Inspired Textiles

This scarf was a real surprise when I unbundled it. I originally dyed the silk twill in cochineal then picked some of the remaining Acer Griseum leaves before they all fall. To achieve the discharge I laid an iron blanket on the top of the leaves before bundling. It was steamed for two hours.

My latest silk noil scarf, it was firstly scoured then mordanted with Alum and dyed with logwood.  After allowing it to cure for a week I placed the redbud leaves in an 'artistic' line down one side. I thought a change from random placing was in order. After bundling around a wooden pole I steamed it for two hours. Because I used an iron blanket the leaves created a discharge shape as the iron reacted with the tannins in the leaves removing the dye.  Very pleased with the result.

Each year during the warmer sunnier months I fill large glass jars with botanicals mordants water and a variety of textiles and threads.  These sit on the window sills of my conservatory for months until they produce the colours I want. Second batches give paler shades.  This gives me more threads than I need for my own use during the colder winter months when I do more hand sewing.  I also wrap a range to go inside my inspiration packs.  

Logwood and cochineal dyed silk noil. The range from dark to light is from the first dip to the last. The top piece is exhausted cochineal first then exhausted logwood second dip resulting in a lovely mauve. The plans for these lengths is to contact print some scarves.  More logwood and Cochineal dyed pieces  this time on silk habitat scarves and a silk lace collar that was in my late mother-in-laws fabric stash . This time I experimented with pre and post mordants of alum and iron.  Once again these will be discharged with leaves  

My latest set of botanical printed scarves. I predyed with natural dyes before contact dyeing.  This crepe de chine silk scarf was dyed with cochineal achieving a pale result before contact printing these lovely eucalyptus leaves. The resulting colour is a pleasing pinky grey. This crepe de chine scarf was predyed with logwood and then leaves from the same tree used this time they were not separated. The discharge effect this time is very dramatic. Overall very pleased with the result. This twill silk scarf was dyed in cochineal then contact printed with Acer leaves. For this silk noil scarf I dyed on logwood then used geranium, rose and continue leaves. Close up of geranium leaf.