Rust & Tea; Rust Dye-ing #2

Th fabric I'd wrapped round the tin can, with tea-bags underneath, has now been unravelled, and opened out flat! It's much darker than the first rust print...the effect of the tannin from the tea, I suppose.
Since it dried, the fabric is paler than the photo below. And slightly less pleated and 3D. What a difference an iron makes! 

But I'm pleased with how these first experiments in rust dyeing have turned out. As my friend asked 'what are you going to do with them?' and at this moments, I have no idea!
Maybe use larger pieces of fabric? Find a way of working on a larger scale? Mmmmm, that sounds interesting! 

subversive stitch

So up I went; up into my loft, to seek out this 'seminal text', from 1984. I thought, as I'm doing so much textile work at the moment, I should go and re-read this feminist classic.
And somewhere in my boxes I have a poster from Barnsley Cooper art gallery, where they held an exhibition of the same title. I didn't see the exhibition, but was given the poster a few years ago when I worked in Barnsley.
When my garage studio is completed, I'll dig that out, and put it proudly on the pristine walls! It feels good to consider what I'm doing as subversive!
Sadly Rozsika Parker died last year.  

Blue SeaScape

A textile piece I started on the Creative Textiles course last year; only recently completed. Well, a lot of hand stitching went into it. It's layers, and collaged fabric, and machine & hand stitching. I think it's finished now....knowing when to stop, that can be difficult.

Rust Dye-ing # 2

More experiments from the Alchemical Kitchen!
Experiments with rust dye-ing.
This time I'm using tea bags to see what difference that makes. 

Summer Solstice

Happy Solstice!
A stormy sea view from last summer on Islay. Camped up on a fantastic beach site, and the sun setting over the western side of Islay. An orange ball, dropping into the horizon.
The weather had changed from hot and sunny as we camped up, to cloudy and windy. It fits the weather we're having right now. Lovely hot, sunny days, that have shifted to cooler, wetter, and grey sky.


Here at home I've been boiling up a dye-pot of eucalyptus leaves. Three bundles in the pot, awaiting unwrapping. What surprises are in store? Who knows. The kitchen is becoming, in the words of Leonora Carrington, 'an alchemical kitchen'!

Rust Dye-ing

Rust printing; well it's certainly a revelation! I didn't quite expect this. 
I wrapped some crochet thread around the linen which was wrapped around the tin can. The white circle is from the top of the tin can, on which I placed a ring-pull lid. I expected some colouring to develop there. But it gives an effective contrast to the patterned areas.  

A close up of the linen; hanging on the line, drying in the sun (yes! it's been sunny today!). The sunlight behind the fabric.

And wrapped around the can, the linen  looked like this. The can is nicely rusted now, so it's ready to have another piece of fabric experiemented on! 

Stitching & Dye-ing 2

A 'work in progress' of the organzie overlay of stitched collaged fabric/s. This is the 'top' of the length of organzie. Approximately one third of the length of the whole piece. It's quite a small piece, 28cm wide, and 91cm long. It has an almost three dimensional quality, too, as the organzie puckers and crinkles under the machine stitching.
I like that.