Tie-dyed green silk; popped into a pomegranate dye-pot. It's a bit paler than in the photo. Not quite so good definition.
White silk tie-dyed in the pomegranate dye-pot. This looks more 'metallic'; the reality, is greyer.
White silk with blue flowers pressed between it. Seems the bluebells created this blue. I wonder how long it will last? I used no mordants; the pomegranate is mordant enough, most of the time. The blue (bells) I fully expect to fade and disappear. I'll leave it a while, before I use it in any samples.
I've completed another of my samples; mounted it onto a stiff piece of denim. I'm considering using some final stitching on it; to really finish it. It's a relief piece; I used quilting batting for that effect. It's the only sample that has this. So far, anyway!
So this is some linen thread I put into the pomegranate dye-pot. The colour's very different! I didn't use any kind of mordant; just popped it into the pot. Maybe that's why it came out such a lovely golden colour?
Here is the wedding dress bodice, silk, with some man-made fabric flowers. The silk is a pale grey; the man-made fabric not taken at all. I dropped this piece in late on in the process. It wasn't in for long at all. Certainly not as long a time as the silk and cotton lengths. You can see the silk fabric behind the silk bodice. Noticeable how different the colours are.
And finally the POT!
Direct off the cooker, and still steaming. The wrapped cotton and silk still amidst the mulch!
The fabric above is not quite that livid pink! It's cotton dyed using walnuts; the blue is the 'sig vat', cotton dyed with woad.
Both have been printed using a collagraphy plate.
Close-up; and the colour is more faded in this photo; and more 'real' to the actual fabric. Am still on with seed stitching. It's what I'm working on currently, along with another 'sampler', maybe I should call them? All these pieces are quite small. Manageable to handle. Pieced together.
I popped some threads in the walnut dye-pot; the top one is silk, originally coloured pink. The dye hasn't penetrated all the way through to the bottom lengths of thread, so I've unravelled it some, to allow the dye to permeate further down. And popped it back into the walnut dye-pot.....though it is pretty exhausted now, and I'm dropping used tea-bags into what remains, to try and keep it going. We'll see.
And out of the mists of time....my ole guitar dragged down from the loft. Re-strung; ready to go. It's a shame I can't play it! But I have fun strumming, and filling the house with noise. My body reverberates after I've stopped strumming! The cats are fascinated. I haven't asked the neighbours!
A silk shirt given to me, found in a charity shop. This is the sleeve, after festering in the almost exhausted walnut dye-pot for weeks. The photos were taken when it was still wet; it will dry lighter, obviously. But the lighter marks show up at present, where I tied string loosely around the silk. See if they are still as noticeable when the silk dries. I hope so.
Here's the silk from the child's bridesmaid dress, dunked into the woad dye-bath. Bought the dress in Eyemouth back in August. The silk is a 'slub' silk; which means it's uneven on the surface; the spin of the silk is uneven, creating thick and thin lengths of thread. Tiny imperfect weaves. Gives the fabric a lovely texture. I'm expecting the woad to exaggerate this texture, when I take it out, wash, and dry it.
The results I'm getting with the woad, are a very uneven colouration. Maybe that's because I'm using such a small dye-bath? I do like that effect actually, so it doesn't bother me.
This is a cotton top Jill gave me; me wearing it. The details of the string I tied around the cotton reveal a lovely pattern; hardly touched by the blue woad dye, it's remained white. As I took this photo myself, it was hit & miss getting an image that was anything like!
Working on my next sample for the City & Guilds course.
I was busy in the 'alchemical kitchen' last week. Went out to pick cow parsley, and make a dye for some of the re-cycled silk (wedding dress). Success! It's a gorgeous yellow. Though the colour in the dye-pot may be more intense than the final fabric colour? Well, there's enough cow parsley out there to do another dye-pot.
I also bought an avocado, to eat, then use the skin and stone to try compost dye-ing again. As the weather is so much warmer, it might have better results.
The 'Time Team' programme focused on Star Carr last week. Showed the reindeer masks that were found there. There's a display of some of the finds from Star Carr at the Yorkshire Museum, so I'm hoping to go visit over the summer.
I began a painting after I visited Star Carr last summer. Once I've completed this course, I'll get that painting out again. Work out what I want to do with it. I'm looking forward to painting again, after the last 9 months of textiles.
I've spent a productive few hours in the studio today. Put this piece of silk (yes, silk!) into a dye-pot of sycamore leaves.
The silk came from Lynn, who's on the same textiles course as me. So as it's second-hand, it's ok for me to use. Feels ethical. It's a salmon pink colour....not a colour I'd choose, but it will be interesting to see how that changes with the dye bath. Hopefully it will mute it; make it more sludgy. This may be the only time I want a dye to make the fabric go 'sludgy'!
I also began planning what I want to do when the textiles course starts again in 2 weeks time. We have to create 6 sample pieces, all A3 size. So I'm trying to think about how I might use the techniques we cover each week; and use the class to make pieces reflecting my interests.
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!
