Pot Luck

I've added a few more bits to Palace of the Soul, keeping it growing little by little.

And I overdyed some wet felted wool I had previously dyed with maple leaves, this time using resists and a eucalyptus bath.

And I did a few pieces of silk, too.

Last night after being occupied with the felted book, I suddenly was shocked to realize there is that rare thing here, now - snow - and I had not even thought to do some snow dyeing! So I was determined to make that happen today and good thing, as the temperature has risen, rain is falling and the snow is rapidly disappearing.

Stay tuned for results - I've got three or four different colours of dye in each bucket and all kinds of fabrics, trims and threads prepared in a variety of ways.

Nature's Gifts

Once upon a time a woman went down to the beach in the light of the early morning, where she found a silver spoon and the inheritance from the sea. She had been dreaming of felting and thought of fibres securing a flutter of fabric when she spied a leaf held to the sand with seaweed. She was also thinking of natural dyeing and her wish for more orange, when she saw a message on the sand.

The sand script told her to go to the point. So she did, where she saw the promise of orange and returned home ...

...to a gift from the dye pot.

Trial and Error

Natural dyeing with local plants can be like spinning a wheel, hoping for a certain result and sometimes getting lucky. I'm still working with wool and eucalyptus but not getting the bright orange colour I am trying to replicate, in spite of varying my methods. Seeing sheep, other animals and the displays at the Saanich Fair last night was a welcome and completely different kind of dip into local colour.

Here are some of the leaves I collected and am using.

And the result, while still lovely, is largely brown:

So my idea for how I'm putting these together is changing, but there's more to come from the dye pot...

Seeing Patterns

The sun in the sky last night reminded me of the orange leaf shapes on the wool I've been dyeing. Here is the front and back of the eucalyptus/oak dyeing using the same leaves as in the previous post and getting a more muted look:

And some stamped symmetry I was exploring in yesterday's class.

I also did further oak and eucalyptus experimentation - the one on the far right is on silk velvet and the leaf images are less defined because of the nap.

I used up all my leaves, so today I found and gathered more - and also was fortunate to find several chunks of different kinds of bark to try.

Dream Dyeing

I am in love with this and the wild thrill I feel about it has me dreaming of what it might grow into. It reminds me of the flicker feather I embroidered and all that symbolizes to me. Here is the other side:

These leaves had already dyed silk in a previous post and I've got them working on some more cashmere to see what happens next.

More exploration of symmetry on paper with a stamp I made in today's Pattern class.

Looking in the Mirror

Down at the beach I saw a feather floating in the waves. And waves of stitch are adding up on this piece, here and there.

I've also been layering colour from oak, fern and eucalyptus leaves on this silk.

I have a piece of cashmere in the dye pot now and hope to get more of that salmon colour. Here's the whole piece of mirror symmetry - tomorrow I'm back at the Pattern course.

Dyes and Paints

It's not Halloween yet - even though this may look a little gory! The dyeing was all on cloth! Pomegranate yielded a very subtle gold on this piece of old linen tablecloth.

And this is a Eucalyptus leaf overdye on top of a different kind of Eucalyptus leaf dyed piece of linen - which yielded yellows, this time.

As part of my art quilt group's surface design round robin, I painted small dots over the surface of some large feathers. We will include these half metre fabric pieces in our upcoming show in November.

Surprises

Yesterday morning I woke to find a sky eye watching me.Today's sky is undifferentiated white fog -and - I love the surprise of that. I also noticed this on my carpet - which I have never seen there before, and right after I snapped the photo, I went looking for the source, only to look back and the rainbow had disappeared! A good case for seizing the moment.

Some surprise colours appeared on this linen, which I dyed with the same eucalyptus leaves that previously yielded a rust/orange on silk. One difference beyond the fabric type was using alum instead of vinegar as a mordant. There is yellow, brown and black, here, and I'm showing just a portion of the piece.

I wonder what will surprise me today?

A Change of Scenery

Doesn't this look like it could be the eye of a giant tree needle?

While on Saltspring Island yesterday, I also found several species of Eucalyptus trees - and most importantly, lots of their dried leaves on the ground. Maybe I will use them to natural dye some of these fabrics I bought at the thrift shop and Stitches Quilt Shop. I am in love with the silk gauze on the left - gossamer light - like a stitched dream. And I think the fabric with the orange red bird is Japanese.

Here is one more scrap I bought that's undergoing a transformation:

I will not be posting for a few weeks, now. The Patchwork Beasts class ends this weekend and while I have enjoyed it, I also feel the need for a change of pace and less time online. Until then...

Nature's Gifts

On a walk today I saw this:
And this:

And this.

But best of all I found these leaves from another species of Eucalyptus that gave me lovely salmon, browns and golds. The right side is a close up and I'm very pleased with the result.

Today's Yield

Some applique...

Natural dyeing with Eucalyptus leaves on silk - giving a surprise of lemon colour...

More dyeing with daisies on silk velvet...

And avocado dyeing results on silk and silk velvet on the bottom - their previous colours above.

Hatley Castle Treasures

I was walking in the gorgeous gardens at Hatley Castle yesterday, as part of the Mother's Day Art Walk tour featuring artists painting en plein air on the grounds, when I spied what I thought was a Eucalyptus tree and sure enough, it was a 'ghost gum', so I gathered some leaves from the ground below for future natural dyeing experiments, since these trees are not native here. I took a ton of photos - the stained glass panel was inside the castle and the sheep was at Coast Collective Gallery's booth - there were numerous art and craft venues displaying their work and the gallery was also open for viewing. The photo of old linens and laces is a jacket I bought from Mary Brownscombe, who combines them in interesting ways. It was a fabulous day.