Thursday, June 07, 2007

Fiber Crafts at the Huntington this Weekend

I received this email from the Huntington Library and Gardens. Their web site has general visitor info, but did not mention this event. It is listed under family activities so I told Iris about it and she wants to attend. I also want to see the rose garden in full bloom.

Somehow, she thinks they are going to dye flowers instead of dye fiber with flowers. I tried to clarify, but dyeing flowers really captured her imagination. Perhaps I will show her how to dye carnations with food dye at home one of these days.
Fiber Crafts Demonstrations
June 9 - 10, Sat. - Sun., 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The centuries-old crafts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing with natural plant dyes will be showcased in this weekend program. Skilled craftspeople will demonstrate the tools and techniques used for carding and combing fibers such as cotton and linen, spinning the fibers into yarn or thread, and weaving the yarns into fabric. Also demonstrated will be the making of natural vegetable dyes using herbs and other plant materials. Informal tours of the garden will be offered throughout the weekend. General admission. Herb Garden

2 comments:

  1. Also fun is (if you can borrow a low-powered microscope) cutting thin slices of a suitably fleshy stem after the dyeing experiment and seeing the xylem! We used impatiens one year, I think, and cow parsley (a UK weed) the next.

    Can you tell I loved the plant side of school biology lessons?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny you should mention that, Lorna.
    We have a vase of carrot tops on our dining room table and Iris asked if we could dye them blue with food coloring.

    ReplyDelete

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