did you know? DYEING with black beans

just a photographic update of what's happening in zaidibirindilandia!

we've been playing with natural dyes, and these are some pictures from a few weeks ago.
so ironic that after the travels and the experimentation two of the most important colors came out of things that are so familiar to me and that I never thought of DYING with...
achiote (annatto) and black bean water!
the black bean water was very intriguing. when i dyed a piece of mordanted organic cotton in the cold water (from the soaked beans) that had never been heated, the fabric turned out purple. after heating the water, the resulting color on a new piece of mordanted organic cotton was gray!

fabric being dyed in black bean water

left: black bean skins, right : fabric drying

fabric dyed with achiote, coffee, curry, turmeric

those colors made me think of THIS- which remind me so much of my days in FLORENCE, and make me wish this was my view -from the studio-

and that this was me, going outside to have a chat with the sun and wish him a good night

I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out more. 

Remember the show is on JANUARY 27th!