


I can hardly contain myself whilst I wait for the leaves to make prints on the cloth, and I can unpack the jar to see if it's worked!
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Julie Shackson Artist |
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I've not posted about the eco dying I've been doing, as I'm still very mid process. However, here are a few steps along the way: ![]() I found a wonderful old aluminium pot, that fits perfectly on the wok ring on my cooker. I filled this with and alum and washing soda mordant and immersed some of my stash of old linens, cottons, lace and also some silk in different weights and weaves. ![]() I simmered it for an hour, then let it cool overnight. The following day it was spun and hung in a cool dark spot until dry, then immersed in a mixture of Ph neutral water and soya milk for another overnight soak. When spun and hung again, it was ready to dye. ![]() I've experimented with natural dyes on wool fibres in the past, but am now playing with plant fibres and silk prints after reading India Flint's amazing book on eco-colour. It's a great read, with stunning photographs and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is into natural dye processes. Anyway, back to the dye pot. Whilst I continued to mordant the cloth in batches, I played with eucalyptus (which doesn't need a mordant on silk). I boiled up the leaves in a large stainless steel pot. Then I scrunched and bundled up the samples of cloth; some had the eucalyptus leaves laid out on them before wrapping them up and binding. Then I put them in a jar and I've left it on the sunny shelf in my studio for a few weeks. I did seal the jar with beeswax, but the liquid has oozed up and out of the jar; maybe it's fermenting. I can hardly contain myself whilst I wait for the leaves to make prints on the cloth, and I can unpack the jar to see if it's worked! Alchemy!
1 Comment
21/8/2010 11:08:59 pm
hey thanks for the kind mention
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AuthorJulie Shackson is an artist and designer, working across various mediums and living in Wales Archives
June 2014
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