Dye and Fiber Retreat

Samples of our work from 2012: woven baskets, handspun yarns, knitting, crocheting, glass pebble bowls, sprang, embroidery, space-dyed roving, tie-dyed clothing, plant-dyed ribbons and silks, copper-etching

This year's Dye and Fiber Retreat, hosted by Griffin Dyeworks will be on June 14-16 near Castaic, CA (just North of Los Angeles). Spend three blissful days camping, eating (there is a camp cook!), dyeing, knitting, spinning, weaving, and more. Classes and demos in a relaxed atmosphere. To register: www.griffindyeworks.com. Jennifer will be teaching the basics of freeform crochet and Tunisian crochet.

By the way...I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because with a baby nursing in my lap, and children, cats and bunnies needing my attention (three litters born this month!), I have to type more quickly than ever!

Ricky learning how to make a drop spindle

Jennifer, Joey, and Linden selling supplies and teaching crochet

Our camping tent at the retreat.

Wilson learning how to space dye

Rick, Ricky and Joey weaving baskets

Dyeing with Plants

Plant-dyeing is easy and rewarding. It is a wonderful project for families, classes and groups of children and adults. We always say that plant dyeing is a bit of science and a bit of art -- and, always just a bit of a mystery! Part of the fun is seeing what kinds of colors will emerge each time.

Colors will vary, depending on the quality of the water, the freshness of the plants, the plant source, the weather, and more. Overdyeing is also rewarding -- dye with one color, then dip into another color to create a third color. Will yellow from onion skins and then a dip in the pink Brazilwood make orange? Hmmm....

Plant dyeing may be done indoors, but is usually easier to do in groups outside . Have space for a table with cook stoves and pots, a space for bins of water with mordant, a hose for rinsing, and a spot to hang dyeables safely for drying.

Jennifer recently had the pleasure of leading a workshop at the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education's annual conference at Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. We dyed yards of silk gauze with onion skins, Brazilwood, logwood, cochineal (which are bugs that live on plants!), and copper. Beautiful!

To learn more, we highly recommend Griffin Dyework's eBook on dyeing, available in our Etsy shop. If possible come to one of Griffin Dyework's Fiber Frolics or the annual Dye and Fiber Retreat in Southern California! This year, the retreat is June 14-17.

Making a Gnome Calendar

It has been a crafty summer here at Syrendell!  

We spent an inspired weekend at the Griffin Dyeworks Dye and Fiber Retreat in Castaic, CA.  Camping, spinning, teaching Tunisian crochet, weaving, dyeing, coppersmithing and so much more!  Truly a treat for all people interested in learning more about fiber arts in a relaxed setting. 

Next, we spent 4 weeks teaching, leading and assisting at the Davis Waldorf School Summergarden camp.  Week 1: Knitting, crochet, lucet; Week 2: Spinning, weaving, kumihimo; Week 3: Plant-dyeing, wetfelting, needlefelting; Week 4: Papercrafting and sewing.  Children also participated in gardening and wholesome food preparation.  


Now, we are enjoying crafting at home.  Joey is spinning yarn to earn $ for her upcoming 8th grade trip.  Her yarns are available at www.syrendell.etsy.com and by custom order (email: info@syrendell.com).  Ricky has been helping get our craft/music room reorganized (a thrilling and scary task!).  

Wilson and Mommy created a calendar with gnomes.  This was inspired by one that we had seen made by Mama Roots a while back, one of our favorite Etsy shops.  First, we ordered a wood ring from Joshua Rutherford of Honoring Fallen Trees.  He makes them out of beautiful hardwoods in different colors.  We chose maple.  Next, we selected 12 special little wood people.  We talked about the 12 months of the year, the 4 seasons, and the colors and symbols that represent the seasons.  


Next, Wilson chose colored pieces of felt for each month and matching embroidery threads.  With some embroidery assistance from Mommy and sister Joey, little gnome hats were sewn.  

Wilson painted the gnomes the color of each season and then sealed them with beeswax polish as they dried.  Hats were glued onto the gnomes.  Now, we will play games, tell stories, create math problems, and talk about the months of the year in Spanish and English with our beautiful gnome calendar!

Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving!

As homeschoolers, some of our best projects are the ones that we do as a family.  Handwork is no exception!

For the third year, we have made a woven table runner together. We use it on our dinner table, for nature tables and other displays in the home.  Here's how it goes:

1.  Spin fiber into yarn on one of our spinning wheels.

2.  Dye the fiber with plants and natural materials at the annual Griffin Dyeworks Dye & Fiber Retreat in Castaic, CA.

3.  Warp up the Ashford Knitter's Loom with a crochet cotton.

4.  Wind our yarns onto stick weaving shuttles, singing: "Up and down, up and down, we are making figure eights. Up and down, up and down, we are loading shuttles."

5.  Weave the weft (yarns on shuttles) into the warp.  We take turns and do a little bit each day.

6.  Trim the ends, tie knots for fringe, and we are done!

2008 Table Runner

2009 Table Runner

2010 Table Runner

Click here to see books and supplies for weaving, dyeing and other handwork projects!

Tie-Dyeing

Tie-dyeing is one of our favorite crafts to do while at the Griffin Dyeworks Dye & Fiber Retreat each year.  This year, we dyed a shirt for each of us, socks for Joey and a silk scarf.

Ercil is the best teacher!  She taught us how to prepare and fold the fabric.  We soaked the shirts in water and soda ash. 

Then, we squirted dye colors on, bagged them up, and let them sit overnight.  We also dyed shirts for children who were flood victims.

The next day, we rinsed them, and then washed them when we got home.

Dye & Fiber Retreat

Our family attended the annual Griffin Dyeworks Dye & Fiber Retreat this year in the beautiful mountains above Castaic, California.  This was the 4th year for the whole family, and Mommy and Joey's 5th year attending.  Definitely one of the highlights of our year!

Camping on the Hillside

Punch Needle Rug Hooking

Spinning

Naalbinding

Natural Dyeing

Splash Dyeing

Whittling

Soldering a Pebble Dish

Making a Spindle

Embroidery

Tie-Dyeing

Card Weaving

Cross Stitch

Graduated Dyeing

Teaching Tunisian Crochet

Selling our Fiber Arts Tools, Books and Totes

Time out for fun -- basketball, star-gazing and musical improvisation

It was a jammed-pack weekend filled with sweet, wonderful, talented people -- and teaching, learning, sharing and creating.  Thank you to the amazing staff and supporters of Griffin Dyeworks for hosting this event!