A few days ago, I treated myself to a bunch of five little tight budded bright yellow tulips. I have really enjoyed them. I LOVE tulips. I love the sound tulips make- go figure! Have you never noticed that when tulips are moved against each other , as in while they are being arranged in a vase, that they make a lovely little hollow, squeaky, popping sound as they rub against each other? Well, I have - because that is the kind of a strange woman I am! Anyway, these buds opened up and I noticed, to my great delight , that there was a tiny, fine red line around each petal. As the blooms opened, that red bled down into the yellow, eventually turning the yellow tulips coral-y orange. LOVELY As they opened further, I saw that beautiful slatey blue star shape in the base and the stamens were bright orange! LOVE IT! I could help myself no further. I had to take a few pictures to share. Here are a couple ...
Now, the practical-I am finally finished the Red Iris and have used the wonderful instructions on Elaine Quehl's blog to create a strip facing. This is not a great photo but it DOES illustrate the finished product. The hanging sleeve is in place too as you can see. All it needs now is a good label.
And , finally- the ZOWIE part! I ordered some dyes from Pro Chemical and Dye and they arrived on Friday AM. One of the colours is called Eggplant! LOVE that colour- not so keen on the taste, but I took the dyes down to my subterranean dye shop and wet a piece of paper towelling and then opened one of the little pots of dye powder to try the colour. I dipped a tiny brush into it and just sprinkled the powder over a spot on the wet towel. INSTANTLY , the gorgeous Eggplant purple bloomed- but then-
because it is a mixed colour, and the component parts of mixed colours strike at different rates, began to travel!!!! I was VERY VERY excited, ran upstairs for the camera and here is the result!
Look at THAT! I say Zowie! Cannot WAIT to try it on cotton. That is it for today. Now I am off to adjust the white balance on my camera so I can get more accurate pics of my quilts. Enjoy the rest of the day :-)
because it is a mixed colour, and the component parts of mixed colours strike at different rates, began to travel!!!! I was VERY VERY excited, ran upstairs for the camera and here is the result!
OK, that dye is very, very cool! I didn't used to love eggplant until my friend Steve, whose background is Italian (i.e. he's made a LOT of eggplant parmesan in his time) told me the trick: slice it, salt the bejeebers out of it, let it sit for a while, then squeeze as much liquid out as possible. It takes that kind of acrid taste out of it -- quite yummy! (Those are my words of wisdom for the day). So, whatcha going to do with the nifty new dye? Can't wait to see! The tulips are gorgeous, by the way...I might need to get myself some one of these days.
ReplyDeleteLove your tulips...once spring arrives and I can find some, I will have to have a closer look...emphasis on "closer"...I too like eggplant, with lots of garlic and tomato and cheese. The colour, though ("aubergine") is also quite wonderful. Looking forward to hearing about the fun you have with those dyes!
ReplyDeleteooh, that is pretty. both the tulip and the dye spread.
ReplyDeleteThe dye is beautiful and inspiring and the tulips, what a wonderful flower. I love how they arrange themselves in the vase and how they grow. By the way- they are selling eggplants nowadays without this "acrid" taste - but this is in Germany and those eggplants are coming from the Netherlands, out of their greenhouses, where no taste at all is coming out.
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