Fade free Hats, Indigo Love and Smoke

Hello from smokey Nova Scotia. While many people to the west and east of me have lost their homes or have been evacuated due to the wild fires, life in Lunenburg has been relatively normal….other than wind directions sometimes causing bad air quality. This is a very small province, so it really isn’t possible to be unaffected by what is happening in other parts of the province. Everyone knows everyone here. There is zero degrees of separation. We feel each others’ sadnesses and joys quite keenly. I could go on about climate change, but I’d rather go on about how amazing people are in times of need. It’s quite beautiful to see how volunteers sprang into action to feed, clothe and house the evacuees. Local businesses have donated new clothing, musicians are organizing fundraising concerts and people have been opening up their homes. I have seen air bnb operators giving up their profits to house people in need. The last week has been super rainy and cold, so things are improving, but I hear the fire fighters will be at this into the winter. I have had several people reach out, so I just wanted to let you know we are totally fine. Let’s talk hats.

The wide brim cotton canvas hat above, modelled by my son’s girlfriend, Celeste, is the one I am most excited about right now. I do love to dye fabrics, but dyed fabric comes with acceptance that the colour will fade from the sun. As one customer put it, better the hat than the face. I like to dye saturated colours, so that the faded colour will still be beautiful, but this season I decided to play with undyed canvas. I’m so happy with the result. I put in little pops of colour in the brim binding and removable flowers and ties. The brim is also very flexible and can make all sorts of cute shapes to frame your pretty faces. You can find this hat HERE.

A few weeks ago I revived my Indigo Vat. Indigo is the original source of blue. I find the process of Indigo dyeing fascinating. When it works I feel like a chemist. Indigo is not soluble in water, so in order to dissolve the Indigo you need to raise the PH level and take the oxygen out of the vat. This is known as reducing the vat. It can be reduced in many ways, but I do it with bananas. Yup, you heard that right. The fructose in bananas help create the perfect conditions for Indigo dyeing. The magic of Indigo is that the colour changes after you take the hat (or anything else) out of the vat. When the Indigo hits the air, it grabs onto the oxygen molecules and goes from green to blue. With this hat, I held the brim under longer than the top of the hat, so that I could create a faded denim look. This one is available HERE.

Here’s another one that I have in the shop right now. I’m currently working on a batch of canvas hats, but I can’t wait to make more of these. This one with the polka dot band is available HERE.

Last we chatted I shared my canvas caps with you. Linda ordered THIS ONE from me. I really love the natural version. The stitching looks line doodling.

Last Thursday I found myself back in my natural habitat (The Lunenburg Farmers Market). The adorable lady on the right was visiting the adorable lady on the left and decided to take this green cap home with her to Alberta.

In other non hat related news, I am really loving my new lap warmer. He’s a bit temperamental and only obliges when he feels like it, but he’s a cat. Need I say more?

Well, that’s all for today. Hope life is being kind to you. Talk soon. Anna