Saint Pomegranate

 

"..The pomegranate tree had borne fruit, it was in fact laden with pomegranates. The pomegranates had ripened and cracked open, and their shining red seeds shone in the golden-bright sun. The woman thought that this was the truth, the pomegranate seeds. She had received a vision that truth, the truth which she did not know and yet had spent a lifetime guarding, was born of Saint Pomegranate."- pg.323, Touba and the Meaning of Night by Shahrnush Parsipur

I dyed another linen of my grandmothers' with pomegranates- this time with dried rinds. I cut open another pomegranate and dried the skin in the oven. Then I let the pieces sit in my bathroom under the skylight for a week or so to further dry. Once dry enough, I boiled and left the rinds soaking overnight, took them out the next morning added the fabric, simmered it, and let it sit for four days (I believe). The results are very similar to using freshly harvested rinds. 

The Witch

 

I made 'the Witch' for a Halloween decorating contest at the library. She's got a dried yellow rose tucked up in her logwood dyed alpaca hair. She sports a lightly pokeweed dyed top tucked into a logwood skirt and belt. She herself is a lovely shade of black walnut. Her pointy hat is sumi ink on felt. Every witch needs their familiar, and her kitty is a grey (like mine) from tea/iron dyed muslin. Every witch also needs their broom. Hers is made from some of my dried mugwort, willow, river birch, and black walnut from the woods out back. And, yes, I did just find the broom stick woven in vines waiting for me in the grass, already magical on its own. She surprised me when I finished her. (I also won Halloween) 

Pomegranates

 

Late last Saturday night I decided I just had to dye some antique linens with pomegranates. So the following morning I masked up and picked some up at the grocery store. That same day I harvested the seeds and boiled the rinds (of 2 poms), mordanted the napkins with alum, let both pots sit overnight, and dyed the linens the next morning. Which happened to be Monday, the winter solstice. After harvesting the seeds and while boiling the rinds on Sunday, I was reading "Bottom of the Pot" by Naz Deravian, which I had gotten out of the library to learn more about Persian cooking. I intended to find a recipe to use the pomegranate seeds and in the process I found out that the following day, Monday (the day I dyed the linens using the dye bath created from soaking the rinds) happened to be Yalda, the Iranian winter solstice celebration. Pomegranates bear particular significance. I experienced delightful pomegranate synchronicity through Spirit. My intuition knew before I consciously did that I needed to buy some poms. The napkins turned out this lovely creamy gold color.  https://persianmama.com/shabe-yalda-a-persian-celebration/

The Stag Skirt

 

The stag skirt. A simple skirt made from muslin I dyed with black walnuts. I added a large stag themed ribbon that I bought at M & J Trimming a few years ago while on a trip to NYC with my mom as the waistband. Minus the ribbon, this is the medium length version of the DongoDesign "Charlotte" skirt pattern. 

Touba and the Meaning of Night

 - Along with the lightening and thunder outside, Touba felt a flash in her mind; what was in the dark came to light. "When you procreate, there is a freshness in being, but the main part of this being consists of repetitions. And in this circle of repetitions, we seek help from the dead. Prince Gil, the presence of your wife is dear, she brings with her a soft breeze and joy. Of course, she can steal a man away from someone like me. Perhaps she can steal many. But for how long? Someday she will be enlightened and then become ordinary, and will not steal anymore. But her presence will give off joy into the world, for she is like flowing water. She moves forth, purifies the air, gives life to earth. One must be patient."

-pg. 170 from "Touba and the Meaning of Night" by Shahrnush Parsipur 

 I finished the longest version of the DongoDesign "Charlotte" skirt pattern. It is made from an antique tablecloth I dyed with logwood from my Great Aunt Kay's old linens. She lived in an apartment on the West Side of Central Park in NYC. This tablecloth belonged to their neighbor Mrs. Horvath or Mrs. Horowitz. Neither my mom or my grandfather could agree on her name. She was Jewish and came to NYC to escape Nazi Germany. My mom tells me Mrs. H lived in a big dark apartment with big dark furniture. Once I dyed it, I spotted six cherubs I hadn't seen before. 

 

Sharks' Teeth

BY KAY RYAN

Everything contains some   

silence. Noise gets

its zest from the

small shark's-tooth

shaped fragments

of rest angled

in it. An hour   

of city holds maybe   

a minute of these   

remnants of a time   

when silence reigned,   

compact and dangerous   

as a shark. Sometimes   

a bit of a tail   

or fin can still   

be sensed in parks.

-via https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/42129/sharks-teeth

(black bean dyed sari remnants and shark tooth)

Islamic Calligraphy

 Kufic https://www.arabic-calligraphy.com/arabic-calligraphy-styles/kufi/

Naskh https://www.arabic-calligraphy.com/arabic-calligraphy-styles/naskh/