Now if only I'd had some music ........to go with the roses

I just know I wont live it down at tomorrow's workshop if I haven't done a blog today 

So day two of last weekend.......

The photos start after lunch - I got so absorbed in what we were doing I didnt take a single photo all morning.  It was shame because watching everyone rolling their little bundles of fabric and vegetables was great fun.  So no photos until we took the turmeric out of the boiler.

The bundle in the tongs has the addition of purple carrot.  The colour is quite different to the result  I get at my place using rainwater. For the class we were using tap water.  It was hard and developed a scum. It has also dulled down the colour - there are ways of dealing with this but thats for another time.

Now for the roses - various students brought in some great things to use - red onions, kangaroo apple berries and red roses.

We thought we'd try something a little different with the silk and roses. 

Yep folks, you are seeing people stamping on silk and rose petals.

Next time it has to be to music!

There's some great photos after that of people trying their fabrics out as lampshades and cushions - but they'll wait for another day.  I took all the organic bundled fabrics back with me, didnt want anyone giving in to temptation and opening their bundles too soon.!

And I paid for that decision -  long drive home afterwards - who would have thought onions wrapped in fabric, sprayed with vinegar and sealed in ziplock bags could smell so much!

 Here we have some of the bags spread out in the sun to see if it hastened  their progress.

turmeric, rhubarb, raspberries and some roses, red and brown onions and eucalypt.

I brought the carrot home to brew up - we just ran out of time - so it got boiled on Monday and left  in its stewpot until yesterday.  Everything came out yesterday to dry before tomorrow- after all they forecast wind.  So they stayed under shelter drying....

What was not  planned was the high humidity from the rain - so not much drying happened during the day, so I wheeled the bundles  inside overnight.  Came down this morning  to a kitchen smelling of onions and marinating purple  carrots.  In fact the carrots stank so  much I unwrapped the bundles, threw  the carrot pieces out and washed the fabric.  It still stinks!!!!!!  A glorious but very smelly purple.  I'll   reserve judgment  til later in the day (after another washing and airing on the line) about whether I'm prepared to share a car with the smell.  Sorry ladies and gentleman, if I arrive without your carrot dyed fabric it will be for a good reason.  You wouldn't want to use it!

But the its going to be so exciting unravelling all these bundles we wont miss a carrot... 

Moral of the tale - boil your carrots, remove, then use the dye,  observe closely and remove the fabric at the first sign of any unpleasant smell!  

p.s. only one student didnt dip their rose petals in raspberry dye and it has produced a gorgeous delicate colour.  The stamping has stressed the fabric and given it a lovely texture.