Natural Dyed Collage

As I work through my stack of unfinished pieces - I have come to this collage of naturally dyed silk and cotton fabrics that was overprinted with metallic paints and block prints, then quilted. 

I made this piece about 2 years ago and never took it any further than the quilting and final trimming.  It did not inspire me.  I felt (and still do) that the darker fabric around the edges is distracting.  It just looks very bland to me. 

Those naturally dyed fabrics are precious, though and I hate to think of just tossing this in the trash.  I will see if I can improve it with some additional layers.....not sure what I will do, but I am going to dive in.

Auditioning Block Printing

Last week I showed my progress on a new piece that I has been collaged, fused, zig zagged, and screen printed with a landscape scene. I had the original intent to add my usual block printing.
However, I am really liking the way it looks now.
Before I ruin this piece, I feel I should do a trial run with the printing.
To do this, I fused a small piece using up the last of the naturally dyed scraps of raw silk and cotton from the larger piece.

Then, I covered that piece with the type of block printing I thought I would use.
I was slightly disadvantaged in this process, however - because I was out of the gold Jacquard Lumiere paint I would like for this piece. Instead, I used copper (all I had - more colors on order, but I am impatient). The copper is too dark, I think.

Putting the printed piece right up next to the screen printing - it doesn't look bad.....

Or - I tried leaving a bit of a space between the screen printing and the block printing (below).

Often, posting images up on my blog helps me with my decision making. Not so today.
I do not love the block printing with the screen printing so much. However, I think that may be partly due to the fact that the paint color is a bit too bold. I would be going for something much more subtle here - just a shadow of printing.

What Next?

Merry Christmas!
This piece hangs on the design wall while I celebrate the holiday with my family.
I must admit I am sort of stuck on this one.
In my original plan - the next step would be block printing in the sky above the screenprint and in the foreground below the screenprint.
However, I really like the look of the collaged natural fabrics in the foreground.
I am concerned that block printing could overpower the piece - and obscure the interesting natural fabrics! Hmmm.

I'll eat some Christmas cookies while I mull that over.
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Yellowstone Valley Fused

Here it is all fused and hanging on my design wall. Notice the difference between the top part (where the fabric pieces are attached to the fusible batting) and the bottom (where I added fusible web the the back of the fabric before placing it). Next, I will do the free motion zig zag stitch to hold all these collaged pieces together.

Fusing the Upper Yellowstone Panorama

I decided to work this piece in the collage technique I used for Stone Wall and Hot Flash.
I added Mistyfuse to the back of a group of hand dyed blues and built up the sky. This piece measures about 36" wide.

After I finished with the sky, I realized it needed a foreground. Going through my stash, I found my pile of naturally dyed fabrics really represent the color of mature grass very well, so I selected several of these for fusing (below)

Solar Dyeing with Wild Bergamot

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa L.)

This wildflower is in the mint family. It grows wild in a ravine near our home.

This plant has many medicinal uses and my first introduction was as a flavoring in black tea.

Wild Bergamot is a pretty good plant for solar dyeing, also. I used iron in all my jars with the Bergamot, since this was recommended in my reference book.
As you may imagine, I tried a lot of plants for solar dyeing. I have just shown you (over the past several posts) the best local plants in my experiments from last summer. This is an easy thing to try, and I encourage this line of exploration. If you do it - please let me know your results!

Solar Dyeing with Sunflowers

One of the better local native plants for solar dyeing turned out to be the sunflower.

Here, you can see some of my containers filled with fabric and plants. They sat for the entire summer until cold weather threatened. My sister, who was visiting from Connecticut told me it looked like a 5th grade Science Fair project!

The raw silk (above) was dyed using leaves from sunflower plants. The fabric was presoaked in Alum / Cream of Tartar solution and a piece of copper tube was tossed into the jar.

The raw silk (below) was dyed using flower buds from sunflowers. The fabric was presoaked in Alum / Cream of Tartar solution and a piece of copper tube was added to the jar.

(Above) Cotton fabric presoaked in Alum and Cream of Tartar solution, with copper tubing added to the jar. The leaves of the sunflower plant were used for it.
This cotton broadcloth was also dyed with sunflower buds and the same Alum / Cream of Tartar solution with a copper tube in the jar. Interesting how different the fabrics can look from one jar to another with the same ingredients. This darker one did grow mold, though so that may account for the variation, at least in part.

Solar Dyeing with Wild Sumac

Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus aromatica Aiton)

These bushes grow wild all around our property. Although this plant is closely related to Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, apparently the berries are edible and have many medicinal uses by Native Americans. I wrapped the berries and leaves into bundles of habotai silk and cotton broadcloth.The fabrics had been soaked in Alum and Cream of Tartar solution, and this was also poured into the jar to submerge the fabric.

Since the sumac berries come on rather late in the summer, I didn't have a lot of time for Solar Dyeing. These jars only sat in the sun for about a month - and the weather was not all that warm for much of that time. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorites.There is quite a bit of color variation and patterning - especially on the silk.

Solar Dyeing with Mexican Hat

The Mexican Hat is not actually blooming here yet, but since I am sharing the results of last summer's Solar dyeing, I will add this plant to the group.
For the Mexican Hat, I decided to separate the flowers, stems, and leaves.



I got my best results with the flowers from Mexican Hat. This is raw silk that was presoaked in Alum and Cream of Tartar. Again, the color is quite beige, but the patterning is nice.

Marigold in Solar Dyeing

One of my more successful Solar Dyeing plants happened to be the ordinary marigold. I didn't plant many marigold plants last summer, so it took several weeks for me to collect enough dried petals for a reasonable effort at Solar dyeing. Above, you can see how I scattered the petals across a vinegar soaked length of raw silk.

I really like the texture and color variation achieved by the individual petals / seeds.

Solar Dyeing with Wild Mint and Hyssop

Last summer, I did a number of experiments with Solar dyeing. In these images, you can see the fresh plants I wrapped in vinegar soaked raw silk - Wild Mint, Hyssop, Marjoram and Burdock.

This is not one of the better colors I achieved, and the picture certainly does not show much - sorry. the color ranges from a dark grayed tan to a very pale yellow green. If I had not used silk - I doubt it would be interesting at all, but the weave of the silk is really nice, and the shading is very delicate on these fabrics.

Golden Pea in Solar Dyeing

The Round Leaved Golden - Pea (Thermopis rhombifolia) blooms cover the hillside above our house every spring with their vivid yellow color. Apparently, they can be poisonous to animals, but I sure enjoy looking at them.

I believe these are also called Yellow Pea and Golden Banner.

Last summer, I did some Solar Dyeing experiments with the leaves of this plant, after the blooms had faded. I wrapped cotton broadcloth around fresh leaves (with stems) and stuffed the bundle into a Mason jar. I had some rusty water in a bucket containing iron items I use for rust dyeing, so I poured this water into the jar, submerging the fabric. This jar sat out in the Montana sunshine for 2 months.

I have taken the time to record my experiments in a notebook, with swatches stitched in place on each page, with brief notes.

The last of the Daffodils and Solar Dyeing

Last fall, I planted about 100 daffodil bulbs and this spring I enjoyed them. The last flowers are fading now and I thought I should get a few pictures in case I need a close-up for a project.

I enjoyed the sunny yellow patches scattered across the landscape. I must try to add more next fall! As I watch the blossoms fade, I remember that the faded flowers are useful in natural dyeing.
Last summer, I collected all my faded dried petals and used them in a Solar Dyeing experiment.
I wrapped vinegar soaked raw silk around the faded flowers and stuffed it into a Mason canning jar, adding water to completely submerge it. I left this out in the sun for 2 months. Above, you can see the result - a moderate beige colored fabric, with darker areas where the flowers touched the silk, and the very dark edges where the fabric touched the metal lid.

I actually did quite a bit of Solar Dyeing last summer, and I never did post my results on my blog. As the weather warms up - it seems like a good time to share some of my successes with plants growing near my house.

Solar Dyeing - Drying Fabrics

One last look before I start dumping these jars!

And here are some of the fabrics - wet from the jars - a nice neutral palette - yes?

In order to keep track of my process, I have put Tyvek labels on each bundle as it came out of the container. I am going to allow these to air dry naturally before I wash them out. The Tyvek with Sharpie writing should be able to withstand the washing machine - or so I have heard. I hope the air drying phase will help the color bond better with the fabric (it's what I do when dyeing with rust - so I hope it works with plant material, too!)

Some people use a post mordant, and I am toying with that idea, but not sure what to use . . . Probably won't actually do it this time around.

Solar Dyeing - Summer's End

Solar Dyeing 2010

Here is my assortment of dye containers that have been sitting out all summer. The weather is cooling now , and I planned to take the fabrics out in early September.

I am pleased with what appears to be some color development in nearly every container.

I ran out of jars with lids so I started using these plastic tubs that I keep around for my synthetic MX dye process.

I have carefully documented the contents of each container.
Wild Bergamot Leaves - these created a pale color.

All of the various sunflower concoctions made good color - whether the buds, the leaves or the stems.

Some of the contents are starting to get moldy. And a little smelly. Kinda nasty. I am going to wear my gloves when I work with these!