Our workshop this year was led by Artist Alice Fox and entitled Into The Woods. Our brief was to gather and forage materials from outside and then learn how to use natural dye processes to mark and colour cloth, paper and thread with the addition of hand stitch to create samples as a record of what we found.
We collected all sorts of foliage and noted our thoughts, senses and observations in our sketchbooks as we explored the woods behind our classroom. It was raining which certainly added atmosphere and brought forth the wonderful aromas of the woods and forest floor.
On return to class Alice introduced us to Ecoprinting and her recipe for an iron solution into which we dipped our leaves and then layered them within the folded pages of our sketchbook.
An iron solution is made using the addition of some rusty nails or such like into a vinegar and water solution which matures over a week or so. This acts as a mordant, aiding transfer of colour and producing dramatic results. Plants containing natural tannins give better results e.g. oak, prunus, rose, blackberry and raspberry leaves, Our pages were clamped together and then steamed [ they can be simmered with other things could be added e.g. onion skins, beetroot etc] to add further interesting effects.
Strips of silk / wool were lined with foliage, then rolled into bundles and added to the pot. It's better to use silk / wool i.e. protein fibres as they colour more readily
We made our own inks from gathered foliage - brambles, acorns, nettles etc. and Alice challenged us to make our own mark making tools from outside
And our own cola pens:
We also made monoprints and rubbings into which I added a wash with our inks
And dyed threads:
Used for some lovely slow stitching at the end of the day:
The fun continued after I got home - I started off my own iron solution and made a selection of my own inks.
I continued experimenting and worked into the pages of my sketchbook.
When my iron solution was ready I decided to make a little series of prints using leaves collected in my garden and allotment on watercolour paper:
Top strip [silk] is about the allotment in the autumn including leaves from blackberry and raspberry, runner beans, sage, carrots
Bottom strip is about our garden in the autumn including grape vine, acer, morning glory, rose, fuschia
Bundle of paper pages on top.
I'd like to try and do one of these for every season - my two favourite places!
Nice blog, I am really impressed by your work, we also work in Zigzag Return Satin Effect . The Stitchmax Provide best embroidery digitizing service, it is a great way to start creating and editing professional embroidery designs on a VERY low budget.
ReplyDelete