I feel the Winter every day now as I wake up to a world made crystalline by glittering frost. The cold time of year is precious to me. It’s the time to insulate, draw inward around the hearth, and hibernate with ideas for the coming warm season. As we say goodbye to Autumn, I wanted to do a last natural dye post. One of my favorite techniques for using plant dyes is eco-printing or bundle dyeing. In this technique, the plant material is used whole to leave a ‘print’ on the

October is my favorite month hands down. I know I shouldn’t choose favorites, but it’s just so lovely with the carpet of golden leaves in the forest, the rainy windy days, the excitement of the harvest season, and the turning inward that comes with the lengthening nights. I also love Halloween! It’s always been a favorite holiday of mine, since it seems to be the only one we celebrate in the West that reveres chaos and the spirit realms. We dress up and take on different per

Fall is my favorite gathering season. The weather is mild and the plants are beginning to go dormant and offer up their bounty as crafting material. Leaves and grasses, flowers and vines all seem to don lovely rich bruised colors, and I can’t resist drying them for future projects. This is the perfect time of year to gather up materials for creating nests. Weaving nests is something I discovered how to create on my own, so I’ll share my process here. Although I’m unsure how

Autumn begins early here in the Pacific Northwest, slowly creeping into August with cooler evenings and falling leaves. Already, the clouds have returned, bringing small rain falls and relieving us from the haze of wild fires that burn to the north and east of the mountains. Walking by the wetlands last week, I noticed many Alder leaves on the ground. Click here for my blog post about finding and gathering alder cones. After asking permission to gather, I collected quite a

This is the time of year when I begin gathering herbs and flowers for the Smudging Wands I craft. Some plants are already blooming, whereas others I use won't begin to blossom until a month from now. So, I gather what I can now and dry it for use later when I finally have harvested all of materials to make Flower Smudging Wands. Most plants will dry quite easily with this upside down method. It keeps the flowers and stems straight and full of color. They also make lovely d