Report - I Day 1

I have found the first day a little frustrating.  I had forgotten all the other things you have to do when you use natural dyes, like keeping records.  So firstly I decided to start collecting my samples in the back yard so that these plants could be eliminated.     I would always wonder what that plant over there might be like.  I then realised I didn't know the names of most of the plants.  

I took photos of each one and then made a pencil rubbing of the leaves front and back so that I can identify them at a later time.  (During this process I worked out how to print from my phone.)

By this stage a lot of the samples were wilting so I had to get a new lot and then label each sample.  I wrapped my parcels with rubber bands and used rainwater from the tank, which didn't smell real good, put them into the steamer and waited.   When I was collecting the samples I found a beautiful Camelia tree that had been overgrown by a rampart vine in the yard next door.  No one lives there at the moment so I cut back the vine and found the tree had flowers all over it.

There was even enough of short stem flowers for a small vase.

 When the time was up I found that all the labels were blank, I had steamed the writting off.  It was a slow process matching what was left of the leaves to the samples.   I didn't get the clear leaf prints I was hoping for and a lot of the stuff was just a smudge of colour.  But amongst this were some nice prints.  The purple leaves gave the best colours.  (The fabric was silk organza.)

The eyes of the black eyed susans made purple stains but the leaves were just a green blob.

There were a couple of green weeds that made interesting patterns and the green stayed a fairly bright green.

I took a sample from each and fixed it in my book as a reference.  It was a success in the fact that all I did was wrap my leaves in the fabric then bound them with rubber bands and steamed them for about 30mins with no mordents or chemicals.  (After the steaming I let them cool in the steamer before unwrapping each one.)  So the process does work.  All the samples will make interesting pieces of fabric that I will embroider to make cards so nothing will be wasted.

Now that I have the process down tomorrow I'm going to try some native plants from the front of the house.  I also want to see what happens when you wrap the bundle around a stick.  I would like to try some metal tubing but I will have to buy that from the hardware store.  I think the metal could change the colour considerably.

 

 

Comments

[RachelandDesign]

Sometimes the colours are a real surprise, so the note-taking will become more useful if you want to achieve particular effects, rather than just experimenting.

[Carolyn Foley]

Keeping records also prevents reputation of non productive results. I can then concentrate my efforts on those samples that show promise. Plus on top of that I’m anal retentive!