A few years ago, I took a class from Lorri Scott in the natural dyeing of fabrics (by the way, if you ever get a chance to take a class from Lorri, do so). I love the idea of using leaves, flower petals, and rusty objects to color my fabrics. A few weekends ago, I spent the afternoon dyeing muslin with rose petals, maple leaves, onion skins, rusty nails and other bits, and blueberries. Below are some of the results.
Yesterday, my friend Catherine came over and we dyed ribbons and pieces of fabric with rust and with plants (note to self: get organized about which plants and leaves actually work; a bright flower petal is no indiction of the color, if any, that results).
I used mostly maple leaves, poke berries, bachelor buttons, and rose petals on this long silk ribbon.
Below are ribbons and fabric dyed with rust.
You can't see it in this photo, but there are a few places where the rust ate through the silk. I neutralized the pieces after I dyed them (using salt water), but rust is corrosive.
More rust pieces below.
I used a lot of muslin as well as silk ribbons.
Bits of rust give this silk ribbon some character.
I read that boiling avocado skins produces a dusky rose color. As with so much of my natural dyeing, I got a soft brownish color. The silks took the color better than the cotton (and, yes, I used allum as a mordant). I like the color, but it's not what I was headed for.
Last week my friend Catherine came over and we did some eco-dyeing together. I know, you may be getting tired of these photos, but I'm still entranced with this technique. (It sort of reminds me of one of my favorite jokes: knock, knock...who's there? ...Ester...Ester who? Ester bunny: - - - knock, knock...who's there? Nadia...Nadia who?...Nadia Ester Bunny: - - - knock, knock...who's there? Stella...Stella who?...Stella a Nadia Ester Bunny: - - - - knock, knock...who's there? Yetta...Yetta who? Yetta Nadia Ester Bunny: knock, knock...who's there? Orange...Orange who? Orange you glad I'm not an Ester Bunny? I apologize for Yetta Nadia batch of Eco-dyeing photos)
Anyway, here are photos of the pieces I did.
This past week-end, I decided to try some ecodyeing on my own. I loved the pieces I dyed with Lorri Scott, but I was nervous about trying it on my own. Frankly, my dyeing skills are not as good when I work solo as they are when I work under Lorri's guidance.
I used rusty objects (I really want a bigger collection of rusty nails), flower petals and leaves from my backyard, and pokeberries. The flowers all turn brownish; the pokeberries go from a definite fuchsia to a muted purple; and the leaves turn a very pale light green. I used alum as a mordant and I soaked everything in baking soda and water after dying. I'm pleased with the way the rust dyeing turns out; but I'm I wish the flowers, leaves and berries wouldn't lose so much intensity.
Here are the results of my solo ecodyeing adventure, followed by closer views. I see cuffs, hearts nad collages in their future.
When I was at ArtUnreveled in Phoenix in early August, I was fortunate enough to take two classe with Lorri Scott; both involved dying with natural products (tea, coffee, onion skins, leaves, flower petals, rusty nails, etc). I have some of the silks I dyed in class with me and have taken some photos of them.
