Avocado Dye

Recently I made an avocado dye bath. I used a very simple recipe that I found here https://ruthsinger.com/2013/10/01/natural-dye-avocado/ . I didn't use any skins, though I had intended to but I left them too long and they got too moldy. I instead just cut up 4 avocado pits. I simmered the pits and water for about an hour, and then added muslin pieces of varying thickness. I then simmered the fabric for an hour and left them to soak over night before hanging them on the line to dry. I've not yet set the color, but plan on using a 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water mixture to set some of the fabric.

After simmering for two hours, this is what the pits looked like. 

Trixie made a cameo appearance in this one with Xingxing. 

I then dyed another group of fabric in the remaining bath and left it for two nights. This batch came out much lighter, I guess something happened with the heat of the stove to intensify the color of the first batch. I am glad I used as many pits as I did, I would like to get deeper colors next time. Maybe add more pits and simmer for longer. I'd also like to try some different fabrics. 

Shetland Ponies

Women of the Shetland Islands with Shetland Ponies-ca. 1900

The Shetland pony is a breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles, a subarctic chain of islands off the northeast coast of mainland Scotland. It is believed that the pony has been on the island for over 2000 years, small horses having been brought over during the Bronze Age. It is then suggested that these ponies were later crossed with stock ponies and Celtic ponies imported by settlers. Due to the harsh climate of the islands, the ponies developed into extremely hardy animals. "No place in Shetland is further than four miles from the sea and it is legendary during the worst winters lack of grazing on the scathold would drive some ponies to forage for seaweed along the shores." http://www.shetlandponystudbooksociety.co.uk/about-the-breed The smallest ponies were able to survive the climate, and the breed ranges in size from 7 hands to 11 hands maximum. They are extremely strong, and are considered the strongest horse breed in comparison to their size. They were used for hauling coal, peet, carts, and for ploughing. During the industrial revolution the ponies were imported to England and even to the United States to haul coal from the mines after a la was enacted in 1847 to prohibit children from going into the mines. Their lives were very short in these conditions. The American Shetland pony was developed after being imported to the country. These ponies are noted for being taller and finer. Today the ponies are used for various types of activities, including races.

Ploughing on the Shetland Islands

Pit pony in Virginia

Shetland pony races 

Finished Bag

I finished my scrap bag. I didn't get the best documentation photos of the bag, but I did get some better photographs of my dress.

My cat Xingxing is my best helper. My accomplice in the woods.

I haven't carried the bag yet, but it does feel a bit awkward. I am happy with its large size though, so it remains to be seen how I will feel about carrying it for a long period of time. I am happy with how the dyed pieces look, and it as a prototype in general.

Experiments in hanging.

The dress and apron were made out of old cotton fabric that my mom found when she was cleaning out my grandparents apartment in 2014. My grandfather was moving into an assisted living home at the time, so there was a lot of organizing and cleaning to be done. My grandmother passed in January of 2010. She was an avid and very talented seamstress and made clothing for my mother when she was growing up. The fabric itself is so beautiful. It is stained from years of being folded up and in and out of positions in the sun. There are even markings that my grandmother made in black. Almost a year ago I was in Joanne's Fabrics on a whim and decided to get a pattern for a dirndl, the German traditional attire for women. It seemed fitting when I got home and thought about the dress that I use my grandmother's fabric. So its taken me this long to complete the dress...so it goes I guess. Anyway, I took some liberties in the design removed flowers around the neckline of the bodice and the strings to make the bodice tighter. There is also a shirt that is supposed to go under it. Part of the dress is machine sewn and part of it is hand sewn. I went through a lot of different scenarios in my mind for what to do with the dress (or should I say shell mockup of the dress. I still do want to make a dirndl with the pattern) but ultimately there was too much thinking and not enough action, so I had to go outside and take some photos. My grandmother was German. Her family came over from Bavaria, where dirndls are mostly worn, before the Civil War and settled in Iowa. They made uniforms for the Union Army during the Civil War. In her later years my grandmother was very involved with genealogy and her German heritage,thus it felt relevant to use her fabric for my dirndl. Plus, I have always just felt particularly drawn to having a dirndl! I don't know if it has to do with the age of my grandmother's fabric, but the way light hits it just seems so special to me. In the middle of making the dress I read portions of the English translation of the uncensored folk and fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. I linked the book in "The Horse and His Boy" post. So I am interested in the fairy tale, witch in the woods idea. I think every good witch has a faithful cat as a sidekick, so Xingxing fits right into my fantasy! The flannel shirt was given to me last October. The woods I am a part of are behind my mother's house, where I am living to save money while I go back to school. I used to think they were haunted, wild, and magical when I was a little girl.

Cover Art

My drawing from the series, "Shadow People" made it to the cover of a book! My friend Keith asked to use the image for the cover of his new book, I, Dagger, out now on Empty City Press .

This series was inspired by my first experience with sleep paralysis in June of 2012. At the time I was feeling lost and stifled personally. I woke up one night to what looked to be a black figure in a hat trying to strangle me and a swirling of black shapes/spirits in my room. My breathing was heavily restricted, as though the figure was succeeding in its task to strangle me--thus an incubus and succubus being depicted standing on one's chest. I kept repeating in my head "go away please. go away." Eventually the figure disappeared along with the swirling shapes. This happening profoundly affected me, and caused me to create these drawings. I think they probably took me maybe two hours total. After researching the phenomenon, I found that people reported seeing this same shape/figure. He is known as the 'hat man.' A hag or man with nails in his head have also been reported. These figures seem to be sometimes grouped into a larger phenomenon known as Shadow People, black figures and shapes seen out of the corner of one's eye. Shadow People are not limited to being seen at night, like those figures attributed to sleep paralysis. My experience with sleep paralysis and my hat man caused me to look back to my childhood. I have a memory of seeing a black figure of a man wearing a hat coming around the hall corner the first time I stayed at home alone at night when I was 10. I was incredibly anxious about being in the house-and I very much believed in spirits and ghosts, I have from a young age without question. I felt totally convinced someone was coming around the corner and called out my brothers name. A tall black figure of a man wearing a hat rounded the corner and then disappeared before I could totally look. I also from time to time when I was younger would see black figures out of the corner of my eye. Either way, to get through, I attributed my early experiences to tricks of the eye and anxiety because I was (and still am to an extent) uncomfortable with the idea of communicating with ghosts. But my later experiences caused me to revisit them. Who knows ultimately what happened when I was 10 or waking from my sleep at 22, maybe there really was an interdimensional being present who likes to wear a hat, or it was anxiety and my mind playing tricks on me. Either way, it was a pretty pivotal experience.  To learn more about sleep paralysis and other related expereinces  here is a video done by my friend Emerald Wilkins of The Diamond Net :http://www.thediamondnet.org/sleep-paralysis-and-obe

I highly recommend Emerald's other videos as well, she is a powerful and interesting person

Depiction of an incubus