I think I'm getting my groove back and into the frame of mind where I feel creative again. I'm on my way with my experimental drawn thread, but its not at a stage worth showing you yet. In the meantime I got a burst of energy and enthusiasm to try some natural dyeing techniques.
Above is the pot (or cauldron) that I cackle over ... filled with fabrics and threads soaking up a dye solution made from onion skins. You can see a stocking to the left filled with the skins (looks a bit like a haggis), and below are the finished samples. I just LOVE the copper colour of the silk.
I only used small pieces of fabric and small lengths of thread to try the technique out, and didn't bother taking down any notes or measurements until I knew whether it worked or that I like it or not. I must say a big thankyou to my friend Anne, and her mum, for the two bucket loads of rose petals they provided me with in order to get the colours below. The petals were a mix of white, pink and red, but gave a beige colour scheme, except for the silk piece again, which came out a beautiful bronze colour.
The silk fabric seems to take the colours better than the others, but I like the all of the soft muted colours. I fixed all these with white vinegar, but today my order of Alum, Copper and Iron mordants arrived, so I'm hoping to get chance to try these again using different mordants and see what happens. Got a beetroot dye I'm chomping at the bit to try out .... hope it gives me purpley/red colours. I'd love to hear from anyone else who's done natural dyeing, and gain some tips if anyone has any info to share.
I have to do natural dyeing for the next module of my degree with OCA so it is fascinating to watch your experiments.
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you're feeling the urge again, there's nothing worse than seeing a blank!
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