Leaves Worth Dyeing For!

In this post, it's mostly about Leaves Worth Dyeing For! Since the eco-dye workshop a couple of weeks ago. I got all inspired and motivated to try more plentiful Eucalyptus leaves all around me. I was searching and learning names of some of the many Eucalyptus species growing in Australia. In doing so I came across a great and inspiring blog called Local & Bespoke. With my new found knowledge of the native trees I discovered that they are available right around me! So I'm having fun photographing and smelling them. 

Naturally in this post I have some new leaves and names to share with you. In the process of searching the web I came across another useful website Green Fingers: Australia Plant Society where I can always visit for more information. 

Following on from the last eco-dye workshop. Another date is now set for the next workshop on Sat. 25 July. I also have been thinking of offering a stitching workshop using dyed fabric. I'm working on piecing simple little stitch blocks for my next exhibition in 2016 (maybe!). So I thought I will use  the same techniques to teach in this workshop. 

An example of a simple little stitch block

With the new found leaves all around my neighbourhood I have tested them out. Some mixed results, but the main thing is I'm having a lot of fun doing it!

Image of Eucalyptus branch on the inside page
of my new Australian passport.

Extracting colour from various plants and flowers.
From top clockwise, Camellia petals, Rose leaves,
Mimosa buds and Ferns.

Extracting colour from Cedar autumn leaves.
It gives silk a lovely deep yellow!

A few more jars of various pods, barks and leaves. 

Some bundles soaking in a cast-iron pot

A tint of blue from one of the above bundles

Purple carrot and rose leaves on vintage silk. 

Eucalyptus Scoparia on Dupion silk

Eucalyptus Nicholii on silk/polyester fabric

Dyeing on paper is a new craze these days. I thought I would try and see how it will turn out! I only used recycled photocopy papers that I had on hand. When I stuffed a bundle I would do the same to papers as well. I steamed the paper in the same way as I did with the bundles. Below are the results I got from paper dyed.

A sea of papers laying out to dry

Outside page with string marks 

Eucalyptus leaves imprint

Rose leaves imprint

Another Eucalyptus imprint

Below are some photos of different plants/leaves I have been taking through the week on my daily walk. Some of you may have seen them on Instagram this last week. 

Winter Oak leaves

Eucalyptus Nicholii. A beautiful tree with reachable branches
(no, I did not break off the branch from the trunk)

Eucalyptus caesia flowers

Rusty tins from a road side, lucky find!

It's in the middle of winter here in Australia, and this weekend it is cold and wet. Good weekend to be indoor and that exactly what I'm doing, but I have something to look forward to. Our DS and his family are arriving this weekend! 

I hope your weekend is enjoyable whatever you are up-to. 

Until next time.

Nat

Natural Dye Plus Plus!

I had a few dyed bundles waiting patiently to be opened. I only manage to wait over a week if I'm home. The colour of the bundles was so deep and inviting that I couldn't wait any longer!  Here in Australia we are spoiled for choice when it come to eco-dye/print. The country is covered in eucalyptus trees, especially where I work. Our gardeners know well that I collect any fallen branches so when they are pruning they ask if I want any of them. On many occasions I have to turn them down because you only can use so much to dye with. I know all of the trees in the campus and only look for leaves that I know give out good colour. In this batch I used rusty tin cans I found on one of the trips in the country that I posted here. The photos are not in the right order, but I will add the caption underneath each photo. Enjoy!

These leaves were from inside the bundles. You got to love dyeing to appreciate the beauty of it!

This was how it looked when I opened one of the bundles. The rich orange colour is made by eucalyptus leaves and flower buds.

Here are three bundles of vintage kimono silk wrapped over the tin cans with eucalyptus leaves stuffed between the layers. I steamed them in the camellia flower bath. The camellia flowers give out a deep pink colour when boiled for an hour.  

This is what it looks like when you unwrap the bundle. I'm very happy with this batch. I don't always look for just imprints from the leaves. I like the deep colour created by the leaves and rust. 

Another kind of dyeing is happening here as well. Earlier in Autumn I gathered some persimmon leaves and wondered if they would be any good for dyeing? I know you can dye with persimmon fruit kakishibu, but I have never read anything about dyeing with leaves. I didn't have time to try when I first got the leaves so I soak them in rain water and left them for ages. Last week I boiled the leaves for a few hours. To my surprise the colour of the liquid was deep orange brown! I added a couple of pieces of silk in the pot and boiled them for an hour. I found this beautiful deep tan silk! I've bought a book of kakishibu and it says the sunlight improves the colour of the fabric, but we don't have a lot of sunlight to try at the moment so we will have to wait and see! 

The two pieces of silk on the right are the ones dyed with persimmon leaves. The one on the left is dyed with olive leaves using the same method as persimmon leaves dye. I found that it's nice to have plain fabric to go with ecoprint fabric. 

Here are the results of the dye using a tin can. This piece reminds me of shibori dye. My friend Quiltsalad said it looks like a slice from an agate! That's what nature does. You can't predict how it will turn out!

This is from another bundle. The marks on the left are string marks and on the right are the patterns created by the leaves. 

Back to weaving. It has been a long time since I started this double weave. I attended one workshop before I went to New Zealand. I missed one workshop while I was away and the other workshop was cancelled by the tutor, so this Saturday is my next workshop. For my homework I had threaded the warp threads and started weaving with rags to even out the warp threads. I'm ready for my next lesson!  

I did some spinning using the wool I dyed with onion skin and Oxalis flowers. In the photo it looks yellow, but actually it had orange mottles mixed through it. I also spun some natural yarn for dyeing in the future. I'm spinning very fine yarns for two reasons. Firstly I want to learn to control the speed of the wheel and secondly I want to spin even yarns. I still need a lot of practice.

A little stitching is going on here, but really not much at all. I have an exhibition space booked for November this year with the members of my craft group. I have something in mind for it, but they all need work. I always believe that it will be alright on the day! Let's hope so!

Until next time

Nat

Mid Winter Dye

I had a free day to play last week after a trip to visit DS for his Birthday. Our neighbour has a gorgeous camellia bush that overhangs our side of the fence. As I was out hanging the washing the red camellia flowers on the ground were so inviting that I had to put on a batch of dye.

I stewed together a concoction of camellia flowers and rain water for about an hour. In the meantime I prepared some bundles with eucalyptus leaves, and some weeds I gathered on the drive from DS's home.

Forgot to say, I mordanted some silk in alum to take with me to DS's, but I didn't have time to do dyeing while I was there. So I'm using them for these bundles. I steamed the bundles in the camellia concoction for an hour. After turning off the heat I let the bundles in the liquid soak until the next morning.

I left the bundles covered outside for a full week. Remember it's winter here. I'm pleased that I managed to leave them that long before I opened them. 

This past weekend was busy again so I didn't get a chance to open the bundles until Sunday afternoon. I had a good feeling it was going to be a good batch and I was right. Every bundle turned out great and unexpected. That is the fun of dyeing, unexpected results...

This piece was dyed with weeds and sour grass flowers that give out the yellow colour. The dark spots were created by rusty soda caps I picked up on parking lots. The squashed and rusty ones are best. 

The colour got less intense after the silk got dried. These are all the silk pieces after washing and ironing. It amazed me how different the pieces turned out. They were steamed in the same pot! 

I'm very happy with the silk I got from Ziguzagu this time. It has more body and texture to it.  It feels more like cotton mixed, but it's silk. I'm glad I got the whole bolt of it.  

Until next time

Nat

Eco-Dyed In Fujino

Eco dyeing becomes my passion because of my love of nature. When I was on the tour in Fujino I knew I had to try eco dyeing with local plants. I already knew that some plant materials there would dye well. Cedar bark was plentiful from the local timber yard. I also wanted to try cherry blossoms and branches. I managed to save some rusty metal from the house renovation. I took a long piece of silk I got from Ziguzagu to share with the tour members. Some members already knew how to eco-dye, but it was the first time for some of them. I wore my eco-dyed scarf and skirt to get them inspired.   

Here I was on our walk. I gathered some wood to wrap the bundles with. That day we gathered leaves, bark, lichen that had fallen on the ground, and lots of flowers for our dye session later on that day. Photo by Blandina. 

Remember this piece I dyed before the tour? I did it as a gift for Mitsuhide another resident at the farm. Mitsuhide loves roses and is an expert on them. He grows beautiful and healthy roses at the farm. He had been very helpful in getting the place ready for the tour. This was a gift to thank him for his help. 

One of the tour members dyed this piece with Gardenia pods leftover from another dyeing session. The blue spots came from pansies. There was a pot of pansies on the wall next to where we prepared the bundles. Needless to say there weren't many pansies left when we finished dyeing!

I can see this piece got everything we gathered thrown in including steel wool. I must say it looks very cool. I hope whoever owns it is happy with the outcome.

On our walk around the village. You can see Janine and Cynthia holding two large bags full of dye stuff. Not everyone came out for a walk with us. It was a lovely, but cool afternoon. 

Another gorgeous rusty piece. It goes well with the rusty roof of the next door neighbour.  

We got our pieces mixed up after hanging them out to dry. I think these were mine! I over-dyed the piece on the right with indigo. A bit too bright, but it can be used in my sakiori weaving workshop I'm having later on in May. Nothing will go to waste once I start weaving! 

The pink patches came from camellia flowers and the brown bits were from cedar bark. It's good enough to keep I think.  

I have started dyeing again since I got home. The camellia flowers where everywhere in my neighbourhood so I had to make a batch with them. I remembered my first eco-dye I did using camellia flowers. It's like my anniversary of dyeing with them again.

I boiled them for about 40 minutes to get the colour out of the flowers. Then I took the pulp out and steamed the bundles in the dye liquid.

Here are the four bundles I dyed with camellia flowers. I used different leaves in each bundle. Some with eucalyptus leaves and some with grape leaves. I'm being good and will leave them until next weekend before I open them. The weather is cool enough to leave them longer without worry that they will turn mouldy. 

And these are some of the results from the above dyed batch. They turned out so well this time. I opened them this morning. I have lot of plans for these pieces in the near future.  

Eco-dyeing is not for everyone. You either like it or hate it! I love it because I love dyeing, I love plants, I love recycling, and I love the challenge required to get the results. I don't think eco-dyeing is for Japan. From my observation in Japan, Japanese artists like to make everything perfect. Once they get that perfection they go back and create imperfection to get it out of shape to make it unique. Eco-dyeing is unpredictable. You get what nature gives you then you  can create something out of your piece that is totally unique to you. You can never make two the same in eco-dyeing, but why would you want to! I hate mass production so eco-dyeing is for me...

PS: Where are the Bike Babies today? 

Till next time

Nat 

Natural Dyes: Japan and After

I've read somewhere on India Flint's blog about dyeing on the move. Before I left for Japan I packed some vintage kimono silk to take with me to dye. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to do much dyeing on the trip, but I took it anyway. Sometime preparing is as much fun as the trip itself. In my case I had fun before, during and after the trip! Read on and you will see some of the dyeing I did on my trip. 

The first day on the tour we stopped at a small town called Kiryu in Gunma. Our guide told us about a small natural dye shop. In his opinion the shop was small, untidy and hippy-like, but when we arrived and met with the so called hippy who owns the shop I was speechless. He was so cool and full of character. In his excitement to have 18 foreigners mostly women in his small shop he told us about his natural dyeing process and how he discovered the way to stop the colour fading after it dyed. Of course we didn't understand a thing he said. We got it translated to us by the guide and I don't know how much was lost in translation!  

I didn't care what he said I was mesmerized by the man and his shop! It was small and untidy as I was told, but I like untidy shops. They mean bargain-able...! 

At home you would think these were spice jars. But these jars contain all kind of dye samples. Apart from the samples in the jars there were bags and bags of dyeing material all over the floor and when I had a peek behind the noren into the back room I found more bags of dye stuff there too. So cool!

This is part of his shop. He had an old weaving loom sitting right in the middle of the precious space of his shop. Lots and lots of handmade items and yarns for sale. The highlight for me would have to be the man himself! Oh, I did get some silk yarn for dyeing! 

When we visited the silk museum also in Gunma we had a chance to dye. The workshop was part of the silk museum. At home I have a dye pot in the corner of my laundry, but here there was a purpose-built kitchen for dyeing. The two stainless steel tables can be adjusted to suit your height. On one end of the table there was a sink with hot and cold running water and the cookers were at the other end of the room. In the photo above the teacher was telling us what to do (in Japanese).  

I was so busy dyeing during the workshop that I didn't get to take any action photos. Precious time dyeing with 17 other tour mates! Above is the result of our dyed scarves. The yellow and green one is mine. It was a two-step dyeing process. First in sappanwood (?) dye solution then shibori and dipped in iron or alum mordant to get the green or purple. We only had two choices of dyes that day. Pomegranate and sampanwood. 

I had a chance to have a photo taken with the lovely ladies volunteering that day. They were so lovely and polite. They didn't pull their hair out working with the noisy tourists. I would have...!

We had lunch with them afterward. All the volunteer ladies were specialized in different dyeing techniques. They were doing a lot of batik dyeing. This lovely lady was showing us a  beautiful scarf she made. She told me she dyed the silk dress she was wearing too. Very impressive.

Now for my dyeing adventure during the trip. It started off at the Narita Hilton. I used some used green tea bags provided in our room. I emptied two or three bags on the wet silk rolled up tightly with rubber bands and stored them in a Ziploc bag. All the other bundles consisted of leaves found along the way. I finally found white vinegar at a 7-eleven the following week. After that the bundle with vinegar did smell like pickles in the hotel room! These ziplock bags were in my luggage for 3 weeks and I had to unwrap and wash the silk before I left Japan. 

Here are the result of my dyed silk. They weren't brilliant, but I had fun in the process. I also kept my tour mates amused looking out for dyes stuff for me. One of them risk her life and steal mulberry leaves from Tomioka Silk Mill for me! I have a feeling that next time some of them travel they would be dyeing too! Thanks India for yet another expert tip on dyeing.

These are the silks I dyed since my return to Australia. You can see I was influenced by the Japanese dyeing method shibori. I love the soft colour I got.  From the left I used: privet berries, camellia flowers, more privet berries and the last one on the right is winter oak leaves with iron mordant. 

The first batch I dyed after my return. I got a bit of post Japan blues when I first got back so I dived into dyeing to get over my blues and it worked. I got grays instead of blues hehe! 

Mr Notjustnat was pruning the neighbor's bush coming over our wall. I didn't know what it was at the time. He told me I should try dyeing with them. I asked Mr Google what they were and got the answer right away that these are privet berries. 

I packed the berries between two layers of silk and smashed the berries to pulp. Rolled and steamed them for about an hour. The result is what you see above. 

The best natural dye session I did had to be indigo dyeing at the Japanese Textile Workshops. It still seemed like a dream to me that I was dyeing there. Indigo dye was the one thing I really wanted to do in Japan and my wish was granted just a few days before I left.  

Apart from the beautiful roses prominently placed at either side of the front door, the indigo  vat has a pride of place there as well. The same afternoon we were there one of Bryan's students was there to join in with indigo dyeing. I think she had much more fun dyeing and practicing her English with us than her usual lesson. 

My Japan journal is almost coming to the end. The next post will be the last of my Japan journal and it will be on Japanese hospitality. It's something close to my heart and I want to share it with you. Blogging about it is the way to thank everyone in Japan who went to great lengths to ensure that I had a good time while visiting their country.  Don't miss it!