Fabric Dyeing with Roses from Amma

26 Jul

I thought I was going to post about “filters”–a concept suggested by Jude Hill–in an online study focus called What If Diaries #1.  The figure below–or at least this type of figure–keeps wanting to appear in my cloth.  I resist it.  She suggested I use it as a filter.  Filter?  Is filter the same as focus?  Or perhaps soft focus?goddess1

I wanted to explore that in this blog but the exploration immediately turned into a babble about non-dual reality and became so obviously NON focused that I stopped. Remember Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate” and the brilliant one-liner–“Plastics?”  Well this is my non sequitur transition.  From filter.  To . . .

Rose Petals.  Specifically the collecting of rose petals on the morning following Amma’s Devi Bhava program in Washington, D.C.

Rose Petals

Rose Petals

I had gone to bed the night before around midnight. The program was to last until around 10 a.m. the following day. It didn’t. It ended early. I missed the grand finale but all along I was thinking about the flower petals Amma tosses down onto the people.   How if I could collect them inconspicuously, I could use them to dye cloth. That was my plan.

Out of curiosity I returned to the large hall where every thing had taken place. It didn’t matter that I was in my p.j.s.  Everyone else seemed dressed that way’  Devotees running huge industrial vacuums were quickly removing evidence of the night before. Flower petals were being sucked up faster than I could get to them. But a little boy, the son of a devotee, told me he would help me. He had just received his mantra the night before. He was eight years old. Precocious. Helpful. We stayed one step ahead of the giant floor suckers. And filled a gallon size plastic bag with multi-colored petals. He kept his own stash and I left with mine. These pieces of damask were dyed with those rose petals that Amma tossed down:

rose petal dyed cloth

this piece which is only in the making, lacking clear direction at the moment, holds several spheres of the rose dyed cloth.  The cloth holds the color.  Holds the memories.  Holds a lot of energy.  And just for the briefest of moments, even smelled like roses.

heart with filter

6 Responses to “Fabric Dyeing with Roses from Amma”

  1. Mo Crow July 26, 2013 at 10:32 pm #

    Ha re the “Plastics!” lPatricia! love the words the sense of wonder and the softness of this new cloth

    Like

    • Patricia July 27, 2013 at 10:31 am #

      “plastics”, yes, and thinking about that one-liner now, i can’t help but add–if we had only known.

      Like

  2. Nancy July 28, 2013 at 11:10 pm #

    Wow those roses did a great dye job! This cloth is looking so dreamy.

    Like

    • Patricia July 29, 2013 at 11:05 am #

      hi Nancy. it feels like a dream and i’m pretty clueless right now. that’s ok. i think it’s deciding what it wants–some thing? no thing?

      Like

  3. karmadondruplhamo, (grace) July 29, 2013 at 11:24 am #

    this one is going to need to Hold you Slow

    Like

    • Patricia July 29, 2013 at 11:44 am #

      oh Grace. the word “need.” please elaborate.

      Like

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