Empty skies

I can’t help but feeling that the landscapes I’m making in my skies project are too empty. I keep wanting to make something happen. Last night before sleeping I had the notion of adding a whale flying by, held up by red balloons (not very original, I know. Don’t you just hate it when you decide to google one of your ideas and it’s all over the place already?) Or perhaps little stone trolls in some corner? It seems to me all the images are holding their breath….

This is perhaps silly since these are exercises in painting environments and clouds, simple as that. A tool to help me create more complicated images later. But why not indulge, it is after all how I am.

Shamelessly stolen from an English hillside and Photoshopped to taste the concept.
Shamelessly stolen from an English hillside and Photoshopped to taste the concept. Not sure my skills are up to the job IRL but I like it much better now. (I didn’t google this one, to prevent a nervous breakdown *EG*)

Chain-dyeing

Instead of cutting mini skeins to dye, when I knew I’d be using at least some of it for weft, I decided to try to dye the unbroken yarn. I wound up small loops, tied, wound another etc. until the whole ball of yarn was used up, and then painted them side by side. I then use steaming so the colours don’t run too much, but having soaked the yarn in vinegar water first and also having vinegar in the dye solutions makes this superwash yarn absorb and hold most of the dye anyway.

The process from soak to dye layout to steaming and then tossed into the hot water to cool after steaming (with more vinegar to prevent bleeding) did cause some tangling obviously, that’s the nature of yarn, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And now we’re ready to weave again.