Dyeing Memories

Childhood memories hit me this morning as I was taking pictures of my latest offerings to put up on Etsy. It is of me standing on a step stool with my little apron on and spending hours dyeing my dozen hard boiled eggs for the Easter table. My mother learned very early on that I was the person to dye the eggs - my over the top Control Freak way I went about dipping, re dipping and and making special holders for each egg made me the perfect person to take on the task. Each year was a different theme, a new way of combining the colors and more detailed resistance patterns painted on the tiny shells. I admit it - I was more then a little obsessed...

Now that my kids are grown and my hens lay their own amazing shades of blues, greens and browns I luckily have my fiber to play in. Yes, even when my body could not move an inch I managed to create some special hand painted Tesswater Wool locks in the spirit of the day.

The ounce on the left is call "Magical Mermaid" which has Sky Blue, Soft Turquoise, Pale Teal and Sea Foam Green gently painted and then steamed. The one to the Right is called "Cloud Filled Sky" with Sky Blue and Cornflower Blue drizzled over the natural white locks.

I may have changed the methods and materials from my youth but the pure joy and excitement is always there as I reveal my latest dye bath. The same rush of delight still runs through every cell in my body. The only thing that has changed since then is I can not walk them out to the waiting folks gathered around the dinner table and hear the Gasps and kind words about my work. Now I have to wait and hope that someone thinks my latest creation is worth mention or even better yet worth purchasing. The other thing that has changed is I can create with dye any time I want and no one tells me not to make a mess - Yeah, like this gal would make a mess!
Well, that is except for my blue green finger tips that I proudly wear because I was too excited to remember to put on my gloves again... Dye On!!!