Tuesday Thoughts

After pulling up the exhausted ornamental cabbage plants and throwing most away, I found two that I'd left in the front bed.  Hmmmm.  Wouldn't they be good for eco printing?  And why didn't I think of that before?

I guess because my current projects aren't leaving me much time for thinking about going through all the reading and preparation for eco dyeing and eco prints.

I tore off some of the leaves and am flattening them out in an old phone book.  Isn't the stem beautiful?

So now there is a little bit of silk soaking in a mordant bath of alum and cream of tartar.  

Something I just realized after getting out the silk -- on all of the prayer flags that I said I used habotai silk...I meant raw silk.  I do know the difference, but for some reason, "habotai" is what I typed on every prayer flag where I used silk.  And ALL of them use raw silk.

The texture, rough and nubby, of the raw silk appeals to me, and while I do love the sheer silkiness of habotai silk,  it must be the word itself that I love.  I'm not going back through all of those posts to change it, but habotai silk  is in the mordant bath, and all of the prayer flags use raw silk.  Duh.

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My friend Thomas has gotten me hooked on a Korean television series,  A Tree with Deep Roots, and now I'm having to do much slower stitching because I'm having to read the subtitles, and I'm so entranced with the series that, in spite of my determination not to, I keep returning!  Beautifully filmed and with engaging characters, the story line is loosely based on the Korean king who created the alphabet for the Korean language (instead of Chinese).  It was so much simpler that a person could learn to read and write within a day.

"King Sejong presided over the introduction of the 28-letter Korean alphabet, with the explicit goal being that Koreans from all classes would read and write. He also attempted to establish a cultural identity for his people through its unique script. While creating the alphabet, King Sejong encountered opposition of courtiers. First published in 1446, anyone could learn Hangul in a matter of days. Persons previously unfamiliar with Hangul can typically pronounce Korean script accurately after only a few hours study."

The series has mystery, political difficulties, corruptions, romance, and, uh, wonderful costumes.  Yes, I love the costumes.