Collateral Learning: Turmeric

Rotten, rotten morning for biking. The nastiest road conditions: it RAINED yesterday, now it's frozen. Definitely another bus day.
Hm. The colors might be good to re-create Breugel's Hunters in the Snow though.

Let's see....

Okay, I just went and snapped this photo, right, through my window--Dog Walkers in the Snow.
Yeah, pretty good!
The sky is never going to look like Bruegel's, unless a tornado threatens, which turns the sky an odd yellow-blue. But we don't get tornadoes in snowy seasons.

Yeah, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, Fresca. First up: Judith!
Started prep this morning on the kitchen table.
Of course it's going to be as futzy as I'd feared... Though it looks pretty good thrown together with draped fabrics.

Edith Head guest stars here ^ as the Head of Holofernes. She's "Edna Mode" from the Disney movie The Incredibles.
I will look for something less humorous though.
Hm, or not. She actually works pretty great--in real life, she's rolling her eyes, but that expression makes her look dead in this context.

Judith is draped in goldy stuff from a cut-up pillow cover. I wish it were more yellow. I thought about dying white cloth with turmeric.

Aaaand... I just got up and set a couple different white cloths (one cotton napkin and one shiny polyblend) in a bowl of turmeric water. Instantly it stained my fingers and the countertop too, so hopefully it will stain the cloth?

Doodleyoodleydoooo... Yes, it should. I looked it up and found instructions that said to simmer the fabric in turmeric water for an hour, so I'm doing that--or, until I leave for work in half an hour.

I like the collateral learning that comes with making something--physical and historical.
What do a doll's blinky-sleep eyes look like, out of her head?
Why was Judith chopping off Holofernes's head?

And, more about the painter Artemesia Gentileschi---Ms Moon pointed me to an article about her in the New Yorker.
Here's a fun note. A.G. moved to Naples in 1630:

"Naples became her base for much of the rest of her life, although she disliked the city, which was crowded, poor, and violent. In a letter to Andrea Cioli, a minister at the Medici court, she complained of “the warlike tumults, the badness of life, and the expense of things.”

Warlike tumults, the badness of life, and the expense of things? Sounds familiar! Though the indoor plumbing must have been far, far worse.

Hey! Ta-da, it worked!
The turmeric dyed the cloth wonderfully––after only 20 minutes–– including the non-cotton stuff, which is good because Judith's dress should be shiny.

"Well, I told you so, darling."