Rainy Morning

It rained all night and has been drizzling all morning. Its not too cold out, so its actually a nice change, but being stuck inside might make for a slightly gloomy day. I'm going to counter act it by having a fire in the wood stove, guaranteed to make things more cozy.

I'm also going to post a photo of a little natural dye experiment that my mom and I took on this weekend. My mom saw a white fuzzy growth on a cactus that someone had thrown out with their trash, and having just returned from Oaxaca where they use cochineal as a dye, she thought she may have found some. We carefully scraped off some of the fuzz, looking for a beetle inside, and crushed it on this sheet of paper, looking for the signature pink red dye. It was there! Then I dissolved some in water, because one of the coolest things I saw in Oaxaca a few years ago was a fountain that spewed blood red water-- the water dyed with cochineal. I ended up with water dyed this lovely rather Barragan pink (above). Totally cool.

Cochineal fountain at Oaxaca's Ethnobotanical Garden, taken in January 2006.

Detail of the red water made from cochineal dye pooling at the base of the fountain.

Rooftop patio at the house and studio of Luis Barragán, taken in January 2006.