Success!

This afternoon I completed a huge part of my project: THAT TAPESTRY! 

I had anticipated it taking another day to finish, but a few hours proved sufficient time. I'M SO RELIEVED! I have made real, measurable progress. The tapestry is woven. There's a second one, but it won't take long. Next comes darning in a few ends and overdyeing, but that's easy stuff. It's a big step toward completing the residency project, and I feel very good about it. 

Here are a few photos of what I was doing before my last sad post, and this week I'll show you what the finished tapestry looks like. 

Scribbly notes for colour planning and dye measurements. The notes are thorough, but you have to keep in mind I adjust colour on the fly, so my notes are somewhat inaccurate. You get the gist of what's happening though.

Dye pots at work! I used combinations of pomegranate, kamala, and madder, to create a gradation of oranges. It smelled so nice while cooking...

Madder with mystery yarn.

The two back burners are fresh dye extractions, and I'm steaming three eucalyptus bundles (silk handkerchiefs!) in the third pot. The hankies were moderately successful. Next time I'll steam for two hours and let the bundles cool for a day or two before I rip them open.

Leftover balls of dyestuff! I'm saving this to overdye the tapestry.

And now for something completely different, warp reelings! Margaret Jane brought in this year's pantone colours in cotton so we could test them out. I'd forgotten just how exciting it is to play with colours. It's a great creative exercise and it gets you out of "your colours". 

The success of today (plus a fun shopping trip with Jennifer), coupled with hard work (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques) over the past week, has shaken off the black dog today. I feel like my regular self, and I want to continue feeling like this.