Hardy Eucalyptus for printing in cooler climates

 Thanks to the discovery of the Eucalyptus eco-print by India Flint, many textile enthusiasts around the world have fallen in love with the wonderful prints achieved from the leaves of these trees. It seems however, that many believe we can’t grow the varieties useful for contact printing and dyeing in colder climates. It is also a widely held view that those that will cope with our winters will become a menace, quickly growing to enormous heights while stripping nutrients from the soil. 

My groups of dyers really enjoy contact printing and dyeing with native plants and trees. However, there is something magical about the colour and fastness of eucalyptus on wool that makes it so special and so many buy leaves from florists to achieve the wonderful burnt orange prints and long to have a free and ready supply.

Claire, one of the group,  brought an article about Kangaroot Trees  for us to look at (October 2015’s, The Garden). We got quite excited at the possibility of growing a eucalyptus or two as dye plants. However, we first needed to find out which would give us good contact prints as well as cope with various growing conditions, survive our winters and not outgrow our gardens. After reading the article and looking at the website, we realised, this Worcestershire nursery, stocks more than 50 species of hardy Eucalyptus. The owner, Hilary Collins, very kindly agreed to send us samples of six varieties. We chose the following based on their varied leaf shapes,  small to medium growing size (can be container grown) and hardiness.

At our next meeting we bundled samples of each between pieces of silk and wool, sprayed with a little vinegar and water and then steamed the bundles for an hour.  Five of the six were juvenile leaves except the leaves of the E. pulverulenta, Baby blue which were adult.

The results of all the samples were excellent. All varieties produced good colour, though the unusual small leaved species E. crenulata  produced greenish leaf prints with red stems, a lovely delicate combination. According to the catalogue this variety is hardy to -10, is tolerant of poor drainage and also has beautiful perfumed flowers.

E. parvula or Small leaved Gum has nicely shaped pointed leaves, good colour, can be coppiced, is hardy to -20 and can cope with alkaline soils. This was a real favourite and one on my short list. This variety seems to be the most robust and adaptable of all the varieties we sampled.

E. cinerea or commonly know as Silver dollar has rounded leaves, a real favourite with florists, gives good colour and is hardy to -8 to -13. My sister keeps me supplied with foliage from her tree in London. It is a good variety though not as hardy as some.

E. nicholii or Narrow leaved Black Peppermint has lovely feathery foliage and is hardy to -15. It produced good prints contrasting well with the more rounded varieties. I think this varietyis probably my favourite.

E. perriniana or Spinning Gum is hardy to -15, gave good colour and interesting prints. The only restriction would be the leaves form around the stem and so would be more difficult to use individually.

We were really happy with our results and are thinking about varieties which would be most suitable for our different gardens. I already have at least two on my wish list, though, with a move on the horizon I may have to wait a little longer!

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If in doubt, re-do, add blue or both

Where did I read “if it isn’t beautiful it isn’t finished”? How many of us have piles if failed experiments or pieces that just don’t make the grade? Well this weekend some of us had a go at solving this little problem and it seems to me that bravery is what is required and perhaps a touch of blue!

We gathered for the last of the six monthly workshops this weekend and despite the rain there were some wonderful results. Claire bought a pile of eco printing experiments which she felt disappointed with or the colours just weren’t right.  They were re- bundled with more leaves for a second steaming and then a dip or two in the indigo bath. What resulted were beautiful pieces of silk and wool.

Sue brought a eucalyptus wool shawl dyed on a previous month and folded and shibori tied the bundle before getting the indigo treatment. Again the teal colour and string marks added a new dimension to the already lovely piece.

Lyn brought some of her handwoven cotton and linen pieces and some itajime and indigo brought contrast and depth.

An old damask table cloth cut and hemmed became beautiful shibori table runners came out of the vat.

Katie and Mary Ann experimented with iron, leaves, shibori and indigo also produced some exciting pieces and others took away wet bundles to be revealed in a later post.

Everything is Turning Blue

 I spent the night watching the country turn blue and the day watching my garden turn various shades of the same colour.

The first indigo workshop of the year and blue seemed the general colour of our mood and the work. Wonderful combinations of leaves, mud, shibori and indigo made for a happy ending. Even the rain didn’t dent the creativity

leaaves and mud shadow play

Eucalyptus and indigo

Shibori stained glass window

leaf prints and window itajime on silk

Winter Landscapes

I am gearing up for new works that will explore the world of trees.

Recent experiments on papers, with winter leaves, bound and simmered have yielded tones that reflect the winter landscape.

There is so little colour left in the windfalls

yet they have given me, some lovely, ghostly leaf prints.

Mark making with different potions are giving me ideas for bigger works

though how to brew a larger landscape?

Eucalyptus Brews

I’ve been busy playing with eucalyptus gifts from my family. E. cinerea from my sister, which produces wonderful red prints and E. globulus, from Kate, from a felled tree in Hampstead.

E globulus has large leathery green sickle shaped leaves which gave colours from buttery yellow to pale orange and browns.

The leaves were wrapped and bound in the cloth and around copper and steel tubes and then boiled in various brews. The copper brought out the golden tones and the iron in the steel gave muted greys and blacks. I even wrapped and bound bone beads and put them in the brews with interesting results.

The wonderful thing about eucalyptus on wool is that is substantive without the mordants normally necessary for natural dyes. I need to see how the beads keep their colour.

copper brings out the golden colours

iron gives lovely outlines

E. cinerea dye bath gives wonderful brick backgrounds

W. cinerea and E.globulus prints

New Year and New Ventures

The holidays and family gatherings have come to an end leaving me, like many others, feeling tired, overindulged and yearning for Spring. The weather has been windy and wet and days are still far to short. New work is on my mind, though distractions and lack of a studio have hampered progress so far

Last summer a couple of students on one of my workshops told me about a monthly course  they had been going to in Herefordshire. Run by quilter, Ineke Berlin participants work on projects using her facilities and drawing on her expertise.  It seemed like an interesting idea which I then put to others. I had an amazing response and so the initial one day turned into two.We will gather, initially around my kitchen table and then will meet in my tented studio in the garden to learn new techniques, share ideas, and work on our projects.

During the first days last weekend we walked and gathered thoughts and leaves, took photographs. Back around the table we sat and wrote in our journals then stitched, marked paper and bundled leaves which we then steamed and simmered in our witches brew (a cauldron of simmered onion skins, left over tea and leaves) while we exchanged our stories, useful tips and drank tea. Though the trees are bare and shoots of Spring are only just appearing we managed to make some interesting paperwork.

 

It has been a great way to kick start the year.  Next month we will be looking at rust printing and fabric bundling.

Searching for Natural Indigo in India

The next day and a visit to Dastka Andhra, a project supporting and promoting hand weaving in Andhra Pradesh. We bought some samples of natural dyed fabrics and I purchased some handwoven kora (natural coloured) dupattas (shawls) for workshops next year. They will be good for both the mud resist and shibori.

Dastka samples

Though hand weaving is their priority they are promoting the use of natural dyes including indigo.  Most of the indigo you come across in India is synthetic though presented as natural. Dastkar’s indigo fabrics are yarn dyed in fermented vats by a master dyer who is 90 and still working. Unfortunately, though he has taught over 300 people, there is no one to take over from him which is very sad.

I was lucky enough to  purchase some of his natural indigo to bring home. A tip I was told to test the quality of your indigo cakes. If you drop it in water they should float.  I can’t wait to experiment with different fermentation vats using this, next year

Then on to Chennai and monsoon rains where between downpours I managed to buy some hand spun and woven silk before traveling down the coast to Auroville to visit  The Colours of Nature.

The founder of The Colours of Nature, Jesus Ciriza Larraona, went to Kashmir many years ago to produce silk carpets. Disappointed by the polluting dyeing methods he witnessed, he started to collect information from all over India on traditional dyeing techniques.

Eager to put his knowledge into practice he started a Research & Development Unit in Auroville, an international township dedicated to human unity, located in the south of India. The Colours of Nature is one of only few remaining natural dyeing units in the world, who are entirely focused on an environmental friendly, vegetable dyeing process. Their research in natural dyes is ongoing. Their specialisation is developing natural indigo fermentation and his dream is to develop his indigo fermentation on an industrial scale.

cotton drying after scouring

Casiatora seeds for fermenting the indigo

Indigo fermentation vat

indigo dyed leather

indigo dyed cotton drying on bamboo

cotton dyed with madder

indigo dyed shirts

water filtration

As well a his commitment to natural indigo fermentation Jesus has been experimenting with  other natural dyes for twenty years and claims to have a quick and fast alum mordanting process which he is keeping secret for the moment.

 

 

Beautiful blues with Japanese indigo

I’ve spent a weekend immersed in Japanese indigo dyeing. Picking and stripping leaves, fresh dyeing silk wool, hemp silk in a cold bath and then using the used pulp and dye bath to make a more conventional vat for wool. I’ve updated the page on growing and dyeing with Japanese indigo with new instructions and pictures so please have a look.

squeezing

silk starting green

turning blue

jade green and sky blue on wool

beautiful colours on silk and wool

So many colours from sky blue wool, turquoise silk, jade green and a soft muted blue on wool gauze. I have also bundled some leaves in silk and hemp silk and waiting for the indigo to be released. I had such a lovely result last year and I hoping for a repeat performance.

bundles

last years experiment

Persicaria leaf print on silk

This is such a great dye plant and for those of you who I gave a plant this year. Hold back from harvesting. Let your plant flower which should be very soon and set seed and you too should have a good harvest from more plants next year.

I plan to run a weekend indigo workshop next year around the middle of August in time for the first harvest. The plan is to harvest my indigo and make different baths using fresh indigo and  perhaps, some different fermentation vats. Let me know if you are interested

Planting Indigo

Yesterday, I planted out my Persicaria tinctoria seedlings in the ground. Unsettled weather is forecast, which will, hopefully, reduce the need for endless trips with watering cans.

Last year I grew most of my Persicaria in pots for convenience. The plants that grew in the ground, however, were bushier and seemed to produce more indigo and so this year I decided to plant the majority in the vegetable patch. Following Rowland Ricketts method of planting, I put groups of seedlings deep in the earth up to their necks. Persicaria is a noded plant and will root from the nodes on the stem so burying them helps the plant put down more roots. Also harsh sunlight when the plants are young could kill them. They are hungry and thirsty plants and so you have keep an eye on them in warm weather and don’t let them wilt.

It is hard to believe that in six weeks they will be ready to give up their first harvest of magical blue. I sent my students from Botanical Alchemy off with some seedlings to grow in pots and to get seed for next year. Hopefully there will soon be many more growers of this wonderful plant. I would love to think that something along the lines of Rowland’s IndiGrowing blue community indigo vat could be possible here.

 

Botanical Alchemy

We have been winding down after the workshop, playing Catan by the stove and keeping out of the rain. We are all reflecting on such a wonderful weekend with a lovely group of women who came from as far North as Saltburn in Yorkshire, East as London and West as Devon for this three day workshop.

Inspired by India Flint’s book Eco Colour this workshop took her bundling techniques and aimed to share her sustainable dye practice. We used locally sourced dye stuffs and simple mordants and modifiers. Silk, wool and cellulose fibres, were stitched, folded, wrapped, bundled, simmered and steeped over the three days.

Rain kept us inside for most of Saturday, stitching samples of various fabrics onto papers around the kitchen table. The wood burning stove keeping us all cosey and Dan made us plentiful cups of tea and coffee.

In between downpours, we managed a woodland walk. We gathered leaves and tree flowers left for us by the squirrels and had a surprise meeting with a Roe deer. We returned and put leaves, onion skins and discarded kitchen waste, including onion skins, cabbage and fallen petals in our folded paper and clamped them together and put into two baths.

The first paper bundles were opened that afternoon revealing wonderful colours. Two bundles were also prepared, simmered and left to steep overnight.

paper bundles

reverse

onion skins, red cabbage and petals

wallflowers

bundles waiting for the pot

Sunday was glorious and was spent in the garden with much folding, wrapping and binding of silk and cotton around sticks, copper and iron. Claire brought some Eucalyptus and the rest of the dyestuffs came from the garden as well as the nearby woods.

Seven bundles were prepared and put into four pots of various brews. After simmering and steeping overnight, the bundles were laid out to drain, ready to be opened when everyone arrived. They all looked much the same from the outside.

 

However, once opened, glorious colours, patterns and leaf shapes emerged. Wonderful!

Geranium, tulip peetals

Geranium prints

Stitching  again together on the third day and one last bundle on fine cotton gauze and the workshop was over.

Geranium and Sycamore

Blueberry dots

Eucalyptus

Sycamore and Rose petals

So soon these lovely generous and enthusiastic women left with a loaf of Dan’s home made bread and a couple of Persicaria tinctoria plants to start their indigo dye garden. I will hope to lure them back with more botanical alchemy. Next time it will be the quest for the perfect blue.

 

 

Grateful

What a good week. The exhibition in Stanford in the Vale has been really successful. I’ve met lots of people who have shown interest in my work and the workshops.  I came home from the show yesterday to find a copy of the Western Daily Press on the doorstep (thanks to Denny) In the Colour supplement, is a double page article about Denny and my connections with India, textiles and natural dyes, with pictures including one on the cover. Wow!  You can read it here

Next Saturday 17th May 10.30 – 4.30 there will be a Summer Fair here in the Stable Yard in Coleshill where I will have work on show and my studio will be open.  Denny will be selling her clothes, Sallie and Jim Ead will have wonderful vintage textiles for sale and there will be  Jewellery, pottery and bread and preserves on sale. The weather forecast is good and so a lovely day is on the cards.

My first workshop is the following weekend and is full and others are beginning to fill up. The garden is looking great. I’m looking forward to some warm still weather next week  to continue some indigo work and  I’m feeling content. I am also grateful to my friends and hubby for supporting me in my endeavours and fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.

 

Oxfordshire Artsweek

I have been really busy for the past month neglecting both my blog and the housework. My summer studio is up in the garden with printing tables and indoor washing lines for the Spring showers.

A trip to London to see the final dress rehearsal of The Winters Tale at the Opera House with fabrics and clothes from Denny Andrews followed by a wonderful exhibition of Boro textiles at Somerset House.

My indigo has been sown and is growing happily ready to be planted out at the end of May along with Coreopsis and Weld.

Spring leaves have been steamed in handwoven khadi cotton and prints and last years indigo vat has been revived for some mud resist printing.

I was invited by my friend and Potter Noriko McFarlane to show at her studio at Manor Farm in Stanford in the Vale for Oxfordshire Artsweek. The exhibition opened last Saturday with a stream of people coming through the door and is open until the 11th of May.

Now to prepare for the workshops and new work.

A Stitch In The Night Time

Dyeing samples over the past few weeks has led to a pile of successful and less successful pieces, so I have started putting them together to make scarves. On visits to India I fell for the simple utilitarian stitching of the recycling poor. Like Japanese boro, which prolong the life of textiles through layering and mending, kantha work of Bengal, is a tradition, where stories are sewn into cloth, and running stitches embellish pieced together discarded saris. The results are beautiful quilts and shawls.

Boro textile

 

kantha embroidery

kantha quilt

I have always been impatient and so sewing has always been rushed by machine. Inspired by kantha and Japanese boro work, I decided to try stitching by hand. Very slow to start with, I thought I was doing rather well with my little stitches, until I picked up my favourite kantha stole.

my stitching

patchwork silk experiments

fine Bengali stitching

I have found stitching quite therapeutic and could actually get quite addicted. My normally restless mind, usually only harnessed by gardening, has been quietened. Focusing on needle and cloth and simple lines of stitches, liberates my perfectionist mind, from over-thinking design and endless self criticism.  In my insomniac hours I can now be found stitching, distracted from the usual bombardment of unhelpful thoughts.

Prints from the Fridge

Last Sunday was one of those wonderful, sunny Spring days, warm enough to eat outside and giving a taste of the Summer, I hope is on it’s way.

The weekend was made all the nicer as we had my three borrowed children (I dislike the whole step thing) gathered together for a birthday. The girls were in a creative mood and having found some old fruit and vegetables, lurking in dark corner’s of the fridge, I gathered some pieces of cotton, silk and paper to work with. These were then painted, sprayed, folded and rolled around various vegetation and layered in a steamer.  Later the bundles were unfolded to reveal lovely colours and patterns, all from fridge waste, including blueberries, red cabbage leaves and onion skins.