that night.

We started by dyeing (or perhaps painting is a more accurate word) silk scarves with Dye-Na-Flow paints.  The process was unreasonably entertaining.  It felt sort of like craft day at summer camp.  We each made two and it was amazing how different they all were.  You can see both of mine in the picture on the left.  The first is the purple one in the middle on the bottom row, the second is the orange one running perpendicular to the others towards the top of the picture.  I may have to become one of those people who knows what to do with scarves.  The skill has so far alluded me, but it seems there might be some benefit to acquiring it.

Our next activity was a bit more of a spectator sport.  When we were done with our scarves we wandered over to watch Judith MacKenzie dip yarn into a giant vat of indigo dye.  She explained the history and chemistry of indigo while her hands  turned ever bluer.  When the yarn first goes in and comes out of the dye it is a lovely emerald green.  If you peer hard you can just see it in the photo below.  You have to shake and fluff and toss (and otherwise oxygenate) it before it turns blue.  It looks rather like a magic trick.  I couldn’t bear to leave mine in the grass to dry overnight so I took it back to my room to drip dry in my shower (with a trash bag underneath of course to keep me from dyeing the tile).  It looks exactly like a pair of five year old blue jeans.

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