Saturday 25 April 2009

Featured Blog

Today's Featured Blog is called "Not all those who wander are lost" written by India Flint, who calls herself a "prophet of bloom". India is very experienced in the art of using plant dyes. She also teaches ecologically sustainable dye techniques along with stitch surface embellishment and garment construction. As a recent blurb for a workshop says, her signature mark on the fabric is the eucalyptus ecoprint.

A wander through the blog gives a fascinating glimpse into the textures and colours that can be produced through plant dyeing. At present India is in the UK, but normally resides in Australia.

I think this type of work is fascinating. If I knew my husband would put up with smelly vats of plant matter, I might get into it as well. The weather is nice enough to get back to doing some rust dyeing. Last summer I heard about another type of metal dyeing I'd like to try. Maybe this is the time.

I just want to show you a photo of one attempt at dyeing with berries. Raspberries were boiled and strained through the cloth. You can make jam with the liquid...but not if you have put any sort of mordant on the cloth first. I know berry dyes are fugative, so I have not washed it. One day I will think of something to make with it! Maybe see how I can overdye the white areas with some other berry liquid.

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