Blue, pt. 3

The Last of the Indigo Workshop posts. Britt was a wonderful instructor- patient and positive the entire afternoon, encouraging us to dye just about any natural material! She'll be leading more workshops in the future, so keep your eyes peeled!

See all of my photos from the workshop here.

Blue, pt. 2

As excited as I was about working with natural indigo and learning how use it as a dye, I was equally excited about where the Indigo Workshop was being held: the home of Beatrice Valenzuela -- designer, hairdresser, gourmand extraordinaire, and all- around creative goddess.

I met her briefly at a party this past summer, and was immediately smitten. As my friend Hadley once said about Bea (paraphrasing a bit here) : "She has a knack for bringing creative people together; everything seems a little magical when you are around Bea."

One can tell she and her partner Ramsey, with whom she shares the Echo Park home, have a mutual appreciation for art and all things handcrafted.

As a part of the workshop's fee, both a light brunch and late lunch were provided.
Beatrice made a delicious, brothy, pork soup and served it with nuts, fruits, a baguette, and cheese. Cardamom laced coffee was prepared: warm when we arrived in the morning, and iced with cream in the afternoon.

The entire afternoon was full of warmth-- due in equal parts to both the sunny weather and Beatrice's hospitality. I feel pretty confident in saying that I think we all felt that it was the perfect setting for the perfect afternoon. Thank you Beatrice!


(I love how many of the workshop participants wore their Beatrice Valenzuela shoes, myself included, as a tiny homage to our hostess.)

Blue, pt. 1

This Holiday weekend I had the extreme fortune and pleasure to attend an Indigo Dyeing Workshop led by artist Britt Browne (be sure to check out her gorgeous blog, Growing Indigo ), and hosted by the gracious and talented Beatrice Valenzuela at her cozy Echo Park home.

I was blown away by the talents of all of the workshop participants--which made it very difficult for me to edit my photos down! Therefore, I'll be posting images from the workshop over the next couple days.














(Unrelated to the workshop, but in keeping with the theme of "Blue" ;
Tomory and I saw Melancholia this weekend, which I really enjoyed, and I finally purchased this book.)

Just a few more...

A few more pots that I made. I think the one that is at right in the topmost photo is my favorite of all of my ceramic creations so far...although the deep green pot with incising and wax resist has an elegant crudeness to it.

We always try to go to the beach the day after Thanksgiving.