I love saying this —dyeing. Because, well because it lends itself to a wonderful play-on-words. Dyeing. Dying. Love that both are so illustrative of transformation. Both so potentially beautiful. And I also appreciate that with each, intention is required to achieve the results I see in my mind’s eye. Intention and discipline.
I’ve played around this week with dyeing rope bowls. Dyeing rope wrapped in white cotton and also dyeing rope bowls without a fabric cover. Madder, alkanet and indigo are the three dye baths I’ve managed to concoct. I don’t know what to think about the bowls. Not sure it’s a good medium for this experimentation.
Anyway, these are the bowls to date. The purple is alkanet, orange is madder, and indigo is the lighter blue. The navy blue is indigo overdyed with alkanet.
Looking at the last two images, and this one (commercial cloth commercial dye)
reminds me of another aspect of this process I LOVE. Being able to see this initial spiral each and every time a bowl begins. And then following it until the rope runs out. Complete.
following thread 
oh Patricia in the last photo I have fallen in love with the top centre bowl, the one with the yellow centre spiraling out to the dark blue tail, will e-mail you to see if it’s still available! feeling that the plain dyed rope ones just need a little more something… perhaps a few dips in walnut to deepen the colour at the centre or out to the edge…?
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yep. you’re right about needing something. as soon as they’re totally dry i’ll mess around and see what happens. i emailed you about the bowl. glad you liked it!
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My favourite is the one on the right. So pretty!
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thank you. and thank you for taking the time to comment.
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You are definitely getting good color. The center of the bowl spiral reminds me of a fern frond unfurling.
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good color but i’m feeling the urge to paint “shine” on the baskets. not working just yet
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The colors you are getting are really nice! There is just something about the cloth wrapped ones. A softness, a way that light is absorbed and reflected, and the color variations. A much more magical feel to me.
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i’m with you. it’s been an interesting short journey but i think dyeing bowls is off my radar for now. thanks!
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