The Natural Dyes - WOW the Colors!

21 October 2024

I've talked about the four women in our class who foraged for plant material and made all sorts of dyes.  They really worked hard, and accomplished a lot during our ten day class.

Not that I learned anything about dyeing, but I was having enough trouble just warping the loom!  I really did not need to try anything else in the class, trust me!

The group used a combination of foraged materials and the Saxon blue that our instructor, Shelley, brought with her.  The blues in the center are Saxon blue, some overdyed over elephant ear mushroom dye, or, well, I don't really know.

But look at all these colors!  Amazing, aren't they?  So big props to our dyers, who created these and more colors of yarn!

They then catalogued the various colors, making cards with a swatch of each yard and labelling them with the plant materials used, the mordants, percentages of whatever - so that these colors can be replicated.

As I said originally, I wanted the colors that were used in the San Gemini flags, the indigo blue, bright white, and rich red.  So I didn't get involved with the dyes.  (My big contribution, she said facetiously, was helping spread these skeins on the drying rack so the yarn could fully dry.  I know, one tiny step in a HUGE task!)

But the results really were incredible, so I wanted to be sure to include them here! 

 

Weaving La Rocca del San Gemini

13 October to 15 November 2024 - end date approximate

 

Our second day in Italy was a full day travelling to Tarquinia and the mosaic garden, but our looms were screwed together.  YAY!  Day three dawned with dry looms (finally!), a half-day trip to the waterfall, and it looked like we were ready to weave!  Some yarn was dyed.  Most of us had our designs.  We had measured and marked inches (and quarter and half inches) on the top and bottom horizontal bars of our looms.  We were all set to learn how to do tapestry weaving, which is different from basic weaving.

 

First we had to "warp the loom."  Basically, the warp is the vertical threads on a loom, and they are stationary.  The weft is the horizontal threads (we used yarn) that weaves back and forth across the warp to make the fabric or tapestry.

 

In our case, there was measuring and making sure we had ten warp threads per inch.  Tying the beginning cotton twine to the loom, looping around and counting as we go, making sure there are enough ups and downs to create the width of the tapestry.  Then tightly tying the end of the warp twine to the loom, and carefully moving the threads so they are fairly evenly spaced at the top and bottom of the loom.

 

There's also a weird twining thing we had to do across the bottom of the warp threads.  Because our looms were tubing, this gave us space between the warp threads, one being over the tubing and one under.  This makes it easier to know which thread to go over or under to create the weave.  The weird twine thing is supposed to make the warp threads, the overs and the unders, on the same plane.  Okay, that part made perfect sense.  Plus the tight horizontal line is kind of the base for the weft threads.  Also made sense.  I just don't know what it's called, and I also found out I don't do it well.

 

It involved a long piece of warp thread folded in half and attached to one upright on the loom.  Then that is woven horizontally between the vertical warp threads.  The doubled thread is woven one over and one under each warp thread, with two twists between.  Yeah, I made a total mess of that.  When someone tells me to twist two threads together, I assume one twist is 360º.  Turns out that 360º is two twists.  Maybe.  I’m still a little confused.  I definitely ended up with uneven twists between warps, so they were no longer evenly spaced.

 

I botched it so badly, Shelley redid mine.  You know it's bad when the teacher does it for the student.

 

Anyway, we began weaving! 

 

Well, before we could weave, we needed to draw the design on the actual warp threads.  This meant putting my drawing under the warp, and using a Sharpie (or other small point permanent marker) to draw the picture.  My design had a lot of straight edges, so I just used cardboard as a straight edge since I didn’t have a ruler.

 

Then we began weaving.  Going from left to right is easy, the warp threads are separated for this weaving direction by the tube used to make the loom.  But there isn’t a device to automatically switch which threads are over and unders, which happens on large looms for basic weaving.  So going from right to left meant picking up each “under” thread one by one, holding them in the right hand until we have maybe ten or fifteen of them, and then pass the yarn, the weft, through them.  Yes, slow and tedious!

 

But there are a few things that made it easier.  First, in order to create a design, it’s okay to work in sections.  The weaving doesn’t need to be totally horizontal across the entire width of the piece, it could be one section of horizontal in one color.  Then another section can be woven next to it.  This was very good news, because the first day of weaving I only had my indigo blue yarn, and my white yarn.  It was another two days until my cochineal red was dyed and then dry enough to use it for weaving!

 

So, there are special tricky ways to weave but change colors for different parts of the design without leaving a slit in the weaving.  Normally this means interlocking the two yarns, and it makes a tiny sawtooth sort of design.  But I was not good at this tricky color change, so my tower sides got a little crooked, as did the doorway.  My lower tower looks like it has lights between the crenellations in the roof.  Eh, this was my learning piece, so I wasn’t going to be all perfectionist about it.  But, well, it is a bit frustrating when things aren’t working the way they really should.

 

Eventually I kind of got the hang of things.  Certain parts worked fine, like my diagonal line.  Other parts are decidedly wonky, and the tower looks a bit like it’s shaking in an earthquake!  (Shelley’s husband is the one who came up with that description, and it’s very apt!)

 

Most of us wove every afternoon, after mornings spent exploring various towns as described in the previous blogs.  (Our dyers continued to dye, and I want to devote a separate blog to the gorgeous yarns they created.)  Our last day, 20 October, was a Sunday and we were scheduled to explore Terni.  Most of us opted to stay and do more weaving, so we could be as close to finished as possible.

 

My piece was just about half done by the time our ten day class was finished, so I packed the entire loom in my luggage, along with the small balls of yarn.  (I wrapped the weaving section in paper to make sure my clothes and such didn't unweave anything!)  Definitely made my luggage heavier, along with my black truffle products – my luggage leaving Italy was fifteen pounds heavier than when I arrived!

 

I managed to finish my piece in Tucson, and tied off the warp threads using the Maori technique.  Different cultures have different weaving techniques.  Modern weaving borrows from those many cultures, but tends to use the names of the original cultures for those specific techniques.

 

Yes, the left side got extremely crooked.  There are ways to “bubble” the weft yarn so it doesn’t pull, but apparently I didn’t leave enough slack to keep it nice and even.  As I said, this was all a learning process for me.

 

Last thing that is a bit odd about tapestry weaving – weft yarn is attached to the warp threads with a loop around and under technique, and the short end is left hanging.  Every time a new color is added, or more yarn of the same color is added, there’s a little short end hanging on the back.  This is a weird French tapestry technique; other cultures don’t do this, and there are ways to prevent the woven yarn from coming undone.  But I’ll talk about that in another blog.

 

So I have my first little tapestry.  I’ll eventually sew a cotton fabric on the back to cover those hanging yarn bits, as well as the warp threads. 

 

All in all, it was fun.  It was interesting.  Not sure I’ll make tapestry weaving my new medium, but it’s always good to learn something totally new.

 

 

 

Orvieto 2024

19 October 2024

 

Orvieto is a lovely hill town, fairly large, with a huge well-known cathedral.  Most people visit the cathedral while there, but it’s one of those places where one or two visits is enough for me, so this visit I skipped it.  

 

The town is also known for their ceramics, similar to Deruta's but slightly different in style.  There are wonderful ceramic signs scattered around, as well as tons of shops with gorgeous displays.  Definitely photo worthy!

 

It was a chilly and rainy day, but there’s a Saturday market that is always worth a quick walk-through.  I always like the produce section, the displays of fruits and vegs look like brightly colored mosaics with all the colors!  Lots of clothes, kitchen implements, cheese and meat vendors – you name it, someone there sells it.

 

Orvieto is divided into various quarters or neighborhoods, as are most of the towns dating back to Medieval times.  In Orvieto they are referred to as Quartiere, obviously a quarter, like the Latin Quarter in Paris.  I always like the signs for the quarters or neighborhoods, marking the borders.  Such a decorative way to delineate neighborhoods!  I also like having special emblems or symbols for each neighborhood!

 

So I did my usual wandering, occasionally bumping into some of my classmates, or chatting with shopkeepers in my minimal Italian. 

 

At the top of the hill is the cathedral, distinctive with its very dark green and white striped exterior.  This was trendy during a certain time during the Medieval period, though I don’t think it’s a very attractive look.  The Duomo sits in the Piazza del Duomo, and since it’s a very important cathedral due to the miraculous altar cloth, now housed as a relic, the interior is even more ornate than the exterior.  I find it overwhelming.  Marble, mosaic, frescoes, gilt, carved wood.  Kind of too much of a good thing.

 

In one side corner there’s a gorgeous fresco by Luca Signorelli, “The Resurrection of the Flesh.”  Since no one really knows what might happen at the end of days, it’s a very imaginative resurrection.  But the dead who are coming back to life all look thrilled at being in their 20s to 30s, all gorgeous, shapely, and ready to party.

 

Anyway, since I skip the cathedral, there’s a wall at the far side of the cathedral with a great view of the valley below the hill.  I especially like the former monastery turned hotel in the vineyard.  It was a foggy and rainy day, which added to the ethereal quality of the monastery.  Definitely atmospheric!

 

There’s also a clocktower in the piazza with a bell on top.  I don’t know if the bell rings on the hour, but I love the angelic mermaid on the bell.  SO whimsical, and makes such little sense!  LOVE it!  The angel mermaid even has a horn, or trumpet, or possibly a drinking horn.  As I said, absolutely whimsical!

 

One of the traditional meals served all over Orvieto is the porchetta sandwich.  Porchetta is roasted pig, the kind roasted whole so the exterior is crispy, and the sliced meat is served with the fat, on thick bread or a crusty roll.  There’s a great little porchetta shop off to the side just before the Piazza del Duomo, perfect place for an inexpensive meal.  I skipped the pork, though, and had the formaggio e tartufo, also known as cheese with truffle sauce.  Yum, SO good!  With an orangina, the perfect quick lunch on a chilly and rainy day.

 

More wandering, though headed slowly back to our meeting spot for the bus.  I stopped at the Tizian Caffe for a late cappuccino and a mini tart, to warm up and also have access to a restroom.  I got in a quick sketch of my partially eaten crostata and cappuccino, the cups are always so ultra-modern.  The restroom was next door, in a very ornate municipal meeting area.  Very fancy trompe l’oeil and carved ceilings!  (Though for all I know, the carvings are painted and just another part of the trompe l’oeil part.)

 

Finally the rain let up, though it was still a chilly day.  It was closing in on time to meet the bus, so I headed back to the parking area outside the city gate.  There’s an old fort there, built in the 1350s or so.  I didn’t have time to visit it, but got in a few photos of the exterior.

 

It was a nice last day of hill town visiting, sort of slow and easy.  Well, I walked over five miles according to my pedometer, but it still was a casual and relaxing walk hitting my personal highlights in Orvieto.

 

 

 

 

Carsulae, Along the Via Flaminia

18 October 2024

 

I've wanted to visit Carsulae ever since I heard about this ancient city as part of the La Romita grand tour, but somehow the classes I've taken never went here.  THIS was finally included, and WOW!  Fascinating for both the history and the archaeological ruins that have been uncovered!

 

First, a quick history:  Many Middle Bronze Age (roughly 1700-1350 BCE) communities had developed prior to the Romans in Umbria, the central portion of Italy between the two coasts and not far from Rome.  Carsulae (pronounced CAR-soo-lie) was a Roman city on the Via Flaminia, the road that led through much of Umbria down to Rome.  The Via Flaminia wwas constructed between 220-219 BCE, opening up transportation, commerce, and travel.  The city of Carsulae is believed to have been an administrative center along the road, as well as home for many of the pre-Roman settlements in the surrounding area. 

 

So the city flourished for many years.  While being easily accessible for trade and travel being right on a major roadway, the city was also easily accessible to robbers, marauders, rival armies, and outside invaders.  It has been speculated that this led to the local populations leaving the city and moving to hill towns, which afforded a geographic safety advantage.  Additionally, the Via Flaminia became less important as other, easier roads were built leading to Rome.

 

Carsulae was eventually abandoned and left to the elements.  Excavations of the ancient city began some time in the 16th century, with a more intensive and scientific uncovering of the ruins in the 1950s to 1970s, CE.  Archaeological digs continue to this day.  And
only a fraction of the extended city has been unearthed - most of what is now visible is the center of commerce and entertainment, so there is much yet to be found.

 

The central area that has been excavated includes the entrance arches, one still standing (or possibly restored); the forum flanked by two temples; a series of large and small rooms possibly used for government officials; and some buildings speculated to be private.

 

A road running perpendicular to the Flaminia leads to arts and entertainment buildings: an amphitheatre, constructed in an old sinkhole; a full theatre (more like a small colosseum, which differs from an amphitheatre which is semi-circular; a theatre is either a full round or oval shape); and a series of rooms, perhaps for entertainers.  Nearby is a small building with columns, possibly a gymnasium.

 

I somehow missed the southernmost buildings which include a thermal bath complex, which has floor mosaics!  I'm so sorry to have missed that, I love mosaics, but we only had a few hours to wander this huge archaeological site!

 

There's also what appears to be a medieval church, still in use by an order of nuns.

 

SO many amazing things to see at this archaeological park!  From the entrance, there are paved paths over the gentle hills, leading to the various unearthed buildings.  But sometimes, a better overview was found by walking up the rolling green hills.  I mostly wandered, getting a feel for the whole place, then walking around the various buildings to see all the details.

The Romans weren't the most imaginative society, but they certainly could plan, build, and engineer amazing structures!  Imagine a twenty or thirty foot high arch (seven to ten meters), 2000 or so years old, still standing!  Absolutely incredible to walk by that, just awe-inspiring!

While I knew the Romans built roads, I never somehow understood that these were actually somewhat paved roads, with rounded stones lined up to make an actual surface for horses, chariots, and whatever kind of wagon-like conveyance they might have used!  With flat fieldstone sort of rocks lining the sides of this ancient highway!  History makes so much more
sense when you can actually SEE what was done, and why these roads were considered marvelous inventions at the time they were built!  (Given those flat stones along the sides, making the road almost like a trench, I suspect gravel or dirt was used to fill in the road and make a smoother riding surface.  The stones would help with drainage and prevent the dirt from becoming too muddy.  No idea if this is true, but it kind of makes sense.)

 

And stairs!  Yes, of course, the ancient Greeks used stepped platforms for their temples.  But the Romans used stairs so people could easily walk up the slight rise from the Via Flaminia to the forum!  Who knew?

 

I think my favorite, though, was the amphitheatre.  The wood stage floor is obviously new, the wood seats are as well.  (A few stone seats were still visible.)  And if you look below the stage, there are various walls, likely rooms and corridors.  I know ancient Greek amphitheatres had places to the "gods" and "goddesses" and other magical beings could suddenly appear on stage.  So I'm guessing that's another creative thing the Romans borrowed from the Greeks, and built into their amphitheatres.

 

There were also walls where rectangular and square shaped rocks where used to make patters - look closely, the squares are turned so they're diamond shaped!  However did some mason keep the rocks turned on point as they built the wall???

 

It was an amazing morning!!!  SO glad I finally made it to Carsulae!  I had a few extra minutes before our bus was due, and there's a lovely gift and coffee shop (with bathroom facilities) by the entrance/exit - our day was definitely autumnal, so that morning cappuccino was very warming!