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The best piece of writing advice I ever got came from Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It had to do with accepting the idea of “shitty first drafts.” The second best piece of advice came from a professor whose teaching assistant I had been in English graduate school in the 1960s. He had struck me, when we first met, as incredibly brash, an effect that he was deliberately seeking to achieve. He’d barge into the classroom, send the blinds crashing up or down, and lie on the desk with a cigar between his teeth. “I’m Smith,” he’d say to a wide-eyed class. He went on to become a rock star of literary criticism, publishing countless books, writing regularly for the New York Times, becoming an internationally famous intellectual. He even appeared as a character in a well known novel.
His advice? “Always recycle.”
“First,” he said, “I write a talk. Then I give it in several times. I turn the talk into an essay and publish it. Maybe it becomes part of an anthology edited by someone else. Then I use it as a chapter of a book or include it in a collection of my essays.” I remember him chewing on a cigar when he told me this. But I may be making up the cigar.
I feel comfortable with Lamott’s advice. I am perfectly capable of producing “a shitty first draft” and of feeling, as she does, that I’d just as soon not die while it is lying on my desk, lest someone read it and assume my death was suicide. But following the guidance of my brash professor was another matter. Who me? I thought. I’m allergic to cigars. But, in the end, I tried his system. As an academic I wrote talks, wrote them into essays that I published, saw them anthologized, and gathered them into a book. I did not become an academic rock star or take up smoking, but the method served me well. I published, and at each stage became a better writer.
When I retired and began taking classes in creative writing, I fell into the system out of habit. I wrote pieces for my writing classes. I turned the pieces into blogs. I posted them on a collective site. Then I posted them on my own. Eventually, I did guest posts with the same materials. After four years, several posts have been anthologized and most of them are chapters in my memoir. Others are beginning to look a lot like a collection of essays on food and place. Good job, I told myself, thinking this would be the end, but then I hired a publicist who told me “No.” Now I had to link my book to larger issues. So, in preparation for the memoir’s launch, I began to write some essays that made those links. One is to be published but, even better, I have begun to see more clearly what the book is all about, and I have a new set of ideas to explore. So recycling? I’m a fan and I’m passing on my famous professor’s advice to you. Because once you’re past the stage of “shitty first draft,” it’s not just about recycling. It’s about revisioning and writing better as well.
* * *
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By:
Faith Pray,
on 2/27/2013
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I am Icharus.
Except instead of wax and feathers,
I'm patched together with glitter glue,
writing morsels and
cups of hot tea.
Struck by a blaze of new story lightning,
I'm going down.
That's a good thing, right?
...Right?
Muttering at walls, scribbling
"Words are my wings!" on sticky notes,
covered in ink smudges,
I'm delightedly doomed.
But not too doomed
to help with peg dolls.
Indeed!
And Ancient Greek peggies at that.
Athena, patron of wisdom, and arts and crafts!
She's an owl lady.
Aphrodite, patron of love.
Posiedon. Sea guy. And that's his trident.
Hera, wife of Zeus, patron of marriage.
Peacock lady.
Also compared to a cow in some circles.
Now you know.
Parthenon?
Ruler. Cardboard. Scissors. Tape. White glue.
And now for the drum-roll, please...
we'd like to announce a winner!
A hearty thanks to all of you who entered
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Making Peg Dolls giveaway,
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Margaret for the fantastic blog tour.
Our winner is...
Barb Davis-Pyles. Congratulations, Barb!
I hope you will all go out and find this beautiful book.
You are going to LOVE it.
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Ancient Greece on the page:
Greek Myths For Young Children, by Heather Amery, ill. Linda Edwards
Explore Ancient Greece!
Greek Myths - Ann Turnbull, ill. by Sarah Young
A Gift From Zeus - Jeanne Steig, ill. by William Steig
The Adventures of Odysseus, by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden, ill. by Christina Balit
Aesop's Fables - Lisbeth Zwerger
September's theme is "Character" but I've been working on a couple of picture books where there's no central character. So that's a huge challenge I don't have to deal with although there's other concerns to make sure there's continuity throughout the book. This is one spread from
Nature Recycles, written by Michelle Lord and published by Sylvan Dell Publishing. This spread is about how the decorator sea urchin recycles. Other examples of recycling in nature are the elf owl, hermit crab, veined octopus, dung beetle, poison dart frog, you and I, etc. Look for it spring 2013.
By: Emily Smith Pearce,
on 5/5/2011
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Maybe it’s all the cameos in spaghetti sauce commercials and movies (was it Superman II where he straightens it?) but Pisa’s famous tower struck me as surreal, like we’d stepped into a fantasy world. The white stone buildings of the piazza, which we’re guessing had been cleaned recently, really glowed on the day we visited.
The kids called it the “Bendy Tower,” which is actually pretty accurate, since during its construction, the builders tried to correct for the leaning (already apparent) by centering the higher layers on top of the original foundation. Sounds like something I would do with one of my craft projects. So it really does bend. I kept thinking of Miss Havisham’s wedding cake.
No kids under 8 are allowed to go inside the staircase, which disappointed the kids but was fine by me. I often enjoy the outsides of buildings more than the insides anyway.
It’s a little surprising there’s a rule—-most sights in Europe have no restrictions about children, leaving you to make up your own mind. I understand this and appreciate it, but coming from the super-litigious culture of the U.S., I’ve gotten used to someone else making those decisions for me. At times we’ve been a little confused as to what was really appropriate for the kids.
While the tower was mesmerizing, my favorite thing in Pisa was the exterior of the cathedral next door. The tower is the bell tower for this cathedral. The stones that make up the cathedral are all different sizes and materials, which I found kind of crazy and awesome. Some of them are recycled from other buildings. You can see writing and designs that are now upside down and cut off:
From my reading, I understand the upside-down stuff to be recycled Roman stonework.
Here’s some other writing that must’ve been added after construction, but its placement seems kind of random:
And then there’s the graffiti (another word in my oh-so-extensive Italian vocabulary) scattered around. I guess in the olden days if you wanted to be a graffiti artist, you had to carry around a knife or a chisel or something. If you really wanted to have a lasting impact:
It seemed like these were little hidden messages waiting to be discovered. For someone interested in recycling, patchwork, writing, and printing, it was really cool.
I haven’t had a chance to do much research on the writing and recycled stone, so if you know of articles about it, let me know.
0 Comments on Secret Messages in Pisa as of 1/1/1900
I don't usually do reviews, but this new picture book
by Kathy Stemke spoke to the GREEN in me.
As parents, we teach our kids about many things. Yet our "actions" will speak louder than all the nagging words we throw at them. This new picture book of Kathy's has kids and parents working together for a greener and more reusable and recyclable world.
HOW COOL IS THAT!
******************
Trouble on Earth Day -
Picture Book – soft cover
Author - Kathy Stemke
Publisher – Wild Plains Press
Illustrations – Kurt Wilcken
Earth Day projects modeled by: Eamon Monaghan and Summer Dodd
ISBN: 978-1-936021-36-9
6 Comments on REVIEW - Trouble on Earth Day, last added: 10/13/2011
Portland is recycling food waste curb side now, which means with all the other recycling (plus plastic grocery bags are now banned) we hardly throw anything away.
And we feel oddly guilty when we do. Like Teen had a scrap of cloth and asked it there was some way we could recycle it. Which reminded her of this video from Portlandia (a really funny show that is actually fairly accurate in how it skewers Portland):
Portland is very popular these days, what with Portlandia, Grim, and Leverage, which has long been filmed in Portland (doubling for Boston, for some reason) is now openly going to take place here.
By: Alice,
on 2/10/2012
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By Talia Schaffer
Charles Dickens was born 200 years ago this week, but he is very much alive in our culture, having become associated with two ways of seeing the world: “Dickensian” is now shorthand for filthy urban misery, but it is also linked to domestic bliss, the cozy armchair with the rubicund host, the plump goose and the fragrant, steaming punch. The man whose attack on the workhouses has resonated for two centuries is the same man who popularized the modern Christmas.
Interestingly, these two modes are linked by their obsession with (of all things) garbage. The dirt of Victorian London needs no introduction. In Bleak House, the homeless illiterate Jo is a street sweeper, spending his days trying to push back a tide of pestilent mud, horse droppings, ashes, decayed cats. Our Mutual Friend famously centers on three giant mounds of dust. But how was rubbish enshrined in the domestic home?
The answer is that one of the most important values in Victorian domestic organization was the recycling of detritus, and Dickens recognized that. In Our Mutual Friend, the villains steal waste products — they ransack corpses, they try to take the Mounds — but the good characters turn those products into delightful artifacts. Jenny Wren is a dolls’ dressmaker, buying shreds of waste cloth, ribbon ends, and damaged beads, and snipping them into costumes. Mr. Venus articulates skeletons, wiring dusty bones and stray teeth together to make his art.
Jenny and Mr. Venus are professionals, but their first readers loved them because they are participating in one of the most popular amateur pursuits in the nineteenth century. Victorian domestic handicrafters were urged to glue plum pits to mirrors, to melt leftover candle ends to cover plaster statuettes, to varnish scraps of leather to resemble wood. They exulted in turning household waste into decorative spectacles to prove their managerial skill. In this way, Victorian women could emulate industrial production, making it very different from modern crafts, which embrace an ethos of handmade uniqueness. Just as factories took in raw materials like dead horses or coal, turning out other products, so too did craftswomen process the debris of the home. They had no interest in learning age-old artisanal traditions; rather, they wanted to prove themselves participants in modernity.
For instance, one popular craft involved turning fish scales into homemade sequins: soaking the scales, snipping them with special tiny shears, and piercing them with a needle, before sewing them onto silk. The pleasure in the fish-scale craft came from the creative recycling of trash, and the sense that one could make something as well as a machine did. To churn out identical, swift copies of objects, using premade kits and instructions from mass-circulation magazines and pamphlets, was to reach this ideal.
Handicraft fulfilled other goals, some of them contradictory. Handicraft, for instance, was usually temporary; made of homemade paste and bits of paper, it was designed to fall apart so the maker would have an excuse to bring in something new. For craft was seen as a fashion, to be updated frequently, not as a timeless piece of art.
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Here's some Asian Elephants from a book I'm illustrating by Michelle Lord called "Nature Recycles, Why Don't You?" It comes out Spring 2013. Happy Memorial Day weekend!!
Here's another image, a full spread this time from Michelle Lord's
Nature Recycles, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing. What do sea urchins, hermit crabs, carolina wrens, elf owls, veined octopus, woodpecker finch, dung beetles, termites, caddisfly larva, poison dart frogs, asian elephants, and people all have in common? Yes, you got it, recycling!
The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling is a picture book in Little Simon's line of Little Green Books. The book is made from 100% postconsumer waste recycled paper.
I think the cover gives you a pretty good indication of what to expect. When your plastic bottle is smiling and waving at you, you know going into it that the book is going to be flirting with dinky.
What we've got is a diary from the point of view of what will be, what is, and what was a plastic bottle. Here is an entry from January 30th:
Hi-ho, Diary!
Today, was so fun! Being a bottle is great! I was clipped onto a BOTTLING LINE. Wheeeee! I flew down the line and went round and round and up and down. Along the way I was washed and STERILIZED. Then I was filled with fresh water! I even got a spiffy label. They're putting all of us bottles into boxes now. I can hardly wait to see the rest of the world! More adventure awaits me...
With words like hi-ho and spiffy (just to name a few) you can clearly see this one is proud to be dinky. However, I will say this. It was informative. It was clear. I learned while reading the book. It may not have much to offer in entertainment, but it does offer readers user-friendly facts. And so it's not without value. So for what it is...a teaching tool...it's not bad at all.
© Becky Laney of Young Readers
Cynthia's Attic is celebrating something dear to Cynthia and me (Gus). Earth Week. And, we're real excited that so many schools are getting into the Green Scene! From recycling, getting rid of junk mail (we'd all like to do that, right?), planting a tree, or something as simple as unplugging our cell phone charger when we're not using it, we can all do something. Just one little something! Let's all help green the planet!
Also, throughout the week, we'll have other really cool characters giving their views.
Wednesday: A cute little Green (how appropriate!) worm named, Wendel, will be here to share his "up close and personal" views on Earth Day.
Stay tuned! (and RECYCLE!)Welcome to the Green Generation!Mary Cunningham BooksQuake
I hope you've had a great April. On this last day, here are a few facts on the environment from a local library fact sheet which might surprise you.
- recycling just ONE aluminum can save enough energy to equal a half gallon of gas
- 2,500,000 plastic bottles--that's how many bottles Americans use in an HOUR.
- 40% of the waste produced in the world is made by us Americans
Some things you can do right now to help:
- reuse plastic bags or switch to paper bags (over 1,000,000 sea creatures are killed each year by plastic garbage in the ocean)
- change the most frequently used light bulbs in your home to incandescent ones (electricity for lighting could be cut by 50%)
- recycle paper (in 2007 in the U.S. more than 56% of the paper used was recycled)
Working together we can make a difference.
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Since day and age I am in the habit of using four sheets of toilet paper. I buy recycled toilet paper in a large discount supermarket outlet which is located in the outskirts of the city; 17 kilometres from the village where I live.
I have to say city because the inhabitants insist. Beyond any doubt they will be offended if you call their beloved city anything less. Although I think it’s more like a town.
Back in my own village, that is the village where I recite at the present time, they do not sell recycled toilet paper. As a matter of fact they don’t do much recycling. Even the glass recycling containers have been removed. We are lucky to have a shop at all.
A neighbouring town has been more fortunate. They have recently been blessed with a large discount supermarket themselves. The new discount supermarket, which stands only a few hundredth yards away from another supermarket, has yet to be opened. They seem to have problems with their liquor licence.
To be honest I do not understand why the shop was built in that particular place. More to the point; do they really believe a shop like that will pay itself off? At the moment nobody benefits from the edifice, except the neighbouring supermarket.
Sometimes I wonder what I would do if those big supermarkets wouldn’t exist. I can vaguely remember that we had a vegetable shop in our village. You had to decent a few steps to get into a kind of cellar where they kept cabbages, potatoes, cauliflowers and other large vegetables. There was no such thing as exotic fruits or vegetables as far as I can recall; except for the occasional oranges and tangerines.
We also had a butcher, who did his own slaughtering and made his own sausages. When I was about eight or nine there were still two butchers in our village; they were the survivors. Once there had been as many as three or four. I can’t really tell because that was before my time.
At the time my brother was working at the bakery; the only one left in the village. They had undergone the same faith as the butchers. The village had gone from five bakers to just the one. Actually there were two; to save themselves they had made a fusion.
Early in the morning before school I would get a loaf of bread for my mother. With the shop still closed at the front I entered the bakery via the back door. Opening the door the aroma of the fresh baked bread entered my nose. Inside the bakery I was usually enthusiastically greeted by one of the owners. He knew what I needed and let me choose one myself.
On the way back home, which wasn’t too far luckily for my mother; I began to eat from the fresh baked bread. Nothing tastes better then a fresh baked loaf of bread. The crust is crunchy but not yet too hard to break your teeth.
Bread sold in any supermarket nowadays isn’t even related to the bread the bakers made in our old bakery. Even the bakery itself doesn’t exist any more. It had to make room for a new shopping centre. That’s what they call progress.
I don’t think it was such a progress. However I don’t think the little grocery shop in our village sold recycled toilet paper, so in a way we have improved. As a matter of fact we have dramatically improved; the large discount shop in the city sells bread machines from time to time.
They have a two and a half month cycle in which products return to the shop, so if you missed the cycle like I did the other day with the multiple USB ports; do not worry, they’ll be back. I wish I had a two and a half month cycle. Unfortunately I haven’t. Sometimes it even comes twice a month.
The discount shops are everywhere now. They’re everywhere in Europe. It’s handy though when you go on a holiday abroad. There is always something familiar, which reduces the chances of homesickness. It also makes the life of our immigrants a lot easier. They can work in their own environment and if their lucky, which they usually are, they can speak their native language while working at the till.
Having those discounts shops around can also give a lot of confusion; for instance some people believe that we eat the kind of food that’s for sale in the discount shops where I come from: they’re close, but it isn’t quite what it should be. Especially the sweats, biscuit (we say cookies) and cheese sections can be improved. However I can’t complain; after all they do sell recycled toilet paper.
Dewey: 745.5
What Can you Do with an Old Red Shoe: a green activity book about reuse by Anna Alter, Henry Holt, 2009
The stereotype about folks who lived through the Great Depression is that they never throw anything away; they reuse foil and twine. They patch and mend clothes instead of throwing them away and harvest fabric from old clothing for quilt patches.
This book suggests many ways to reuse and recycle including ways to use old wrapping paper, t-shirts, crayons, shower curtains, and flip flops in craft projects. It suggests where to share toys that have been out grown and participation in recycling efforts in the community.
Even if you do not turn an old shoe into a planter, the book should cause the reader to pause and reflect on our disposable, throw-away society.
The Great Depression is never far from my own thoughts as the economy continues to sink below the surface. These projects may come in very handy indeed in the not so distant future.
In fact, I think I will go wash and smooth some foil and maybe start a rubber band ball now.
Miranda Ritts shares her review of Watch Out World – Rosy Cole Is Going Green! The book is written by Sheila Greenwald. This book has a great storyline. It really shows how anyone big or small can do their part to go green. I really enjoyed how the book gives great ideas on how to do things for the world such as recycling and using worms for composting things. These are only two of the ideas in this book that anyone could do. The cover on this book is great. It was a good way to get my attention with the bright colors and large print.
Diane’s notes: View this creative video Make Like a Tree and Leave we made for a workshop on Videos and Podcasting. We decided to pretend we were students and based a tree-planting activity upon the Watch Out World – Rosy Cole is Going Green book.
If you could see the white letters around the cover, you’d read “Rosy Cole’s bright, though not exactly popular, ideas about garbage, worms, dirt, and other gifts of nature. ”
When I read the inside cover of this book, I thought it would focus on planting trees and taking steps to be more earth-friendly like using the energy-saving lightbulbs. Instead, Rosy Cole’s new adventure has her learning about nature while respecting insects. I particularly enjoyed her research into Blattella Germanica 
and red wiggler worms.
My favorite Rosy Cole quote from the book:
“Because the museum is where I found out going green is about respecting and protecting the earth and all its creatures. Even the ones that aren’t as pretty as butterflies or as cute as ladybugs can teach us important lessons.”
Can you believe that we have been reading the adventures of Rosy Cole for 26 years? I remember my first 
Rosy Cole book – Write On, Rosy! (A Young Author in Crisis). This newest edition to Sheila Greenwald’s early chapter books will be a popular choice for science units and Earth Day studies.
By:
Administrator,
on 9/3/2010
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by D'Arcy Norman www.flickr.com
*Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, realistic fiction (based on a true story)
*A nice tugboat driver and the garbage barge as main characters
*Rating: Here Comes the Garbage Barge! is a great book to share with students during any recycling lesson–they’ll laugh but get the point!
Short, short summary:
Jonah Winter has written a picture book based on a true story about the Garbage Barge (1987) that traveled up and down the east coast–trying to find a place to land and dump almost 3200 tons of garbage. Basically, Long Island’s landfills were full and polluting the groundwater. So, some businessmen decided that they should ship the garbage to farmers in the south and pay them to bury it on their land. Burning garbage was expensive, so a city called Islip (near New York City) decided to take the businessmen up on their offer and put their trash on the barge to ship south. In the picture book, with wonderful illustrations by Red Nose Studio, a little tugboat named
Break of Dawn driven by Cap’m Duffy St. Pierre, set out to pull the garbage barge from Islip to North Carolina. But when the captain and his smelly barge got to North Carolina, he was turned away–the same thing happened in New Orleans, Mexico, Belize, Florida, Texas, and so on. Finally, with a REALLY smelly barge behind him, Cap’m St. Pierre had to take the garbage back to Long Island. The courts got involved, and finally, the garbage was taken off his hands. But as the author points out, the moral of the story is: “Don’t make so much garbage.” He also tells us that Islip now has a recycling program.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Many teachers and parents will read Here Comes the Garbage Barge! in connection with Earth Day or even at the beginning of the school year to talk about the importance of recycling and being good to the environment. This book can also be used with a science lesson on “green” living. It has a lot of practical applications to today’s science curriculum and could start a great class or home school discussion as well as classroom or home recycling program.
2. This is a great book to discuss problem solving! Poor Cap’m St. Pierre has a huge problem–how to get rid of the garbage. Long Island and Islip have a huge problem, too–too much garbage. Ask students to use their problem solving and brainstorming skills to come up with solutions to the problem BEFORE you read them the end of the story. When looking at students’ solutions, evaluate each one to see if it is a good solution or not through class discussion. Even though this happened in 1987, students today might have a better idea of what SHOULD have happened to all that garbage.
3. You could use this book to help you teach the six plus one traits of writing. It is a great book for organization–the beginning grabs the readers’ attention with all the garbage and then it is organized by the barge’s trip down the river–trying to stop at different states–before the story and the barge circle back to the beginning–to right where they started–garbage in Long Island. The circle format is one form of organization that many authors and essayists use.
By: Emily Smith Pearce,
on 9/13/2010
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I hadn’t planned to share from this work-in-progress until it was done, but then I was inspired by this post, which challenges bloggers (quilting bloggers in particular) to share more of their process, not just finished projects.
So, here I am, showing you a strip from a large patchwork I’m working on. When I do patchwork, I’m not usually interested in following a traditional pattern or in measuring. Some people call this “liberated quilting.” For me it’s about being able to enjoy the process (I hate measuring) and also something we used to talk about it in art class called “showing the artist’s hand.” In painting this often means that the artist has let the brushstrokes show. I enjoy having my patchwork look handmade at first glance. If you’re familiar with the Gee’s Bend quilts, it’s that kind of aesthetic I’m going for.
I also prefer to work with mostly used or scrap fabrics in my patchwork (I keep saying patchwork rather than quilting because this piece is not actually going to be quilted). I think it’s because historically that’s what quilts were made from, and that thriftiness and ingenuity is part of what attracts me to patchwork in the first place. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a beautiful quilt made from new fabrics—-this is just a rule I give myself (and sometimes break, of course). The history of the fabric creates a story behind the project, and it also provides an extra challenge, kind of like painting a still life using only four tubes of paint.
This patchwork is for my son’s duvet cover, and it’s made from his crib sheets, most of which I hand-dyed, and also from the fabric I used in a failed attempt at making a shopping cart cover. You can see one of his crib sheets in this blog post. There’s also a bit of fabric left from making the curtains in his room.
When I was pregnant with my son, I went snorkeling for the first time and was inspired to create a nursery mural of a very simple school of white fish on a grayish-teal backdrop—blogged here. Now that he’s in a big-boy bed, I wanted to make him a new bedcover with a similar theme. I didn’t want to make literal fish but wanted to keep the feeling of simple white shapes moving over the space. Here’s my sketch for the piece—although I didn’t color it all in so you really can’t tell at this point which parts are going to be white. That part’s in my head. I may or may not follow the sketch entirely.
In addition to the Gee’s Bend quilters, another influence is the work of Malka Dubrawksy, a fiber artist, quilting blogger, and author I admire. Check out her gorgeous work made with fabrics she batiks and dyes herself.
Can’t wait to get some more done so I can show you my progress. Hopefully I’ll finish this before the little man goes to college. And if he doesn’t like it, I’ll hang it on the wall!
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By: readlaughwriterepeat,
on 11/8/2010
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The Earth
What is Earth, really?
It is something sweet,
Some parts you can eat
Earth is full of life
Some life is furry,
Some hop, others scurry
None are boring or lame
We should all be treated the same
(Dogs and cats can’t
get all the attention)
I mean, what if me and you
owned a baby kangaroo?
(I’d name mine Darryl)
But now the Earth is in peril
The ice is melting,
More animals dieing
So, down with global warming
And up with recycling
For the Earth is something sweet
And something worth saving.
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By: Lauren,
on 12/3/2010
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I always enjoy doing Linked Up because it gives me a chance to reflect on how I spend my free time on the internet. Apparently this week, I was a bit celebrity-obsessed.
Kevin Bacon is his own biggest fan. [Urlesque]
A subway car that’s 97.5% RECYCLABLE! [Good]
So you want to write a novel? Maybe you should watch this first. [DWKazzie]
And in related news…NaNoWriMo is over! (2,799,449,947 words later…) [GalleyCat]
If only I could actually type this into my browser… [Next Web]
Jay Pharoah, a new cast member of Saturday Night Live, is my favorite impersonator of the moment. (Magic starts at 2:50.) [David Letterman Show]
Can you pass the Kanye West quiz? [New Yorker]
Apparently, pirating music is so last year. [Wired]
1200 Hot Wheels all at once? Yes please! [Kottke]
Justin Bieber is talented in ways you never even imagined. [GawkerTV]
By: Emily Smith Pearce,
on 1/14/2011
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Want to try dyeing things but don’t know where to start?
A reader wrote me recently asking for help.
Where to start, what to read?
The easiest kind of dyeing to start with is food dye on animal fibers. I love this because you can do it in the kitchen with grocery-store items, the results are super-satisfying, and the kids can join in.
What are animal fibers? Wool, silk, cashmere, you get the idea
Wool and Cashmere:
You can do some beautiful things with Kool-Aid and wool, and IT WILL NEVER WASH OUT.
Kool-Aid (or Easter egg dye) and wool yarn is a perfect starter project, especially if you knit. You can dye it with a rainbow of colors, using your microwave. Check out this article for details. Lion Brand makes an undyed 100% wool yarn called Fisherman’s Yarn that is very reasonably priced. I used to buy it at Hobby Lobby, but it may also be available at Michael’s and other craft stores. Knitpicks also sells undyed yarn, in a wider variety of weights and variations. Their prices are very reasonable also, but you do have to order it. Also try dharmatrading.
You can dye pieces of old wool or cashmere sweaters in a similar way, but it’s a little tricky—-you should be prepared for uneven results. Here’s a project of mine with Easter egg dye on cashmere. I would recommend starting with a light-colored sweater and dyeing smaller pieces (an arm or less) at a time, as a sweater acts like a sponge to the dye, absorbing the color before it gets the chance to circulate around the fabric.
The process is similar to the yarn-dyeing project, but use a larger amount of dye and a larger container, on the stove instead of the microwave. I used my big soup pot. The same process should work for wool and cashmere wovens, though I’ve never tried it.
Silk:
Kool-Aid, Easter egg dye, or food coloring also works well on silk. I’ve used it to make playsilks, with the directions here. I’ve also dip-dyed silk scarves, which you can see here. After heat-setting, these dyes are not quite as colorfast as in wool and cashmere, so I would recommend hand-washing, but the bleeding is very little. Also, dry out of direct sunlight.
With any dyeing project, there’s a certain amount of risk involved. You never know exactly what your finished project is going to look like, and for me, that’s part of the thrill. Be prepared for that uncertainty, because even if your project turns out beautifully, chances are it won’t be exactly as you envisioned.
More about other kinds of dyeing soon.
1 Comments on Getting Started with Dyes, Part I: Animal Fibers, last added: 1/14/2011
This award is sponsored by the Newton Marasco Foundation--a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire responsible environmental stewardship. This year's winner in the children fiction category is WINSTON OF CHURCHILL: ONE BEAR'S BATTLE AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING by Jean Davies Okimoto and illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell (published by Sasquatch Books.)
And for information about helping your school or your child's school become more environmentally friendly, visit my website and read the article, "
Green Schools."
Every day can be a green day when we make the decision to recycle, reuse, and reduce our waste and fossil fuel energy dependence. With everyone working together we can make a big difference!
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I think blogging may actually help me finish things—definitely the encouragement is great.
Great post and very good advice. I'm a fan of recycling too. Sometimes just a small tweak with a new audience in mind gives new life and a new meaningful twist to an article, story or post.
I love the story of your old professor. I am curious as to who that is. :) I think maybe if we all chewed on cigars, it would be easier for us to recycle our work? :) Thanks for the post.
Thanks, Julia. And, as you say, it's neat when the twist takes you to a new place.
Margo, definitely true about the cigars. We need mental cigars at least. Have you read David Lodge's Trading Places? Note the character of Morris Zap.
Great idea Judy! Of course the concept of recycling depends on having produced something to recycle...... :) Edith xxx
Yes, I do this and it sometimes felt like I was "cheating" so thanks for the permission.
Susie
Very good advise. I was just relating the recycle concept to my daughter who is faced with writing multiple essays for college aps and scholarships.
Ah, but Edith you do produce those lovely blog posts!
Recovering Church Lady, I love your title. I know the feeling, but if you add something, revise something, tighten something the piece becomes new or just better. My famous professor says "Go thou and recycle."
Lynne, I've been through that with my daughter too, and I've given her just the same advice.
I too loved the idea of shitty first drafts and have practiced that philosophy for years. When it comes to recycling, it's also appealing but I feel like the "younger you" in the story. Can I do that?? I'm curious if it's a deliberate process for you. Do you come up with recyclable ideas from the outset or is it more of a process done in hind sight? Once you have a piece you look for ways to recycle?
One of my English profs gave the same advice. He didn't have a cigar, though. ;)
I try to recycle every piece I write. It makes sense and makes me a better writer.