bleu de Nimes...

Some pictures I've made a few years ago when I first dyed with woad (Isatis tinctoria)

just for inspiration

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bleu de Nimes - denim - pays de Cocagne 

woad - wede - waid - waide - guède - pastel

Isatis - blues - indigo

different yarns dyed with woad

close up

fine silk dyed with woad

the blues

extracting woad pigment

 fermenting woad

"boules de cocagne"

(Dried balls obtained from crushed woad leaves)

the making of a "boule de cocagne"

notice the "pictish blue" on my hand   :)

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to read:

Bleu de pastel de Lectoure : about woad

history of the jeans

all about woad website

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flowering woad plants with sheep - Drôme, France

my pinterest page: Bleu de Nimes (denim)

- : : ) ) )-( ( ( : : -

... summer fruits

some fruit from the garden

I didn't do any fermentation dyes this summer due to circumstances, but now with all the wild fruits growing in abundance, Elderberries and Brambles for instance but also with the Pokeweed I planted last year which is giving some fruit now, I decided to give it another go, with promises of some pink or red or maybe even purple... who knows!

Pokeweed  -  Phytolacca esculenta

(here with the leafs of some Buckwheat - Fagopyrum esculentum)

Here's a blog post about dyeing with Pokeweed by Grackle and Sun

Pokeweed edible or not?
Here you will find information about it:    Can Be Deadly But Oh So Delicious: Pokeweed

Pokeweed - Brambles - Onion skins

It's such a fascinating subject, fermentation...

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The labyrinth we painted along the riverside...

I'm really grateful that I live in such a beautiful place

Nature offers so much inspiration

each and every day

...

and... I'm definitely working on something new here

:)

...I'm feeling very quiet these days...

maybe I could show some pictures of my surroundings instead?

The landscape around my house here in the heart of Brittany

the river with the Medieval bridge in the back

my house is hidden behind the trees on the left

Some of the hundreds wild daffodils in the garden

Early Spring in the back yard

harvesting birch sap

Mimosa in bloom

My knit and crochet space

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...the holy hill...

A few days ago, as a kind of ritual for Imbolc-Full-Moon-Celebration, I went up to what could very well be, a ancient Holy Hill here in Brittany: the "Montagne St Michel" formally known as the "Menez Kronan" (Mountain of Kronan: he was a Celtic god) and though it was freezing cold up there, it felt as a very energetic place. I felt the same thing on top of the Tor a couple of years ago when I was visiting Glastonbury.

What you see here is a relic of the Second World War: once a radio navigation tower for the bombers of the German army. It looks like a stone UFO, very bizarre. Bunkers were also built here but fortunately there were destroyed. Today this place is mainly visited by pilgrims, tourists and hikers.

The hill is 381 m high, located in a barren landscape where there is a constant strong wind blowing. It was 9°C warm but it felt like minus 9. Luckily I was wrapped up warmly. This hill was and is still called by the locals "the gates of the other world" - for some people meaning: Hell (les portes de l'Enfer). In the old days there probably was an ancient Celtic temple located here. In 1672 they build a church on top of it but it's more like a chapel. The Christians realised that the only way to counter the local Pagan believes, was to build monuments dedicated to their God in the precise location where the ancient rituals were taking place. They built this Church but it was abandoned. They rebuild it in the 19th century. 

Christians have renamed this place St Michel. Wherever one finds a church or place named Michel, Michiel, Michele, Mikael or Michael, it indicates that it previously was an energetic place where the old religion was celebrated. Where the serpent or dragon energy was active and maybe still is. Places like that are: St Michael Mount in the UK, the Mont St-Michel in Normandy, the Irish island Skellig Michael and St Michael's Tower on Glastonbury Tor, among many others. 

Michael is always described as the destroyer of the dragon.

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Imbolc Blessings

Thanks for visiting

:)

deze blogpost in het Nederlands, hier