Thursday, July 7, 2011

A glimpse of possibilities with India Flint--part 1

India Flint-eucalyptus sample
It was announced that India Flint's workshop at Craft Alliance in St. Louis was the first week long adult workshop held there.  I was surprised.  Perhaps the people at Craft Alliance were too as participants in the workshop came from all over the country.  There were a handful of people from St. Louis, one from Columbia, MO and two from Illinois--myself and another from the Chicago area.  Joining us were participants from Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

India shows us a St. Louis windfall piece
The evening before the workshop India took a walk collecting windfall along the way.  She bundled and simmered the fabric in her hotel room and unwrapped it in front of us on day one. 

Minneapolis windfall demonstration piece
She explained a few minutes later about the talk she gave at the recent SDA conference where she unwrapped what I can only describe as an astounding piece of eco printed silk.  I'm sure it knocked the socks off of those in attendance at the conference too.  Wow it was beautiful!

The one disappointment in the workshop was trying to fit in time to eat lunch.  Restaurants in the Grand Center area are rather spread out and none are fast food places.  We quickly learned on the first day that India was focused on work rather than nourishment...but in our attempt to go out we did stumble on this incredible and perfectly rusted manhole cover.  In the cover of darkness I might be tempted to borrow it for my collection.  Friend Suzy Farren took an extra shirt she had with her, eagerly sopped up the rain water collected in the crevices of the manhole cover and rubbed some of the rust onto the shirt for instant mordanting and future dyeing.

Along Olive Street, Grand Center

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