Off overseas again......

This week's blog is a day early as I will be on my way overseas again. This time it is to Syria and Egypt on a Tantalising Textiles Tour. Escorted by Jenny Bowker, a well-known quilter from Australia, we will be based in Damascus and Cairo, plus four nights on a cruise ship down the Nile. There is plenty of sights and history to explore in both countries – pyramids, mosques, ruins etc as well as investigating the traditional shops in the woman's souks, visiting craftsmen practising their centuries-old textile trades, plus markets and museums. Sounds wonderful doesn't it and I should have plenty to tell when I get back at the end of this month.
Recently I had to make a visit to my dentist. I questioned him about the latex gloves he wears and he gave me one to try on. These were far superior to the supermarket variety which inevitably leak and I end up with at least one distinctive coloured finger when immersion dyeing. I usually wear my bulky workman's gloves but when doing a small batch I prefer the disposable gloves. I departed with a box of 100 gloves, payment of which was added to my somewhat alarming dentist's bill. Those of you working in the medical industry will be aware of these gloves but others might like to consider this other source.
Below are images from another length of silk fabric length which I dyed recently.

A length of silk jacquard with soya wax spirals, stretched on my big adjustable frame, which then had one end tilted up quite high. Surplus dye, with fixing additives, was poured on to the fabric using a meat baster. The colours blended to create new colour combinations.

This piece was then overdyed, once again using up some surplus dye mixtures (note the colour of the spirals which had been white)

Next Blog: Home again.....