Thursday, May 27, 2010

A Story of Two Blues

Inspiration from 
India Flint's book, Eco-Colour
I finished reading the book this morning and decided to use these wonderful plants as the start of my eco-dye investigations.

I have two Iris Japonica plants growing along side my house. 
Initially received as tubers as a gift years ago from my sister, Marianne.
One is bluer than the other.
I collected some spent flowers and some quite in bloom.
My dear 91 year old mother, Bertha, deconstructed some old silk shirts I picked up at the 2nd-hand store. (washed)
Keeping the 2 Blues separated, we spread some of the brilliant blues onto damped silk.
and wrapped them into bundles.

 and placed them into 2 separate jars with the remaining blue bits to swish around in the water.
and covered with plastic.
To cook in the sun for the next several weeks.
Stay tuned for a blue hue unveiling.

P.s.
Bertha says, "We waste a lot of time and don't realize it".
I say...
Make some color with time.

6 comments:

  1. try picking those flowers just before they begin to brown
    then putting them
    into the freezer overnight
    [in the jar you mean to use]
    then pouring cool water onto the frozen flowers
    magic will happen
    after which you can proceed as above...

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  2. Oh goodie! I've got more flowers, look for experiment number 2. Thank you India.

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  3. I have tried this with onion skins, but after a few weeks the color just faded away. How well does the color stay in the silk?

    I love your blog, by the way. A friend sent me the link when you posted some embroidery photos. Love to look at all the exciting things you post.
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  4. Susan, I didn't use a mordant, so it's likely that the blue I want will be grey. According to what I've read, silk accepts dye very well. I will be posting more information to share what happens. Thanks for your comments.

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  5. Would alum or cream of tartar work as a mordant?

    I love those quotes from Bertha! Christine, you are so lucky she is still with you all.

    Diana

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes Diana Alum would work as would other mordants. I choose not to use any since I didn't have any at hand and I was eager to just do it! I can always overdye later using a mordant, or put a post-mordant on it. However, this was purely an experiment and not exactly what India suggests in her book.

    ReplyDelete

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