Dye, Weave and Exhibition

Where has the week gone? It seems like yesterday when I blogged about Quilts in the barn! Daylight savings started on Sunday and we lose one hour's sleep to summer. I have been busy organizing the exhibition my craft group and I put together for November. Also my weaving workshop is just finished so I was madly weaving the hounds-tooth scarf and got it off the loom in time to start a new project. 

First up I would like to invite you to the exhibition my craft group and I are holding in November this year. Below is an invitation for the opening. Hope you can join us...

click to enlarge

I put on another batch of dyeing with some wind swept leaves I collected. It has been very windy lately and my favorite Eucalyptus trees are shredding their leaves. I have found two Eucalyptus trees at my work that give magic colours in dyeing. One is the Red ironbark, Eucalyptus sideroxylon, and the other is Silver dollar gum, Eucalyptus Cinerea. I am fortunate enough to have both of these trees at my finger tips so I can't help but keep dyeing with them.

I bundled up 3 bundles and steam in the double steamer. I didn't brew them because the silk and wool mixed fabric was already off-white with age. I also wanted to see the clear leaf imprints on the fabric. You get a clearer edges when you use steaming method. 

I used double layers of fabric in this bundle so the leaf imprints are in mirror image. The old string gave lovely dark lines on the outside. 

For one of the other bundles I used prunus leaves. The silk polyester fabric didn't turn out that great, but I'm pleased to get subtle pink colours to play with, instead of just greys and oranges!

Sorry the photos are jumbled up a bit here. This is when I first unwrapped the bundle. I had a good feeling about this one. Leaves from both trees were placed over a rusty tin can. This was only 2 days old since steaming. 

Do you remember the hounds-tooth scarf I worked on and posted here? I went on overdrive and got it finished late last Friday so I could free the loom and start a new project. The set of 8 workshops finished last Saturday. We will start again in November for another 4 workshops. 

I'm more than happy with the scarf. It's what I imagine it will look and feel like. I wore it once already and it feels so warm and soft! Something about a woven garment is like magic! 

My skill from basket weaving comes in handy with fringing. I was asked if I did them by machine. I said my finger machine works just as well!

Onto the next weaving project Krokberagd (rag rug). Krokbragd is a traditional Scandinavian weave my teacher recommended for the next project. Above is the loom all dressed up with natural dyed cotton warps. Ignore the pink header that will be removed afterward. 

I was given two pairs of old red velvet curtains that I will use for the main colour in the rug. One of my classmates, Pauline, was weaving one of these and I keep having a picture of her cutting the strips of fabric. I'm doing a lot of that myself at the moment! I haven't actually started weaving yet. Wish me luck guys! I will need a lot of these strips for the rug! 

As my weaving classmates were telling me, weaving keeps dementia at bay! My brain hurts when I have to put all my concentration on keeping track of where I'm on the draft! So far I'm loving it though! 

Until next time

Nat