I have made a dye shelf that I was wishing for.
Until recently, dyes were bound together or placed in cardboard boxes and were left in a storehouse or under the eaves but now they are grouped in one place and sorted in the shelf to make them visible at a glance.
The trunks, branches, bark, nuts, dried grass…there are various dyes some of them are from more than 15 years ago.
I have changed my residence several times until recently and each time I took them with me.
Even when my house was small without a yard, I kept the dye in the cardboard boxes and stacked them in the corner of a room.
I think I managed well to keep them.
I found a reason in the cardboard boxes.
In the boxes, there were small memos attached on top of each dye with a note such as “Kariyasu (Miscanthus tinctorius) of ××hermitage”, “Japanese Apricot of ××house”, “Cherry given by ××” and “Bayberry of ××museum”.
If I take a look at the note, I can instantly remember where and how they came from, together with the name of the dye and the place collected.
I can’t let go of them so easily because they were passed into my hands through connections.
I think to myself while looking at the shelf where precious dyes are sorted, “What on earth is the colour that I am trying to dye?”
A chat with my friends has become natural such as “Mayu, do you want wild cherry blossoms?” “Oh yeah definitely!”
Although we moved to a place near the forest and the woods in the foothills, the state of things where dyes come through people’s hand does not change much.
It may be because I am looking for some kind of encounter and hoping to express and create colours from there.
Just the other day, my next door neighbour kindly offered me, saying “I cut down a few trees and thought you might want some for firewoods?”
When I called at her place delightedly, I saw bright yellow on the section of a cut tree.
I asked her about the kind of tree and, wow, it was Kihada (Amur Cork tree) as I expected.
It is too good for firewoods. I will use it for dye prudently.
One more dye has added to the shelf.
