January 2023 Newsletter

​Color and Community

What do Tyvek festival bracelets, broccoli, and fudge have in common? And what do they have to do with fiber arts? As you wonder, I’ll try to wander through an explanation.

In mid-December 2022, memories of dry, crumbly fudge and fudge that never set, to be eaten only with a spoon, put me on a quest for the perfect recipe. Candy thermometer, kitchen timer… the downside of successful fudge research is, too much fudge. Learned: following a recipe carefully, using specified ingredients yields success. Also learned: a simple microwave recipe made fudge just as good as the complicated stove-top version. Maybe better. Intention for 2023: eat more vegetables. (More about this later.)
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The last day of 2022 involved neutralizing and disposing of a spent indigo vat, scrubbing dye pots, wiping down counter tops, and making a fresh indigo vat. Learned from the fudge research: review the recipe, gather and prepare the equipment, plan for enough time to follow the recipe for the vat and the procedure for dyeing… Happiness is the magic of an indigo vat that behaves just the way it is supposed to! Learned: wear gloves right from the start, to avoid Indigo fingers.

I haven’t attended a Festival in quite a while, but Festival Bracelets, the Tyvek kind that stick together and don’t come undone until you cut them? Yes! The perfect tag for skeins of yarn going through a scour, mordant and dyebath. Labeled with a sharpie, you know what you did when all is done. Check out the three samples below:

• Handspun yarn by Leslie Ann Bestor, dyed with Osage Orange (golden yellow) Indigo (blue) and Osage with an Indigo overdye (green).
• The first dye baths of 2023! Weighed, measured, brought to temperature, steeped, timed, notes taken. It’s a practice, the unexpected will certainly happen, but nice to start the new year with a success. *Note – these are samples of three of the five colors of the ANWG Conference.
• Rusty red (Cutch) and brilliant purple (Madder with an indigo overdye) will fill out the circle. Look for updates, you may want to participate in this community project!

And broccoli? Washed, chopped, placed in a covered microwave-safe glass dish on high for 90 seconds. Perfectly steamed, perfectly timed. More vegetables eaten; less time spent cooking. More dyeing, more weaving, and no more fudge for me for a while!

Wishing you all the best in 2023!

​Carol Berry
2022-2023 President, Whatcom Weavers Guild 
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