The sunny days we had earlier this week induced me to spend time on the deck. And what better to do in the sun than wash some dirt!
I’ve collected a fair amount of different dirts/muds from around the country as I’ve conducted mudcloth workshops. They keep piling up in baggies and boxes and plastic containers. Nothing wrong with that. Other than it is a deterrent to actually using the stuff since it is more or less hidden in the depths of my studio shelving.
A box of lovely looking mud came from Florida’s Lake Louisa State Parks Big Creek the other day – and that got me started. I pulled up all the empty orange juice containers that have been waiting patiently for a second life and put them to work. A box of knee-high pantyhose, a couple of pitchers, a basin or two plus all the small dirt containers that I could easily dislodge from their studio sanctuary …. and I was elbow deep in different colors.
A couple really nice reds, some various shades of brown/tan, a couple with green tones, a lovely yellow and a grey clay that went on forever.
After all the colors settled down, I have just little bits of some of them – and lots of the grey clay. More to wash, but I need to collect a few more containers before I do that again. Besides, the forecast calls for rain.
Hi Judy!
I’m sitting here at my computer with an amused look on my face as I contemplate ‘washing dirt’. Visions of hanging my yard’s grass on a clothesline while I wash the dirt with a carpet cleaner pass through my mind. Ok, I guess I’m just easily amused! 😉
Anyway, I find the whole process interesting (my old anthropology training coming out I guess) and the technology involved in your creations. I never would have guessed… Dave M.