From Traveling Teacher to Traveling Student

In February, ten wonderful ladies and I spent several days in Florida as students of expert textile artist Amy Nguyen. It was a wonderful workshop and a great leap forward in my ongoing quest to learn as much as possible about fibers and dyeing. 

I gained so much from this amazing experience and it was an honor to work with Amy. Well worth the 3,213 miles I journeyed to Aya Fiber Studio in Stuart FL where the workshop was held! You can learn more about Amy, her art, clothing collections and studio on her web site, Amy Nguyen Textiles

During the class, we dyed cotton, linen and silk with Natural Dye-Madder and used a new mordant called Aluminum Triformate. A mordant is the chemical that interacts with the dye to fix it on the material being dyed. We got great results that produced rich, intense colors.

We also dyed with "cotton black” fiber reactive dyes and Indigo. Some of our resists were stitched and some were folded and clamped Itajime.

Florida is a beautiful state and I spent a wonderfully restful time vacationing after the class ended. My friend, Diane and I began with a visit to the Morikame Museum where we enjoyed a spectacular exhibit - Washi Transformed.

These are just a few of the 30 amazing pieces in the exhibit.

All created by nine different artists from traditional Japanese Washi paper!

We also went to Miami to Mood Fabrics and bought some beautiful cotton fabrics. Mood Fabrics, which you may know from the show Project Runway, is paradise for anyone who loves fabric - like me!

It was a treat to stop in Tampa to visit my friends Amy and Tom Matheny. Both are affiliated with Moda, also. This is the lovely view from my room in Tampa.

After our great visit with the Mathenys, I headed for Pensacola and Joe Patti where I bought fresh gulf shrimp and red snapper. It was delicious!!

And then it was time to head home and get back to work, designing, stitching and getting ready to teach you my passion - Shibori Indigo Dyeing. Where will I be next? Click right here to check my calendar and find out!