Sunday, July 14, 2013

MISA Workshop Continued.....

July 14th, 2013

    It has been a busy and rewarding week.  I have learned the basics about eco-printing and can't wait to get started back here.  The recommended fabrics to bring were silk and wool, both of which were not available at the local JoAnn Fabrics, so I bought cotton and muslin.  The reason silk and wool were suggested is that they take the color and print the best.  My first attempt with the cotton yielded disappointing results.  I learned that cotton does not take up the color unless it has been pre-mordanted.


First Attempt

The instructor suggested that I use a milk mordant to bring out some color.  This was new to me, but I was told that a cellulose fabric needs a protein to set it.  I went back and redid a couple of the squares along with some donated silks.  One of the aspects of working with a small group like this is that everyone is willing to share.  Lucky for me!


Second Attempt

 This second attempt yielded better results.  The top two in the middle are silk.


Final Project
 Once all of the pieces were dyed, we stitched them together.  You can see the piece in the middle does not have much color on it.  I did not re-dye this piece, but chose to use it with other dyed pieces on top. We thought we were done at this point, but she surprised us by cutting up her sample into quarters and positioning it on another piece of fabric.  In fact, we could make those pieces even smaller!  I did not have the right piece of fabric to mount mine on, so I will complete it once I find something.


Book Before Dyeing

Another project we worked on was to make a book out of paper.  We stitched pieces of fabric onto the paper, then cut it so that it could be folded.  Here is mine before going into the dye bath.




The next step was to fill the pages with plant material found outside.  Above are a few pictures of my collections.  Once all of the pages have been filled, the book is wrapped tightly in a cloth and placed in the dye bath.

Bundle

Final Outcome


This book can now be refolded and kept for notes and thoughts as I wander on my journey of eco-printing.  All in all this has been a wonderful workshop.  I enjoyed the company of my fellow dyers, the bike rides into town, the exploration at an Indian cemetery, the homemade soup by India Flint, the Apples to Apples game at night and of course, learning how to eco-dye!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

July 9th, 2013






Hello from Wisconsin!  I am excited to tell you that I am attending a 5 day workshop entitled Wayfarer's Wanderbook and Windfall Cloth on Madeline Island.  This workshop is with India Flint, the author of Eco Colour.



She creates beautiful printed cloth or clothing using plants, bark and other items found in the outdoor environment. Day 1 consisted of making 3 bundles for the dye pot.  The 1st bundle included items gathered from the ground and placed on a square of cloth.  To this bundle we added a rock and wrapped it up tightly with a handmade cord!


handmade cord
gatherings


bundle

a surprise visitor

 For the 2nd bundle, we were allowed to pick items, wrap them up very tightly and add to the pot of water.  The 3rd and last bundle was wrapped around a stick.  Here are some pictures of the dye pot before water was added.




For myself, the results of my pieces were not as impressive due to my fabric choice of cotton.  Silk and wool work best unless the cotton is mordanted.

my samples

silk and wool samples
goodies on the line drying

 More about this workshop later.......!













Monday, July 1, 2013

Learning As I Go......

July 1st, 2013

I have been busy, no I mean really busy!  With the exception of a trip to Arizona for my grandson's baptism, I have been scouring, mordanting and dyeing onesies.  Here I have my workstation set up outside.


For those of you who live on the East coast, we haven't seen much sun recently, so I have had to move inside.  In addition, the outlet to plug the cooktop in has stopped working, so some trouble shooting needs to happen before setting up there again.

Below are some of the most recent onesies I've dyed.  The last one has some interesting markings from folding the garment before adding it to the dye pot.  All of these onesies were dyed with natural powered dyes.
logwood dye

logwood flower


weld
weld flower

 
madder
madder dye
madder dye