Thursday, September 24, 2009

Ecoprints and ecodyeing #2

Lemon scented gum

I tried lemon scented gum leaves for the second time with the thought that I may have failed the first time, but alas no…will use for over dyeing in the future.

banksia resist and red onion skin

Hate to admit it but this looks somewhat better than in real life.

As with all of the silk fabric in this post I placed it into a pot that had been sitting with soggy blue gum leaves for a long time, thinking I would get a rich colour but alas no…I must have exhausted the dye from the previous dyeing session.

In a few places you can just see where I used banksia leaves as a resist and used my favourite – red onion skins. I believe the really bright splotches came from the juicy red onion layer beneath the actual skin layers. Job to do – confirm this.

This piece was also wrapped around a tin. Not sure how the black colour happened.

over dyed mouldy bushy yates

This piece had been dyed before but was fairly insipid so I threw it in for a second go. I had placed moldy unknown leaves on it that had been stored in a plastic bag, and tied it into a parcel.

tulips and kangaroo paws

Tulips (dried out) and kangaroo paw, wrapped around an iron bolt and placed into a separate container in the pot. Nothing to write home about.

over dyed wrapped around old iron peg

My favourite. This one saved me from despondency. And it was the most straightforward – an insipid result from a previous session, screwed roughly around a rusty piece of iron.

over dyed wrapped around old iron peg through window

Had to add this image. When I started photographing the silk I hung it in front of a window. The blue and green are sky and grass. Would be great if it was the real thing but alas no…

2 comments:

t said...

Hi Lesley,

I like your dyeing. You are getting some lovely washed effects. And some really bright colours. Pitty the gumleaves didnt come out a bit brighter, some of the ones that I try dont do much either. Thanks for showing us your dye.

xt

Pam de Groot said...

I scrolled down to last image and exclaimed! HOW! Just beautiful as a photo. Shame it was not the true colours. The others look great. You are obviously getting some good colour work now! I love the spotty one and the first one has something happening everywhere.