Connection * Joy * Beauty

Welcome

the healing power of color

An invitation to the wild side…

Come explore the colorful possibilities that plants offer to us. Connecting to plants in the dye pot opens us up to a magical realm where perspectives change, and healing is possible.

Dream Bird Studio is the ongoing effort of artist and naturalist dyer Iris Sullivan Daire. Offerings include:

Naturally dyed textiles for adornment, the altar or as a talisman.
Workshops and retreats that use natural dyes as a portal to deeper relationships to self, others and the natural world. Partnering with plants in this way serves as a powerful tools for self-care and healing.
Art from the front lines of Nurture Culture.

Sign up for Workshops Here

These are 6" x 6" - dyed with my homegrown indigo pigment, and clamped mostly with popsicle sticks and rubber bands.

Last two slides show them on the table, still clamped, and again in the same order after opening.
These will be mounted in a little book I am making, as a teaching tool for Itajime patterns. Tiny radial folds next week... #dailydozen #handmadelife
#itajime #indigo #organiccotton
#coastalblue #fibernerd #shibori

On Tuesday my sweetheart hand cut these plywood blocks out for me using a coping saw Seeing now that they are kinda in the middle of a continuum of modern block options. The machine made blocks on @scramblesquilts feed made at @haystack_school show the computer age end of the spectrum, and then @ninja.chickens has a good example of found objects being used as clamps. Endless possibilities.

The preliminary test dips of these blocks were promising, or at least the cats thought so. Yesterday was brim full of needed rain, and that meant no dyeing in the open air dye lab. Rough and ready for some more indigo dyeing out there today though.
What kinds of things have you tried using for Itajime blocks? Are traditional or nontraditional patterns your favorites?

#repeatpatterns #foldclamp #indigo #itajime #handmadelife #studiocats

P.S. There are still three weekend pass tickets, and a couple Friday & Sunday day passes, available for Indigo Fest. Just in case you want to play with my blocks.

Is anyone out there interested in a Gocco set? I am ready for a larger set up and have two I want to sell.
These are basically a kit to burn small screens for printing with. You can also use the machine for the printing process, though I did not, rather using the screens more free-hand.

I purchased these a number of years ago and made a bunch of screens that I still use. It will work with natural dye inks if you cover the cardboard frames with duct tape to waterproof them. I purchased the blue one new, and the one in the yellow box, used. That one has a bunch of the Gocco inks, which I haven't used, so don't know how they are.
They each still have bulbs and screens, which can be hard to get.
You choice, $40 plus shipping, DM to arrange.

#screenprinting #printgocco

Modest little harvest from the back deck dye garden before this next wave of rain started. Most of my growing space is dedicated to Indigo this year, but these beauties make me really happy.

The pot of weld I cut back earlier this summer sent up a second round of flower stalks, giving a surprise second harvest. Nature is so generous.

#growyourowncolor #tangocosmos #bidens #weld #marigolds #dyerschamomile

The Red Tent Series

A Red Tent on the shore of Lake Quinault. Part of the series of ephemeral outdoor installations utilizing site specific sticks and a madder dyed silk. Representing the confluence of Woman and Nature, made during menstruation.