More Wild Dyery Course results

Since last time I've made a journal out of the indigo shibori dyed fabric.  I attached the pages with some white embroidery floss and did a blanket stitch around the outside with yarn I had dyed in red cactus flowers so generously given to me by my friend Pat.   Here's a photo below:

For another lesson, I've dyed some silk samples with weld (yellow), madder (red) and indigo (blue).  By combining some of the colours you also get orange and purple.  So I had six colours.  Then a sample of each colour was dipped into iron solution to get six more colours.   The top row has the original colours and the bottom row are the same colours dipped in iron solution    Here is the swatch book of samples I made with all twelve colours:

It was a fun exercise and gives me lots to experiment with.  Thanks for stopping by!

Printing last week

We went to the cottage last week and I made some new prints.   The left one below is with a new stamp I made from some packaging material.  The right one is a shibori print made by tying marbles into the fabric and then colouring it.

The weather was perfect so I couldn't resist making some sun prints with the ferns growing there.  These are all about 11 inches square.

This is another sun print in the first stage.  I'm learning to make layered sunprints:)  So after this was done I put the plants back on and painted another layer of textile paint on and put it back in the sun.

Here's the result:

I like the complexity of it and hope to make some more of these.  This one measures 18 X 22 inches.  Here's another layed print:

They're a little more complex than my original prints.  I always like to learn a bit more.  If you're interested in buying any of these prints let me know.  We can arrange that you pay me by e-transfer.  They are on Kona cotton fabric and are perfect for any textile art project.  My email address is connietb@sympatico.ca  Thanks for having a look!

Natural dyeing course and Eco printing course

I'm taking some courses from the Wild Dyery in the UK.  It's always fun to study with someone and see how they do things.  Here are my first lesson results from each.   These samples were dyed in my natural indigo dye vat.  Making the indigo vat is an adventure in itself!

Here are my first eco printing samples on silk noil for the course.  They are each about 12 inches square:

The top right is Bachelor's Button which is a first for me.  The flower did give off some nice blues.  Thanks for having a look!

Avocado Pit Scarves

I have been experimenting with dyeing silk scarves with avocado pits.  I didn't have much luck last year but I had a lot more luck this year.  One trick is to add a little bit of baking soda to the dye pot to darken the colour.  I've added the scarf to the dye solution in this photo and it's in the pot on the stove:

  I ended up making two scarves.  I also read about using an after rinse in ferrous sulphate solution to get dark blue/purple colours.  So I took one dyed scarf and tied it off with some elastics.  I tied some coins into the ends.  Then I did the after rinse with a very small amount of ferrous sulphate.  The effect was so quick and strong I had to pull it out very quickly.  But here are the results of before and after.  I'm still pleased with the result and will try a weaker solution next time:

Thanks for having a look!

Dandelion experiments

Well we have a huge crop of dandelions growing in Ottawa right now so I thought I would use some of them in my artwork. 

First of all, even though people seem to despise them, dandelions are a hugely medicinal plant.  The leaves can be eaten fresh in salads in the spring and are very cleansing for the body.  The roots can be picked in the fall and can be made into tea or roasted and made into a coffee substitute.  Dandelion roots are liver cleansing and are supposed to fight cancer.  The flowers are made into wine and can also apparently be eaten.

But we have a ton of flowers right now so I have been picking the flowers and making a strong solution of them to dye cotton and a cotton/silk mix of fabric.  Here's a photo of the flowers in my dye pot.   It looks like a bowl of sunshine:)

 Here are my fabrics before they were dyed.   A strip of 100% white cotton and a strip of cotton/silk.   I washed them and soaked them in an alum solution to prepare them for dyeing.  Later I also tried adding alum directly to the dye solution.  The results were pretty much the same.

Here are the fabrics after they were dyed.  A nice soft yellow colour.  You can see the silk dyed a little darker than the cotton.   I'm happy with the results.  I will use these as border fabrics around my botanical(eco)  prints.  I'm glad I could put some of the dandelions to good use.

Face masks etc

Lately with the coronavirus outbreak I've been unable to work and am spending lots of time at home.  I have been making cotton masks for health care workers who work with the elderly.  Here is the first design with cotton ties.  I've been using up fabrics in my stash. 

Here is the pile of masks that I sent out last week (36 of them).  I'm working on another design now.

Here's what I've been working on artwise.  I love using up strips of leftover fabric to make backgrounds for future wall hanging or to incorporate into something else.  We saw some beautiful birds on our trip to Costa Rica recently so I'm thinking this would make a great background for a silhouette of a bird.

I also like to use up strips of t-shirt material to make circles and fabric bowls.  These are rather large coasters to put under a drink or something hot like a bowl of soup.  I've inserted strips of fabric between the layers to add colour.  Thanks for having a look and stay safe everyone!

Stittsville Library Show

This year I organized the Stittsville Library show again and it's on at the Stittsville Library until November 30th.  The theme this year is "Recycled Reborn".   The design elements of each piece were to be made with recycled materials.  Please go and have a look! Some of the recycled materials we used are old photo slide frames, scrap fabrics, plastic vegetable netting, metallic paper wrap and used coffee packaging.   My piece is the green and blue which is closest at the top.  It's made with scraps of hand painted fabrics.  I used a piece of vintage lace and some slices of dried citrus at the bottom.

Here is the artwork in the display case: