We should expect the snow, and earlier because we’re in the North now. I always hope that it will take longer for it to finally get here though.
As much as I don’t enjoy the cold, it is beautiful!
Leaves from a bush outside {unknown} on vintage cotton napkins. Iron bath for about an hour.
Men’s Cotton Shirt pulled apart, this is the back. Knotted a couple times and then soaked in coffee for several days.
Section of Men’s Cotton Shirt, alum mordanted, with raspberry leaf prints.
This idea kept me up rather late one evening a couple months ago. I had been looking through the lovely world of fibre crafts and nuno felting was such a wonderful idea it stuck in my brain. Stuck so well that at 2:30 when I ought to be sleeping this is what I was dreaming up.
Some soft shade with barely contrast freeform edging and shell buttons from the clams we had collected from the Sturgeon River last summer.
Why not try it out?
Natural fibres deserve natural dyes.
Plus they`re just so incredibly beautiful.
So the search began for a natural way to infuse the fabric with it`s own special something. Something that would suit the `natural` theme emerging and that would be just plain beautiful.
Amazingly enough there are so many options for dyeing cloth naturally, even here in Northern Ontario. In researching sources for colour I realized they`re basically all around you. In the garden, your next walk in the woods or through a field. And I don`t just mean the beautiful plant life. The garbage is something that interested me more. Rusty chunks of metal not only provide you with interesting dye potential but also with a mordant. What a bonus!
Here are a few of my findings for my own backyard
|
Source |
Colour Provided |
|
Dianthus flowers |
purple |
|
Onion skins |
Shades of red through brown |
|
Purple sandcherry |
blues and purples depending |
|
Purple basil |
blue-violet |
|
Red sumac berries |
reds and browns |
|
Red cabbage |
blue-violet |
|
Hollyhocks fresh or dried |
a wide variety of shades |
|
Dandelion roots |
reds |
|
Pokeweed berries |
reds |
|
Cosmos |
yellows |
|
Rose hips |
reds or pinks |
|
Iris roots |
greys and black |
|
Queen anne`s lace |
greens |
|
Lily of the valley |
greens |
This is only a very short list of things I know are in my area. I can`t wait to try them out!
|
