I've just completed my first prints using the second plate I made for collography printing. Above are 2 prints on 100% cotton water-colour paper. The one on the left is the first inking. I deliberately put a small amount of ink on it, to try and vary the intensity of the black. I'm aiming to have a bit more space in the prints, for when I come to stitch onto them later. The second print, I added more ink, and it's quite different. I like the way that a simple act such as the amount of ink on the plate, can have such different effects.
Below; is the print on fabric.
I've used the cotton/linen fabric I've recently dyed using eucalyptus leaves. The fabric without he soya-milk mordant. Again, you can see slight differences in the inked up design.
And here is a close-up of the eucalyptus dyed fabric, showing the print on the right hand side.
I was aiming to include the rust brown splodge (a technical term this) to add tone, and depth of colour to the flat print. I'm pleased with that. Be interesting to see it when it's dry, and I can explore using stitches on it. I think the fact that there's more space in it, will prevent that over-busy look of the earlier collagraphy print I did on fabric.
Top photo is the first dyeing of cotton/linen mix fabric, from a eucalyptus dye-pot.There is a shadow from the washing line! But there is a nice linear pattern come through, due to the folding of the fabric. I wanted to get away from that fixed 'line'. Wanted to make the dye more random, and irregular.
So....I put it into an second dye-pot of eucalyptus.
Result, below.
It's darkened the fabric. It's softened the lines that had dyed into it. Which is better. Though I have looked onto India Flint's blog, here, where she says that boiling eucalyptus for more than an hour, releases kino, and makes the dye turn more brown.
So...I think I've been boiling the eucalyptus for too long. Mmmmm; this is the interesting thing about dyeing with plants. You never stop learning, and never stop finding different ways of using plants. I'll try boiling for a shorted time now.
Hmmmmm; not very successful results from the eucalyptus dye-pot I've had on. SO.....this is rolled up again, and popped into the next batch!
I've decided I'm not that fond of the folded patterns. They're not bold enough for me.
However, this is the cotton/linen mix fabric which wasn't pre-mordanted with soya milk. There are some subtle blobs on the fabric; but they don't stand out enough really. So I've left it in the pot, to see what develops. The other piece of fabric has also been dunked in the second batch. I hope they'll darken.
I collected some eucalyptus leaves from my friend's tree, and have made up this dyepot with them. Two bundles of a cotton/linen fabric mix have been folded, and dropped in.
The smaller one, was dropped in as it is; the larger bundle has been pre-mordanted with soya-milk.
I'm going to leave both bundles in for quite a long time I think. Try to get a dense colour.
Once dry, I'm going to experiment with the collography plate I've been working on. See what it prints up like. It's drying in the studio at the moment; the varnish is stinky!
The sun stands still at the solstice. Last night, tonight, and tomorrow night are the shortest days; the longest times of darkness.
I'm lighting candles, enjoying the lights on the xmas tree, and celebrating the dark.
I made a xmas wreath, with greenery from my tree, and some eucalyptus branches from my friend's garden. It hangs on the gate; evergreens, the symbol of life through the winter.
And below is a photo of the iconic stones of Stonehenge. Taken when we visited Wiltshire last year.
Stonehenge was a place where both the summer solstice and winter solstices were celebrated. Both solstices occur at the same time; just at different places on the planet.
Whilst we shiver in the dark of winter, in the southern hemisphere they are celebrating the summer solstice, their longest day.
I love this planetary sense of balance and movement.
At the top of the picture is 2 pieces of linen ; and at the bottom is a piece of silk (second hand!), both dyed using eucalyptus leaves.
The silk was blue to begin with, and it's gone a lovely pale green colour. The linen pieces (both pre-mordanted with soya milk) came out a pale pink. It's strange to get two completely different colours from the same dye-bath. Not sure how that's happened.
I might have to over dye the linen again, to try and darken it. The patterns of the dye-ing stand out much better against a deeper/darker colour.
