Spring 2014

Yes spring has arrived! This week the temperature ranges from 20-26'C. I love this time of year when the sky is blue and temperature is in the 20s. Our apricot and plum trees are full of spring blossoms which is gorgeous. I can see them out my Tree-House studio's windows this year. I'm so loving it!

These last couple of weeks I did a little bit of stitching and more of dyeing. I'm loving my slow and small achievement. I surprised myself when I have a look at my photos on this post! I did do quite a few small things in the last few weeks.

I found these vintage farm Kasuri Monpe work pants in an old cotton yukata at Kazari/Ziguzagu a few months ago. It was in good condition except the edges of both legs are raged and torn. I had them sitting around to decide what to do with them. I decided to patch them with some vintage and indigo dyed fabric. 

Started stitching down the first patch of indigo moon. Very happy and motivated to carry on ever so slowly. I like how it looks! 

Finished the journal cover for my dye samples. I prepared the samples from the natural dye workshop I did with Ilka White a few weeks ago. Will get around to putting them in the journal in good time!

I did another small batch of jar dyeing last week. What I did was bundle one or two jars at the time and leave them on the window sill to soak in solar energy! When I have enough to fill the sauce pan I then steam them together. There are a couple of jars of coffee dyed in this batch too.

Spring brings out lots of yellow flowers including Oxalis.  I tried dyeing with Oxalis a few years ago and just loved the rich yellow colour from them.

Green is not easy to get from an ecoprint. I have used the same type of Eucalyptus leaves before, but didn't get the green I got from them this time. It must be something in the water!

This was the second times I dyed with coffee. To make coffee dye more effective I use the Shibori technique.  I used rusty nails left by the builder from my studio. I didn't expect to get the result I got from the rust and coffee. I used recycled ground coffee!

I visited Kazari/Ziguzagu last weekend to get more silk for dyeing. That place is amazing. I can spend all day there and still not see everything. 

I couldn't resist taking a few shots of the collections. I seem to see more interesting fabric from the photos than when I was actually there.

Below are some shots of the Tree-House studio. I will only add some captions on each photo:

I finished vanishing the railings of the
Tree-House

Both Ikea double wardrobes are now done

A bench to be put in the Tree-House studio.
There is a backrest for it too.

I posted about the rainbow beads necklace once before here. I love mine and feel proud every time I wear it. I love how it was created. Each bead was carefully hand crafted by a talented young couple Ellie and Sam of Deadwood Creative. I got the second one for a gift. I'm sure it will be well received!

I'm waiting for the blinds to get installed before I move into the Tree-House studio. I hope to start moving the fabric to the new wardrobes next weekend. I'm really excited to see what I have stashed away and hope that I will fit everything in! I have thought that when you are working full time you have time to shop, but don't have a lot of time to use what you buy. What do you think? In the end you end up with more supplies than you need :(  

Until next time

Nat

Birthday 2014

My birthday week has started! I can't seem to just celebrate it on the day. It usually takes a week to fit everyone and everything in! My actual birthday is on 28th Aug. Starting from last night (Sunday night) my lovely friend Mel took me into the city for dinner at Mamasita, a Mexican restaurant. We had a lovely night and managed to get home in one piece! The next event is on Thursday when 12 of my friends and colleagues come to have lunch with me here at the campus. Then on Thursday evening I will join Mr Notjustnat and my daughter Kitiya for dinner in the city. Speaking of the city, I don't know if you have heard that Melbourne has been voted the world's most liveable city in 2014. I'm so glad to be living in Melbourne! 

Now where was I? Have been a bit busy lately with the Tree-House Studio. Every evening we are working on assembling the double wardrobes we got from IKEA to use for storage space. There are some updated photos at the end of this post. In between all that I squeezed in some dyeing and stitching. 

I posted the photo of that eucalyptus branch on Instagram and Facebook a couple of weeks ago. If you love eucalyptus trees as much as I do, you would put all the nice pieces of them in your dye bundle! I didn't open it until the weekend and the result is very pleasing, don't you think?

These three bundles included the one above. I was asked if I soaked and mordant them with iron and how long I steamed them for. I only wet the fabric before wrapping it. The answer is. No soaking or mordant and steamed for 1 hour.   

A week after steaming I just let them sit (dried) in the steamer. The outside bundle was completely dried when I opened it, but the inner part of the bundle was still damp.  

Another shot after the leaves were removed! Fantastic effect of two types of eucalyptus leaves used. This one was wrapped around a copper pipe.

Another bundle was wrapped around a steel pipe and only used one type of leaves eucalyptus (Sideroxylon) in this bundle. 

Putting them next to each other makes a lovely palette of colours. I don't think I can separate them. They are made for each other!

I dabble with a little stitching in my spare time. I started another simplicity block way way back. I wanted to use a couching stitch over a string that I had used for a dyed bundle. I finally got round to doing it and quite like the effect!

Another little stitching is this journal cover using fabric dyed with coffee, rust, eucalyptus leaves on vintage Japanese fabric. 

Prep work on the cover ready for Coptic binding into a journal. I will show you again after I finished it. Below are some photos of the Tree-House studio close to completion. 

The railing has been installed. The steps and railing timber will need to be oiled to bring out the natural colour and grain of the timber.  

Inside painting and flooring is all completed. It's a lovely, light space. Exactly what I need. The first piece of furniture are the double wardrobes we got from IKEA.

This is one wardrobe made up of two modules. After two evenings we managed to assemble it. Both wardrobes are going on the far left corner of the room. 

One of the two sliding doors is in place. The mirrors on the doors will make the room look bigger. There is another door to assemble, and then we have to start  over again for the second wardrobe. Both wardrobes will be placed side by side along the same wall. It's looking good so far. 

Thanks for checking-in on my blog. I'm sorry if I haven't been to visit many blogs lately. From now on I hope to get back to doing more visiting again. Hope you are all keeping well. Spring is on the way here in Melbourne.

Until next time.

Nat

Online Inspiration etc...

My blog is in prints! The Down Under Textiles magazine contacted me a few months ago to get my permission to publish my blog in their magazine under Online Inspiration section. I completely forgot all about it until I received an email with the attachment (see below). It will be in issue 16 which is next issue. As you know, we bloggers publish our blogs each week or some bloggers publishes everyday, but when someone else publish our blogs you can't help but get the kick out of it!

Amazing that blogs can take care of themselves so well. I haven't been attending my blog lately due to not enough hours in a day to attend to everything, but regardless, the blog counter keeps ticking away. It means that someone is visiting my blog. Thank you and thanks to those who dropped me emails and are checking on me. I'm alive, well and busy. If you want to know if I'm still kicking please check my Instagram where I post a daily photo, but not too much writing!

Also excited to be next to India Flint's article!

Close up of the article

In my last post I mentioned that I had a couple of bundles steamed and then soaked in an oak bath. I hoped I would keep them until spring, but last weekend I decided to open just one, then two. I was very happy with the results from both bundles. After dyeing for a few years, I seem to have got the knack of dyeing!

Eucalyptus leaves and She-oak pine needles

Eucalyptus leaves in rusty solution

New book cover in the making!

We have finally finishing the painting inside the Tree House Studio. As soon as that was finished we started installing the laminate flooring. I'm happy to say, that it was done late Sunday afternoon! The builder will come back and put skirting boards and the window trims next week. We have purchased two double wardrobes from IKEA ready to be installed I hope sometime this week. 

Painting is completed

Flooring is completed

Flooring butted hard against the door

I hope by the time I post next I should have the wardrobes inside the Tree-House. Installing the flooring was quite tiring. I can at least say that I now know how to lay flooring, but I don't think my knees would be pleased to go through that again!

The rain is back again. We need to finish painting the outside as soon as the weather permits.

Until next time
Nat

Online Workhops, Tree House Studio and Tea Dyeing

Earlier this year I signed up for a few online workshops. One was Alchemy 2014 with Karen Ruane. I'm behind with that workshop, but made a lot of blocks ready to put together when I have spare moment. The other workshop I signed up to was Studio Journal with Sharon Boggon. The Studio Journal workshop started a couple of weeks ago. The first project I made for the workshop was the title page for my journal. 

Journal tittle page

Journal making in progress

Mark making exercise for week 1

Update on my studio: A few people are  calling my studio a Tree house. That name came to my mind too. After it went up I realised how high it really is. Higher than my apricot tree in our backyard. I think I will call it Tree house instead of just upstairs studio!

The Tree House has now got lights! We visited a lighting store last week and choose all the lights we need for it. The electrician came and installed them.

We started painting from the ceiling down. We actually finished painting the undercoat  for the whole room. This photo was taken last weekend, but I didn't get a chance to blog it. 

Recently I was introduced to tea drinking the old Chinese way. The particular tea I tried is called Pu-erh tea. Pu-erh tea is a variety of fermented dark tea produced in Yunnan province in China. I also found a traditional tea house close to where I live. It's called Milan Tea House. It's specialises in Chinese tea and tea drinking.

Milan Tea House

Clay pots at Milan Tea House

Wendy, the tea house owner is knowledgeable about Chinese teas and tea drinking ceremony. She spent a lot of time with us when we visited. The Milan Tea House doesn't just sell cups of tea. Wendy aims to educate her customers on healthy tea drinking habits. I have been back many times with my visitors. The shop has the feel of an olden day tea house in old cities in China. 

  

I was taught to make and serve tea the traditional Chinese way. The first tea Wendy recommended to me was Pu-erh tea, the black fermented tea for 7-13 years. It takes getting use to the taste, but after a couple of months of regular drinking, I quite like it now. 

Pu-erh tea is very dark and rich in tannin even after filling and refilling it many times it still leaves that dark rich colour. I put the used leaves in my pot plants the first couple of times, but now I use them in jar dyeing. 

The richness of tannin is coating the outside of the bundle very nicely. I only had a peek, but will open it this weekend. Using tea for dyeing leads me to think about dyeing with ground coffee! Waiting for a cup of coffee one day I saw waste ground coffee being discarded in the bin. I thought that's a lot of tannin wasted! 

I also wrapped and steamed more bundles and some jars last weekend. These bundles are now soaking in oak leaves bath. I hope to leave them there until spring before opening them. 

This blog is taking a back seat lately, but you can visit my Instagram page where I post daily photos. The Tree-House is taking all our spare time in our weekends. We have to schedule our time with the builder's progress. We hope to get painting done this weekend and also to finish laying the flooring as well. 

Until next time

Nat