Saturday 29 May 2010

hear a leaf [or two] fall


here's your answer, Sweetpea
wrapped it around a 6 inch piece of pipe


you can see how the leaves have changed colour
red ones are now gold
deep greens now green-ish


if i had let it sit for longer
there would have been more patterns
dots begin to appear with time



here you can see the colour
and string lines
that were on the outside of the bundle
i'll be wrapping up a few
and putting them aside in the studio
so there'll be presents to open
when i return from the continent across the Big Blue Puddle

12 comments:

  1. thank you for posting this. it is beautiful.

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  2. So beautiful. I just asked my library to get Eco Colour so I can read your book. I want to try some of your techniques with papers. Been rusting paper lately.

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  3. Well, I think those leaves have gone far past exquisite - how can a humble cloth even take them on...now a Joseph's coat? That pipe must have wonderful secrets to tell.

    Thank you...

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  4. I am always amazed to see your fabrics come to life after being bundled and then unwrapped or unrolled-- like a monoprint coming off of the press-- with surprises galore and then dots and lines appearing with time--

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  5. Aha, around a pipe,and then boiled? I cant be reading your lovely book properly. I have some just soaking in a jar waiting for me to get home from Coffin Bay. Just hope there are still some leaves to collect and try again. These look wonderful.

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  6. funny you should mention paper, Leslie, i've been having rather a good time with it of late

    Sweetpea - this pipe is a relatively non-reactive one [not sufficiently distressed yet] so it isn't having much influence beyond providing a good firm structure to bundle on to

    and Penny i don't think you're missing things in Eco Colour,
    - more extensive instructions to do with bundling around objects will appear in the next book

    i've expanded the repertoire a bit since delivering the E C manuscript [early in 2007] - at the time of writing i was mainly steaming things , which results in a 'cleaner' print [without the infiltration of colour from whatever one is boiling in

    and Donna, the fabrics oddly enough DO deepen in colour once they're unrolled, almost as if contact with oxygen [after the wet dye bath] helps to develop them

    curiouser and curiouser, said Alice as she pootled down the rabbit hole

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  7. Oooh, I'll have to try this! My hubby just bought me back a pressie from the OP Shop after dropping off some unwanted kitchen stuff...a huge stainless steel steamer. I've been doing onion skins in stainless steel and getting nice golden browns, but my mum showed me a piece of linen she dyed with skins in an old aluminium saucepan, and the fabric came out bright yellow! Do you think I'd get a similar result if I used the SS steamer, and threw in a couple of bits of aluminium strip? Definitely looking forward to the next book!

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  8. Your beautiful silks spur interesting conversations.

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  9. any bits of aluminium foil,disposable baking trays etc...all very useful mordants

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  10. Jawdropping awesome----you are a phenomenon

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  11. india--i am so loving the eco color play i'm doing...and when i blog i always use your vocab (ie "ice flower") and refer people to your book. can't hardly wait for the next book!!!

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  12. Hi India! I (who know almost nothing about natural dying) have accepted a challenge from your recent and lovely student, Christine M. The challenge is to do something with kuduz which grows in my oz with great gusto. I'll be reading your blog to try and pull some information about how to extract color from this hearty plant. Wish me luck!

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