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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Exploration....

The other day I went out for lunch with the women who help
with the kids garden club and one of them showed us this beautiful
nuno felted scarf eco printed with eucalyptus leaves she made in a workshop.
This is a sample off of the net since I didn't have my camera with me.
Have you ever heard of eco printing?
Basically it's transferring the imprint of leaves and flowers and their
natural dyes onto fabric or paper.
I've experimented with this on paper and hammering leaves between fabric
but had a whole other world opened up to me when I saw the results
from the scarf Lynda made.
So off to the wool shop with Norene (my partner in art crimes)
and while we were talking to Ryan, the owner of Knotty by Nature,
he showed us a scarf very similar to Lynda's...
We then started talking about India Flint.
Eco dyer extraordinaire.
Just so happens that Ryan had one of her books for sale...
Before I knew it the book was purchased and in my bag along with my latest stash of wool!
Today we will experiment with making the scarf and step 2 will be the eco printing
onto said scarves.
Of course I had to try a wee bit of the printing before today so last night I made
up some bundles and steamed them for a few hours...
 Kinda voodoo looking aren't they?
 I left them wrapped until early this morning and like a kid at Christmas
jumped out of bed to see what they had turned into...
 This is the native trailing blackberry which made a really good impression...
 These were some leftover leaves from the flower shop but I don't know the name.
They turned out really nice too...
 Some fall coloured cherry leaves...
 The eucalyptus I used must be a different variety because it didn't
quite turn out how I expected it to...
 Close up of the blackberry leaves...
 ...and the mystery leaves...
 I did these all on some scraps of linen...
So now we have opened up a whole new can of worms to play with!
India's book is full of fascinating explorations into eco dyes and printing
and has already inspired us to take on this new challenge.
There's something so invigorating about discovering yet
another way to create.
One thing leads to another...will post about our further adventures into
the land of wool.
To be continued.
 


7 comments:

Stone Angel said...

Goodness Gracious Kerry!!! You have given me yet another activity to take up all my time - besides these puppies. I promise a long letter soon.

Unknown said...

I think your experimenting was very successful. I can't wait to see what happens as you begin working with the wool. Yes...it's very exciting to do something new!!!

Melody said...

Sort of like tie dye with leaves! What a neat thing ~ I will look forward to your further adventures with nature and fabric! :))))

thewiildmagnola said...

i have the book and it is enchanting on every level.

you have done a spectacular job!

Acornmoon said...

What a fascinating idea, your results are amazing.

Cobalt Violet said...

How gorgeous! I want to try that!!!
Might be a fun project with my family!

Anonymous said...

there should be more of you to go around. i come here and always find a universe of open doorways! this is marvelous!