A garden bouquet ~ from my natural dye diaries

A short while ago, my girl and I gathered some of the pretty blooms from around our garden. We rolled it all up into a bundle roll with fabric, and set the dye pot to cook. 

There's a little how to story over here, if you want to have a look and make your own special piece of garden-gathered fabric. Each time you dye in this special manner, you get different results, depending on the flowers, leaves and seedpods. 

For those of you looking for my how to dye with Turmeric, it's here! You can also look at all my Natural Dye post archives.

I also have a Natural & Botanical Dye workshop coming up really soon. If you live in or near Newcastle, NSW and would love to spend a day learning about how to extract colours from the dye pot, then I hope you can come along. Sunday 20th September. Held in a beautiful florist studio - we will have all sorts of amazing blooms to dye with. All the details and booking info are over on my website here. (There's only a few spaces left). 

Natural Dye ~ the magic of creating colour from botanical materials {a workshop}

Lately I've gotten right back into my natural dye making, and it's making me happy and excited and eager to be at the dye pot as many days as I can. I'm stretching myself, and learning new things and discovering new colours. I'm also learning to take note and write it all down - not like my usual 'oh, I'll remember that..'. A dye journal - that's what I need to make happen.... perhaps tomorrow. 

All this new colour magic making has me wanting to share what I know and have learnt. Hence some upcoming Natural Dye workshops. Oh golly - I'm really excited about these. About gathering with people and seeing the look in their eyes when they make colour on fabric and yarn from simple plant materials. Oh yes, oh yes! It really is that much fun. It makes me sort of giggly sometimes... And I want to show everyone who comes nearby - though my family sort of doesn't have quite the same enthusiasm as other natural dyers would.. though they do try hard to be happy for me too.

So, I have an upcoming Natural Dye and Wearable Weaving workshop as part of the gather :: create events I'm co-hosting with Leah. It's about spending time discovering the beauty of creativity within the little nuances of exploration.

Taking garden, kitchen and road-side findings we will create some magic in the dye pots and discover the joy of dyeing fabrics and threads with the natural alchemy of botanical colours. I enjoy using hot and cold dye methods to create colour, and delight in the finished cloth. My easy to learn ways of working with natural plant dyes is something you can take home and continue experimenting with to create your own colours and variations of patterns.

After a full morning (well, half a day) of working with the colour pots and turning white fabric and yarn into a rainbow of hues, we will take those threads and weave ourselves a pretty wearable neckpiece. I am a self-taught weaving, drawing upon my childhood memories of weaving as my source of inspiration, and can't wait to share these easy workable ways of taking scraps and threads of fabric and making an art work for your wall or to adorn your body. I prefer to work with a flexible approach to my making, to discovering what can be done and not having to follow rules - to make up my own way of working. To share this way of making with you will be an honour - to help you tap into your own innate sense of creating is what our gather :: create events are about.

Natural plant dye is about more than just making colour on cloth, it's about the environmental aspect of our clothing and our textiles. It's about thinking about how our fabrics are made, and where our colours come from. It's about learning to appreciate the beauty in the softer colour palette, or how to up the colour hue with some simple modifyers. Natural plant dyes seem to always fit together as a range - with a beautiful way of melding and colours flowing into each other. The process develops patterns on the fabric that are often not easily replicated, and to be enjoyed for their one-off amazingness.

Our day will also involve delicious and beautiful food, as well as new friend making, and interesting conversations. To connect with other makers is such an important part of being a creative, and to be able to share a journey of learning and making alongside others brings a sense of togetherness in a unique way. 

 

We have one workshop in Melbourne and one in Brisbane. (click those links for details and booking info). 

here and there {naturally dyed yarn}

I'm still around, somewhere. here or there.

Happenings:

It's Wednesday. Life has less structure being a homeschooling family. I'm trying to see if we can work some structure into our days, but it's not naturally me; so perhaps it won't happen. Maybe time will tell.

There is much full-ness at the moment. Making and planning and organising and preparing for two markets this coming weekend - one at the Tweed River Art Gallery on Saturday, and the other at the World Environment Day festival in Knox Park. Both in my home town of Murwillumbah. 

I must admit that these rambly days work well for the way I work - I can dabble with bits here and there. Putting some silken threads into dye pots and tending to them over the days, bit by bit. Not requiring more than that from me. 

I'm so pleased with the colours that came out of the dye jars yesterday. There's more there still soaking up the colour. I'm hoping that people will enjoy these as much as me and use them for crochet or embroidery or simply as lovely string for tying presents.......

These are the silk yarns before dyeing, and then after. The purple is from a red cabbage dye batch, and the yellowish / brown is from tea. 

The most best thing about these yarns is that they are not tangled. I have taken time and care and space from receiving the skein and wrapping them into smaller lengths to keep them from tangling. This is good for me - and also in my mind an indication that I am untangled / not tangled (somehow?? Well, it works for me anyway). 

The weather has been rainy and sunny and in between cloudy and cold.

Where have you been lately friends? How are things treating you? 

E xx

{how to} naturally dyeing fabric with turmeric

The smell of turmeric on fabric takes me straight back to when my mother made fairy costumes for my sister and me. She dyed white singlets and endless swathes of tulle in a big pot of turmeric. I can't remember watching her making them, but I can remember that we both smelled like that wonderful spice for the whole party. What sweet flower fairies we were!

Lately the colours and designs coming from the turmeric dye pots is quite beautiful indeed. I thought I'd share my process with you, so you too can dye some pure golden sunshine.

Some notes before you start: remember that natural dyeing and some natural plant based dyes can be toxic. If you intend to boil and dye in your kitchen, please only do so in a well ventilated space and use a pot you won't be using for food purposes. Do some research before you head out foraging for plant material. Wear gloves to protect your hands from any chemicals or chemical reactions.

Also, the process of natural dyeing is such that results vary with materials and quantities used. You cannot expect to achieve perfection or repeat performances; you will instead be surprised and amazed each time you unfold your fabric - and that is better than perfection any day!

You will need:

Some plain undyed natural fibres. You can use linen, hemp, cotton, wool or silk. Silk is often the easiest to achieve brighter colours than plant based fibres; but you'll find through experiments that different fibres give different results. Use pieces of fabric, as well as lengths of yarn.

Turmeric powder, from your health food shop or the spice section of your supermarket. Find the brightest freshest powder you can find. 

White vinegar or alum (which can be found in a gardening shop - it's the chemical used to colour change hydrangea flowers), to use as a mordent.

A big saucepan, glass jars with lids, rubber bands, pegs, string.

:: 4L of water, 2 heaped tablespoon of alum, and 3 heaped tablespoons of turmeric.

To start with:

Soak your material in cold water, so that it is totally wet. This allows the dye to permeate all the way through. 

Half fill your pot with tap water. Add alum and turmeric powder. The amount of powder you use will depend on how much you are dyeing. I don't measure.

Bring the water to the boil, and add your wrung-out materials (you can strain off any un-disolved powder before adding your fabric, but I don't bother). At this stage you can either let it simmer on the stove top until the desired colour has been achieved, or you can fill your glass jars with the fabric and the dye water and place it outside in the sun to continue dyeing. This is called solar dyeing. 

I love solar dyeing as it gives you the chance of watching the colour develop over days to a week. You aren't using gas or electricity to dye your items, just harnessing the heat of the sun (you could even build a solar oven if you wanted to boil your water that way!). And those colour-filled jars sure look pretty sitting in your garden. (Just make sure the lid is tightly secured and your jars are away from children and pets). 

Once you are happy with your colour, rinse out the fabric. Hang to dry in the shade; your piece will fade in full sun. The alum helps to keep it colourfast, but most natural dyes will fade over time. Turmeric is sometimes a fugitive dye, which means it doesn't last as long as some other natural dyes; but I have found that some fabrics take the colour and keep it better than others, so testing your own fabrics is the best thing.

To achieve the different patterns on my fabrics I use the following techniques:

Shibori folding:

This is an age-old Japanese technique of folding or stitching fabric to achieve amazing patterns and shapes. This is an art-form in itself. At this stage, I have neither the time nor inclination to be stitching work just to unpick it (though I crazily admire those who do!), maybe one day I will...

For this pattern, I simply fold and continue to fold the fabric into squares onto itself. Then secure it tightly with pegs or clips along the edges, or wrap it with twine (which will also dye).

Dip dyed:

An easy and beautifully effective way of allowing the natural process of the coloured water moving up the fabric. This always reminds me of the marks left on sand by waves - you know that slightly transparent line left behind. Ombre continues to be popular - so why not try your hand at making mountain peaks. 

Start with one end of your fabric in the dye, and the rest hanging out. Leave for at least half and hour. Then slowly move the fabric down into the water a little bit more. Do this as many times as you want, each time leaving it for about half an hour in between. The amount of time you wait before you lower the fabric in, will determine how dramatic the colour change is. Being a natural dye, this process will not be as predictable as with chemical dye. 

Scrunch effect:

I simply tightly scrunch and then tie (with string that will become coloured as well) or peg the fabric. Place it into the glass bottle and cover with dye. Put a stone on top to weigh it down if need be. Leave this for at least a few days, without agitating or moving it about. The dye will settle into different sections of the scrunch to create the marks; if you move it too many times it won't be as dramatic pattern.

Please share with me if you doing any dyeing. Would love to see your results. Please email me if you have any questions at all.

of death and sunshine

Last night I dreamt I died. I dreamt of my dying, my death. It was a dramatic and amazing type of death - I was blown off a verandah (at our old old house) by the biggest gust of wind. This gust of wind didn't blow away my loved ones who were standing beside me. It only blew me. And I fell far onto the ground. 

I could hear them all around me. The anxious sounds of a family experiencing something dramatic and unexpected and shocking and difficult. Those noises. But I lay there. Quietly. At peace and calm. Within myself. 

There were no white lights or angels or anything like that. Just the peace and quiet of my ever-decreasing, finally no-more breath. That's all. It was as simple and easy as that. 

My loved one, my man, my soulmate, was beside me. He felt the calm and ease as well. He wasn't in the sound/noise/storm that everyone else was in. Somewhere I heard my dad as well. 

And an ambulance. That came too. But couldn't help me. 

I wasn't scared. I wasn't scared. I let that part of me go. And slipped into whatever was next. The dream didn't tell me what was next. I guess that's up to me.......

And then today. When I woke up. Was a new day. A new life. Today I made sunshine. 

Today also my boy (that eight year old wonder) had emotions he didn't know how to deal with; and we tried hard to help him, but didn't quite know either. We took him swimming to the creek which helped for a bit. I tried to work out what he was telling me; but I'm still not sure. I did work out what my dream was telling me. And even though I couldn't breath all day, I was at ease for letting that death happen and moving on. 

And when you can make sunshine, what does it matter what else happens. Death or tantrums! ha. I can make sunshine!

{this glorious sunshine silk was made in my kitchen, using powdered tumeric. Such a satisfying natural dye to move back into after months of having done none at all. And the sunshine outside shone vibrantly onto the sunshine I made. All things glimmered. And all was ok}.

stitch still life

i stitched these little pieces up this morning.
cleared away the mess on our table and set myself up with some thread, a needle and these scraps of hemp / organic cotton (which do look like linen, don't they).
vague notions on Shibori stitches - though of course, nothing at all like the intricate reality of Shibori. perhaps one day - maybe never. maybe will always be my inerpretation. i think that's ok. actually, maybe that's better.

these two little pieces had a quick photo shoot and then into the jars of dye outside. i had intended on having a cabbage purple, but it had turned brown (i put a rock in it to weight some other fabric down, and it must have had it's own colouring in it! ah well - red cabbage is on the shopping list). they both went in the rusty / eucalytpus leaf solution. a deep dark intense grey. we'll have to wait a few days to see if the stitches worked their magic, as i've imagined or not.....

i'm hoping next week may be a bit less busy (though i doubt it!). perhaps some more stitching and dye experiments.
mind you - i just love the look of rough stitches on raw folded.pleated.tucked.manipulated fabric

what will you be doing this weekend?

{ps - i forgot it thursday, which means it's creative spaces play day}. 

just this

I pulled these from the dye pots this afternoon. These are the ones I put in only a few days ago - yet already such great colour.

Photo is dark and grainy, as it's dark and rainy here! (hehe - that was a funny little play on words, hey...).

The blue is from red cabbage with salt. What an excellent colour. The last red cabbage jar I dyed was purple. Did you know red cabbage is a ph indicator. I think the salt may have changed the colour a bit. My dad said it looks like denim, then he told me why denim is called denim. Do you know why? Well - it comes from a man in France who was the first to make the fabric, he named it after the city de Nimes, hence it became de-nim. You can read about it on wikipedia if you don't believe my dad, but I know that my dad really does know a thing or two!

And the little rock up top was from the blue dye pot as well - it's gone a dark and mysterious hue. 

The grey is from the rusty nail and eucalyptus brew. Some pieces are linen, some are hemp - creates different depths of colour on different fabrics.

The orange/brown is from coffee - what a good colour. I really do like it a lot! Every time there's coffee left over in our morning coffee pot, Sam saves it in a jar for me. I do think it would be much deeper and stronger if the fabric was in there for longer. And it's had no mordanting - so I don't know how colour/sun fast these pieces will be.

Anyway. The kids are having a sleep over, and I'm still doing final prep for tomorrow's market. It's dark and cold and rainy, and I want to sit in front of my fire and crochet....

What are you up to this weekend? Do have fun fun won't you! xxx

threads - kinda sorta really lovin' these

just made some little pouches using bits of fabric scraps. oh - don't you just love fabric scraps!!!

and messy stitches. how can you go wrong with messy stitches, raw edges, and that delicious peachy-pink thread on the natural hemp.

but boy-oh-boy. super super lovin' it on the grey-ish pieces.
i dyed these pieces in a solar-dyeing bottle of rust and eucalyptus. um - love love!

i'm off back to my solar pots to add these natural linen and hemp pieces into some coffee and some red cabbage. can't wait to see how they look after a few days / week in the dye.

these little pouches are for my crochet stones - little nests, safe carrying places. these will be available for sale at the Sew & Tell market this Saturday. i'm so excited to launch my rock collection (small as it is at the moment, due to those cut fingers and big bandaids!!).

come and check them out, won't you?

reminder to self

have fun and do these things. this week. and breathe.
+ make some bundles of fabric and leaves and flowers and put them in a dye pot. do it. and then wait a week and see what comes out.
+ crochet some little socklet foot things for myself. to keep my feetsies warm on the cold mornings.
+ finish the t-shirt crochet rug for our kitchen floor. maybe start one for Mishi in her play corner
+ plant some new flowers. just because
+ write in my journal.
+ do a drawing, maybe some watercolour painting
+ take some photos
+ go for a walk. maybe in the morning. maybe in the afternoon. maybe with the kids. maybe by myself.
+ sit by the fire with my man and just chat.
+ crochet some more beach or creek rocks. because i like doing that!

that sounds like a good and lovely full week, doesn't it. what will you be doing this week?

just three things

there is an endless list of things to do. not an actual list. but the list of wants.....
like all the books you ever want to read - well that's never going to happen is it.
and, i have to realise, i'm never going to see all the instagram images that come through my feed.
or read all the blog posts or see all the beautiful pinned images on pinterest.

and there's many many more wants. like where to visit. what countries. what far vast adventures to go on. or adventures around the corner. everyday there's things i missed out on.

so. instead of having this endless list and feeling like i'm always behind. or that i'm never going get there.do that.read this.eat this.... well - i decided that i'm going to set just three things. (of course, i'll probably expand it to mean just three things for that particular medium, or three more things that relate to that, but i think that's ok too).

here's my three creatives things i want to do/learn this year ::
:: really and actually make a quilt. maybe it will even have hand quilting on it. maybe it won't. my boy really wants me to make one for me. i'm collecting blues and indigos, but i think i need to collect more actively so that i can start making. it's coming on winter here - i really should get it made before the cold cold. care to swap me some deep blues fabric for ....... well, what. what would you swap for?
:: i want to do some proper plant dyeing. i've been loving the solar dyeing i'm doing in glass jars sitting in the sunshine. but i want to get focused on doing more and more and more. lots of little bits is good. maybe one big bit too. with some friends too - wouldn't that be lovely. an indigo dye pot. oh yes. that's what i want.
:: learn to knit. i have the most delicious knitting book i got last year. i do really want to make myself a coat or a jumper or just something from it. knitting is so different to crochet - more versatile. i think. anyway. i want (re)learn to knit. maybe i'll even make something with my own plant dyed yarn. for next winter - i know my limitations!

what are your three things? they could be for just right now, you can change your mind......

dye pot :: camellia japonic #1

This piece came out of the dye two weeks ago. It's an old woolen blanket I picked up from the op shop.

Solar dyed (left in a glass jar, with water and dye materials for about a week or so).
I used the flowers from the wonderful camellia tree (top image) growing in our yard - it doesn't seem to be stopping it's flowering anytime soon; so hopefully there'll be lots of of it appearing in the dye colours.
I've discovered that if I put some rusty pieces (nails and screws and such) in the pot as well, then the flowers dye this amazing grey sort of colour. There are some patches of rustish browns. The colours change throughout the length of the piece, as it was rolled up to be able to fit into the small bottle I have. Inside the roll were the yellow pollen pieces - the petals torn off create these lovely shapes (as seen above).

I'm not sure what I'll do with this piece, but I do really love it.
*if you follow on Instagram then you'll have seen this before, but I wanted to document the process for myself. My sister bought me some journals to use as a proper paper (not computer) recording process, but I'm not actually sure I can bring myself to cut up these pieces of cloth to make samples and such, plus one little sample piece doesn't clearly show the full depth of colour.