Conference 2009 Scholarship Report

To: The MAFA Scholarship Committee
From: Kathy Wagner
620 East Market St
Danville, PA 17821-2137

Experience Gained and Threadlines Report:

I was very pleased when MAFA announced that its Fiber Weekend was to be held at Gettysburg College. My family has been participating in living history reenactments, (including Civil War era) for many years, so Gettysburg was a setting that was familiar to me. Shortly after the date for MAFA was announced, I volunteered my Guild (Susquehanna Valley Spinners and Weavers Guild – aka ‘SVSWG’) to collect and coordinate the “goody bags” for the conference. At that point I was committed and determined to attend a fiber event in the larger arena of MAFA – one way or another!

I am a spinner and weaver, and I have done a limited amount of dyeing in the past, much of it synthetic in nature. In my preschool classroom we dyed wool fleece and yarn with Kool-Aid as a part of a yearlong fiber unit -- a magical process for the children and their parents alike! For several years I have demonstrated=2 0what I call “working wool” as a historic reenactor at several community festivals and regional cultural celebrations, including the Goshenhoppen Folk Festival in New Greenville, PA; the Warrior Run-Fort Freeland Heritage Festival in Turbotville, PA; the Danville (PA) Iron Heritage Festival, and several other venues. At these events I dress in period clothing and, starting with a raw fleece, demonstrate the steps necessary to take or “work” the fleece to fabric. At the historic Gutelius House in Mifflinburg, PA (restored home of a Jacquard production weaver in the 1830’s) our SVSWG members were invited to plant a dyer’s garden in the back yard. At that point I began to think seriously about what natural dyestuffs the people who settled in our area of Pennsylvania might have utilized. Last summer several of our Guild members presented a program on natural dyeing that they had done, and that inspired me to do even more reading and research. I wanted to be sure, however, that the information that I had was appropriate and accurate for the different time periods that I represent at the different venues. In October I spoke with one of the event organizers about doing historic dyeing at Warrior Run. She encouraged me to work to develop something that we could use first as a display in 2010, and perhaps as a working historic demonstration in 2011. So, with the MAFA Weekend opportunity approaching, I decided to enroll for the Spectrum of Natural Dyes” class and learn whatever I could about the topic. In addition to expanding my knowledge base, I hoped that the instructors might be able to point me in the right direction for historical dyeing information.

I left for MAFA on Thursday morning, July 30th. Driving down in the car, while my friend Eva and I chatted, I looked at the scenery and kept wondering which of the plants and trees that I was seeing along the roadside might appear in my class!

When we first met as a class on Friday morning, I found seven very different students with a common interest – natural dyeing. Several had varying degrees of experience and one or two were fairly new to the whole concept. We ranged in age from young to “well-seasoned,” and we were from a wide geographic spectrum -- urban, small town, and mountaintop rural. Our excellent instructors, Debbie McCrea and Carol Wood, soon put us at ease. They were personable, approachable, professional, and exceptionally well organized. When we arrived at the science lab that we occupied for the weekend, it was already full of bubbling and simmering pots of dyestuffs to pique our interest. Starting with the requisite safety cautions, we learned about equipment and supplies, and the magic of dyeing with natural materials began to unfold.

The class was set up so that we had hands-on experience with all of the possibilities, beginning with primary colors. From cochineal and madder (red), indigo (blue), weld and onion skins (yellow), and logwood (purple/black), we created a spectrum of color samples. We produced a respectable “gray scale” using logwood. We did a dull-bright sample. We learned about mordants and layering color. Although our ancestors didn’t carefully measure and do the math that we did, we learned that in spite of precise measurements and timing, there are still an abundance of variables that make natural dyeing difficult to predict. And the mistakes, deliberate diversions, and “OOPS!” moments gave us an appreciation for surprisingly beautiful serendipitous color happenings as well!

Over the almost three days of our class, we were exposed to basic dyeing skills as well as given a taste of more complex concepts and techniques involved in natural dyeing. I came away with a comfortable understanding of the basics involved, and was pointed in the right direction to continue to explore and learn on my own. The fantastic handouts, astoundingly beautiful samples, and bibliographies (with most of the books listed on hand in class to be examined) inspired and motivated me to continue to learn.

At the fashion show on Saturday evening, the members of our class proudly “modeled” our fiber sample skeins -- even the damp ones that had come from the dyepots earlier that afternoon. We even achieved an allusive goal – to overdye until we had an almost BLACK sample!

Sunday was an exciting time as we looked back over all we had learned and done. We assembled our sample booklets with the spectrum of colors that we had compiled over the course of the class, shared observations, gave feedback, and asked final questions. As we wrapped up and made plans to continue our connection on line via Facebook, we prepared to return to the real world.

And what about my special wish to learn about historically accurate dyeing? It turned out that one of the instructors, Debbie McCrea, is a colonial era reenactor, so she was well able to answer my questions relating to what would have been “period” for my different time periods. While we waited for pots to cook, she cheerfully and competently answered my multitude of questions, and suggested resources that will meet my needs. She had modeled a natural-dyed, period-correct garb in the Saturday evening fashion show, and was gracious in sharing her special knowledge. I hope to continue to be in touch with her, and with Carol as well, as I make my way along the spectrum of natural dyes.


How I intend to share the experience with others in the MAFA region:

My life has been interwoven with education of all kinds, and sharing what I learn about fiber arts and the fiber world with others will continue to be one of my passions. I am in the process of developing a presentation for my local Guild on natural dyeing, its history, and my MAFA experience, complete with a Power Point presentation and “show and tell” of hands-on samples of plants, processes, and products. I am hopeful that, once completed, I will be able to offer my presentation to service clubs in my community and perhaps, through the instructor data base, to offer it to fiber groups, guilds and organizations in the MAFA region as well. In addition, I am giving myself an October 2010 deadline (that’s four seasons of natural dyeing experiences) for developing a display of natural dyeing at the Warrior Run -Fort Freeland Heritage Festival!


And finally…

Thank you to the scholarship committee for the monetary support that enabled me to attend MAFA. It was a wonderful experience.