I have been resisting dyeing with kowhai flowers up to now because all parts of the plants are poisoning but also because the nectar is a preferred food source for tui and kereru. As I get more and more interested in natural dyes especially from New Zealand and flowers were abundant this year I decided to test the dye on a variety of natural fibres (silks, wool, muka and linen).
Freshly picked kowhai flowers
Soaked in water for a couple of days
Because of the strange smell I did the boiling and dyeing outside.
Samples with alum as mordant, not very bright although I like the shades which can give a beautiful subtlety on silks.
Samples dyed with a piece of copper plate, not much different from the alum mordant samples.
Samples with iron as mordant, almost a taupe shade. Quite a bit disappointing as I expected much stronger colours but there are some nice shades among them.
Beautiful beaches north of Auckland
During a short visit to Auckland I had the opportunity to visit a few of those lovely eastern beaches north of Auckland. First stop at Hatfield beach, a wide sandy beach with amazing rock formations and little caves shaped by wind, weather and tides. Although only to be admired close up at low tide. Lucky me.
Walking along further along the Puhoi river mouth watching the the rhythm of the waves this piece of wood been tossed and swirled around.
Revitalized…
Bringing it together – solar dyeing
All those sampling is really exciting with often unexpected results. In my studio boxes with little pieces of silks and wool start to pile up so I decided to go one step further and respond in my personal way creating whatever comes out of the flow. Limitation was, only to use the samples of my solar dyeing experiment with exception of the cotton I used as the background.
This piece of backing I stained with mud from the creek running through our farm. I used the thick dark brown mud with a lot of leaf litter, and let the cotton sit in there for about three days. A very tactile and odorous matter…
Lost in Detail
Sometimes I just wander. Its not about walking, its about seeing. The slower I walk the more I see. And every time I wander I see the new things or old friends, but always in a different light, weather or season. I love taking my camera to capture the beauty of texture, patterns and shapes in nature. Today I took a stroll on our farm, just looking and observing. And I always come home refreshed and with a clear mind.
red bands/gumboots/wellingtons
the woods
mosses
and cobwebs
dried mud
and wild strawberries
pine cones
new life
lichens
more lichens
bark
death
wilted poppy
acorn
seed pod
wood
and Teddy & Squirt…
And tomorrow I will wander again.
Summer time – solar dyeing time part 2
After a few weeks with sun and heat I was more than ready to open my jars of solar dyed samples I had prepared and stored on the window sill of my studio.
I actually wanted to open just one jar to see what happened but couldn’t help it and opened all 5 of them before I got myself under control again. There were some nice surprises and outcomes and I particular like the patterns created by leaves and rust.
jar 1
jar 2
jar 3
jar 4
jar 5
silk yarns
some interesting details
Ho ho ho Harakeke x-mas presents
X mas in New Zealand is very tricky. In Berlin I would never forget that x mas comes closer, they are markets all over the place, the smell of Gluehwein (mulled wine) and delicious Weihnachtsplaetzchen (biscuits) in the air, its usually very cold and x mas decorated windows everywhere. New Zealand right now: sunshine, the birds are singing, everything is green, the blossoms smelling sweet and the BBQ s are in action. Nice as well. And I totally forgot to buy xmas presents… good there are still some days left to think about what to get for whom and to buy or make some nice presents.
If you are still looking for some presents, what about some handmade harakeke (NZ flax) earrings? Available in turquoise and magenta, hooks surgical steel.
$ 20 per pair plus standard postage within NZ.
As long as stock lasts. Please contact me for orders.
Summer time – solar dyeing time part I
Solar dyeing is a dye technique which involves very little. Its a good way to dye scraps of fabric and threads for further use. After stuffing the fabrics – I put leaves in some of them as well – into old glass jars I poured some leftover dye liquids in: black tea, onion skin liquid, soaked eucalyptus bark liquid and marigold liquid from last year. I also layered some liquids on top of each other to achieve blended colours.
placed in jars, there is some prickle leftover which may affects the outcome
sitting on the window sill and waiting for the sun to come out. The hardest thing is to forget about them, they need to stay in the sun at least till after x mas
Dyeing with kowhai flowers
I have been resisting dyeing with kowhai flowers up to now because all parts of the plants are poisoning but also because the nectar is a preferred food source for tui and kereru. As I get more and more interested in natural dyes especially from New Zealand and flowers were abundant this year I decided to test the dye on a variety of natural fibres (silks, wool, muka and linen).
so so blue Indigo
There are probably as much recipes for indigo vats as there are for German potato salad, and its an art in itself to get a successful indigo vat going, the same applies to a good German potato salad. This time I started a vat with indigo powder (obviously), fructose and lime (calx).
The bronze surface appeared on the liquid, but only a few little blue bubbles (also called flower). I did a test to see if it worked.
after 2 dips, I did a little resist with a marble
take the marble out
voila, rinsed and dried
Next I dyed a white nuno felted scarf. I love the texture against the sun and the shade of blue. I find quite successful although I may dip it another couple of times to see if I can get deeper shades of blue.
eco print time
Here are my latest eco prints, this time on pure (means 100%) silk. I have used eukalyptus leaves but also tried some New Zealand native trees and bushes (well, only the leaves).
Eukalyptus
Mingi Mingi
Mako Mako (my absolute favourite today)
Eukalyptus with Pohutukawa (stamens)
I will have a small selection on display (yes and for sale) in my studio at the Kapiti Arts Trail.
eukalyptus on merino knit
There is such a large variety of eucalyptus species and every eco print with those leaves will give different results, depending on the time of picking the leaves, the region, and the kind of water to simmer the bundles in. There is already so much written about it and I am not a scientist understanding the chemical side of eco printing, so I just did a little test with the same leaves dyed in the same pot, the same lengths of time, the same fabric (merino knit) . The only difference is that I soaked one fabric in iron water over night, the other not.
This is the fabric not soaked.
This is the fabric soaked.
Which do you like better?