Lake Waccamaw Private Art Retreat 2013

I am back in one of my happy places – my cousin’s house at Lake Waccamaw. This time we are here alone for a couple’s art retreat. Sandy brought canvases and paint, and I brought dyepots, fabrics, yarns, hot plate, Procion dyes, and acrylic paints, paper, brayers, collage materials, and my Gelli plate. Also a tapestry on a box project I found in my closet that I had forgotten in case I get the urge to do some needle weaving.

This time I’m taking the opportunity to concentrate on natural dyeing with the tannin-infused water of Lake Waccamaw to mordant my fibers. Hopefully, if I will maintain a wifi connection and the camera cooperates, I’ll document it here. This morning I am getting started by washing the silk and wool that I wound into skeins for dyeing with Ecover delicate wash detergent. I bought this silk on the cone from Colourmart and this is the first time that I have worked with it. It has to be scoured before dyeing. I bought the handspun wool from a vendor at the Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market. I don’t remember the name of the farm and will add it later when I get home. The rest will be fabric remnants and scraps from my stash.

Also on tap: sunprinting and gelli plate printing on fabric and paper. And photos. Stay tuned.

And lots of reading in between. No cooking but I can’t avoid some cleaning. It is my cousin’s house, and it is May, and that means lots of bugs that have overwintered and lots of pollen on the porch. But, BEAUTIFUL weather – can’t ask for better. Sunshine, high 80s, lots of wind from the southwest.

Yeah, it’s 4:42 now and I haven’t gotten much done. It’s mainly a set up and clean day. I tried to mix some Elmer’s Art Paste to paint paste papers with, but most of it is floating on the top of the pitcher in lumps. Most of the fibers need to soak anyway. Maybe I’ll just read for a while and tackle more tomorrow.