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Fibershed… (pass it on)

Spring has finally arrived and suddenly everything is coming to life again, including my schedule. I have a lot of exciting new projects on the horizon, and after a good long, wet winter, I am ready to get to work again.

One of the potential projects that I am most excited about, is working with Rebecca Burgess on her year long commitment to Fibershed.

Rebecca is trying to bring awareness to the problems surrounding our current textile industry, and to do so, she has vowed to only wear clothes that are made within her Fibershed.

This means that for one year she can only wear clothes that are made from fiber (wool or cotton) that is grown and produced within 150 miles of her home in Marin County.

So Rebecca is working with local farmers, like Mimi Luebbermann at Windrush Farm, local artists, like Heidi Iverson, fashion design students and local businesses… and hopefully I will get to document it all… if she gets enough funding.

Because Rebecca is eager to get this project going as fast as possible, she has set up a sort of micro-loan program with a cool organization called Kickstarter. Kickstarter provides a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers… and we have to find people to provide the funding.

So our search for people who are interested in supporting this important project has begun. And the first step is education.

So if you would like to learn more about Fibershed then check out Rebecca’s new blog:

http://fibershed.wordpress.com/

If you would like to learn more about Rebecca then check out her new website:

http://www.rebeccarburgess.com/

If you would like to help make this very cool project come to life, then please click here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fibershed/funding-fibershed-one-year-150-miles

And if we get enough support, hopefully, very soon, you’ll get to see the farms and farmers where Rebecca will get her fiber, you’ll get to see the artisans who will make her clothes, and you’ll get to see Rebecca wearing some incredibly fashionable, sustainable and locally made clothes.


Natural Dyes with Mimi and California Country Magazine…

It is nice to be connected with people who promote my photography, since I don’t do a good job of promoting myself. Ever since I returned from London, I have been meaning to take my portfolio around to magazines in the area, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet.

But luckily, Mimi, my soon-to-be-mother-in-law, is an amazing person with a wonderful lifestyle that magazines want to write about. So when Brandon, from California Country Magazine, called her and said they wanted to do a story about her and her natural dying process, she said, “I have just the photographer for you.”

It was so fun to have a taste of what real magazine work, and budgets, are like. The magazine gave me a shot list and an exact number of photos that they wanted… and when Brandon asked me if I would be “ok” with their day rate… I had to try and remain cool and not act surprised…. yeah, I guess that’ll do.

These are just some of my favorites from the day and what I learned about natural dying…

First… collect your plant material… Mimi uses black walnuts, dahlias, onion skins, marigolds and tansy (shown below.)

Here is a super simplified instruction list for making your own natural dyes:

Put your material in your pot…

bring it to boil…

cook for an hour…

strain it…

let it cool…

add a mordant (Mimi uses nontoxic mordants like alum and cream of tarter)…

add your pre-soaked wool…

bring to boil again…

cook for an hour…

cool in dye…

rinse until water runs clear…

and hang to dry.

Thanks to: Mimi for promoting me, and to California Country Magazine for giving me the opportunity to work on this project. I hope it is just the beginning of my magazine assignments.

You can buy Mimi’s beautiful natural dyed wool at the Pt. Reyes Farmers’ Market in front of Toby’s Feed Barn on Saturdays, or she will soon be at the Marin Civic Center Farmers’ Market on Sundays.

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