A day of dyeing. After spending all of last week scouring, tannin-soaking, and mordanting this fabric, I finally got to putting the color in. I used Cochineal dye with Iron Oxide.

It's quite time-consuming to go through the process of natural dyeing. Why am I doing it? I think it has something to do with the immersion into the method, the learning of a new skill, the connection to ancient traditions, the organic quality of it.

Cochineal is an insect, and apparently, this is the closest you can get in natural dyes to a red. As you can see, mine is more violet or fuschia. And probably due to my inexperienced technique, the outcome is a bit mottled. I wasn't worried about this since I'll be tearing the fabric up into strips. Wikipedia has some interesting info on Cochineal, quite a bit of history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal

While making this, I got to thinking about using an insect to color fabric, and looked to see what PETA had to say:

"Carmine. Cochineal. Carminic Acid.
Red pigment from the crushed female cochineal insect. It takes a million corpses to make a kilogram of carminic acid, the more purified form of cochineal extract. Used in cosmetics, shampoos, red apple sauce, and other foods (including red lollipops and food coloring). May cause allergic reaction. Alternatives: beet juice (used in powders, rouges, and shampoos; no known toxicity) and alkanet root (from the root of this herb-like tree; used as a red dye for inks, wines, lip balms, etc.; no known toxicity; can also be combined to make a copper or blue coloring)."

It's nice that they post alternatives. I didn't go and buy they dye, I've had it for years, so I decided to use it. But given my outcome, I doubt I would try it again. I get almost this same color from Logwood, without worrying about the source. Increasingly, I am more concerned about the impact my work has on the world, not just aesthetically, but a moral or environmentally sound consideration as well. When I first starting burning fabric, I was using bed-sheets from the thrift store. Of course, eventually, I got my hands on those that had a lot of polyester in them, which created less of a feathery burnt edge, and more of a thin, melted line. And, I got tired of breathing the toxic fumes of incinerating plastic, not to mention adding that to the atmosphere.

Went to Beatrice and Woodsley's tonight for dessert, which is my vote for the most visually interesting restaurant in Denver. This photo shows three of my favorite details in the place: the exposed lathe-and-plaster wall, the kerosene lanterns which lower on a gang-pulley system, and the shelves held up with antique chainsaws. B&W saved me from a depressing feeling I had upon return from Portland that there was nothing hip in this town. I have since realized that besides this, there are other places too. But it's nice to see a place that shows such creative effort. And I do recommend the Pot du Creme.

This is a pond/stream that I built this summer. This morning, I was surprised to find a Cooper's Hawk sitting on the upright rock. At least, I think it's a Cooper's. After this photo, it jumped down into the water to take a bath. I think it likes to hang out around this pool because the pool attracts other birds that it feeds on. There's always loose feathers laying around .

This is the progress on my new large piece (48x48"). The first Friday in September, I showed the first two of this series at the Space Gallery in Denver on Santa Fe Drive. http://www.spacegallery.org/

I took this picture with the sun setting through the window. Or as Buckminster Fuller and might say, the "earth rising."