My oldest daughter’s birthday is in a few days so a yesterday I decided to create a scarf for her.
Lavender was my theme as it is a colour she likes and the soothing effects of lavender are so good for all of us.
I had a lovely lavender scented candle and had mixed a special tea for her from dried herbs from my garden. (I used equal parts of lavender blossoms and lemon balm leaves and about a quarter part lemon thyme leaves. For good measure I added a bit of Egyptian organic lemon peel from Angelic Teapot. If you live near White Rock, BC go check them out, they have the most amazing selection of loose teas and tea related gifts plus some fun jewellery. My personal favorites: Organic King Tut Lemonade, Orange Grove Vanilla and Yummy Berry Kid’s Tea)
Fibre art and dyeing has been my passion for many years but last summer when I discovered mosaic I just stopped dyeing fabric and I had recently wondered if I was ever going to feel the pull to return to it.
Well it didn’t take me long to remember how much I love the experience of dying. I had a beautiful devore velvet scarf blank in my stash so I pulled that out and did some direct application to the back with Fibre Etch, dried it, removed the fibers and was on to the dyeing. (FYI, I get most of my supplies from Dharma Trading. They have fantastic service and excellent instructions on their website.)
I used Alter Ego dyes, my favorite when dying devore fabric. They are like magic! One pot, 35 minutes, two distinct colours on the fabric. 
The mix generally looks like a muddy mess in the pot but the colours separate as it is heated and the end result is lovely. I decided to go with lavender for the silk and charcoal for the rayon. I had intended to dye a lighter shade of gray but I second guessed myself and added more dye than I knew I should! Still, I love the results, the rayon has almost a golden sheen to it.
One thing I have learned from fibre arts is that it is important to be open to unexpected results. Keeping thorough notes and doing test samples can reduce surprises but the scarf was a one-off and I was mixing a colour combo I hadn’t previously tested.
In case I ( or you) ever want to reproduce this again here’s the recipe.
I was dying a 14″ x 72″ silk/rayon velvet scarf with a small amount of devore.
I used 12 ml of Tulipe Noire for the rayon
2 ml. Chardon, 3 ml Zinnia, 1 ml Turquoise for the silk
30 ml salt, 36 drops fixative, 15 drops white vinegar.
My Creative Progress 