Score

I made no 23 on Top Australian Women Bloggers in the craft category check it out here.
How cool is that?
And I am also rapidly sneaking up on blog post number 200 so I think there will need to be a giveaway, this may also be a sneaky way to get rid of some stuff before the big move. Above is a piece from a loose book that went up to Fiona Dempster, after she very kindly emailed me horrified at the thought of me having to chuck out loads of art work in the imminent shift and we made a deal where she nominated an amount of money and I sent up a pile of work. I believe we were both satisfied with the transaction. I love to know my bits and pieces have gone to some one who will cherish them. She just happens to mention me here

Free Shipping on Etsy

Yes I have decided to offer free shipping on everything over in my Etsy Shop until November 17th. After that everything will be sold off at a market I am attending prior to relocating on Novemeber 19th. I need to take as little as possible with me. When work will get back up on Etsy is anybodys guess. Hopefully in time for Christmas.
So if there is anything you like best get in now.

More Egg Related Business

Playing some more with the egg. Here I have applied the egg yolk to a lino print, the yellow one a stamped the block onto the fabric the dark one I put the block on the table and applied the cloth to the block. I allowed the egg to dry and then put them into two different dye pots. I like what happened.

This is a closer shot.

This a small concertina book I placed leaves inside and held it closed with fold back clamps and then dyed.

A little tiny book

The egg paper now a wax covered book cover

Hand made paper on the inside.

So that is what I have been up to in the studio.

Egg on paper and wax fun

These are a couple of the pages of watercolour paper that I use to brush the egg onto my leaves as you can see when popped into the dye pot they come up beautifully. After a good drying and a few days of curing I have now covered them in hot wax and used them as book covers which have waxwd handmade pages.

And this is a first wax piece exploring excavation. The toxic yellow is an example of why not to use zinc white in this instance.

And this is the end result with just a little yellow now covered with titanium white.

A little display

and this one has excavation on one side a strip of handmade paper down the centre and some nice scratching on the right.

I am having so much fun with the online wax class with Judy Wise, there is a link on my sidebar for anyone wanting to check it out.

x te

Lets Talk About Me Baby

Recently Roxanne of River Garden Studio

purchased one of my journals

and she has some very nice things to say

 in blog post over here.

There are some other very nice pics as well
and a bit more me is happening over at Wake Robin with the Lovely Velma.
I am feeling the love.



Egg on Cotton

Thought it was time to share with you the new and exciting technique I have discovered for getting strong prints on cotton. I taught this for the first time at my workshop in Hobarrt a couple of weeks ago and much fun was had.

Nearly a year ago I read this post over at inleaf which is a lovely blog by Lotta Helleborg.

She was using egg to print leaves onto linen and then dyeing it and the egg area attracted more dye leaving a very nice print in a darker shade than the background.

I tried this technique and it worked beautifully.

Now this got me thinking, what if I left the leaves on the cloth?

Magic happened that's what.

So to begin, seperate your egg. In this tecnique we will only be using the yolk ( I tried whole egg but it wasn't as effective) Itis a good idea to hold the yolk in your hand and pierce the sac to drain the contents that way you get a nice smooth mix. Add a little water about a dessertspoon per egg yolk and give a good mix. The egg needs to be wet enough so it penetrates the fabric.

Select a 100% cellulose fabric, cotton t-shirts are great.

Lay your leaves one at a time onto a piece of watercolour paper and paint with the egg, (the paper is not stricly necessary but I found that the paper when slipped into the pot dyes beautifully) then carefully place each leaf in the desired position.

Continue till all placed. Those of you who have done this on silk and wool will know that in general you will only lay leaves on half of the fabric and fold over to create a mirror image. here I have already done that step but forgot to take a photo so you are getting the second side ready to be rolled up. Just before folding or rolling brush all the upper sides of the leaves with the egg this way both sides will print. Fold and press down firmly so all are adhered. This also means that carefully placed leaves are less likely to move. Roll up and tie tightly with string. A leaf or two egged one one side and stuck tot he outside of the bundle under the string leaves a lovely resist print.

Cook as usual.

These two images cooked in iron rich water

This one in water with a spoon of aluminum dissolved in viegar goop.

Note the lovely leaves under string.

It is very important that after unwrapping the fabric is left to cure for at least a week so the egg can fully bond with the fabric.

The pictures above have not yet been washed, so some colour loss should be expected. The washed pieces are all at the studio.

I will post pics as soon as I wash these.

Flowerpot Dyeing

On the weekend I travelled south past Hobart the teach a natural dye workshop in a little spot called Flowerpot.

Sue Domeney

It was held on Sue Domeney's property. And here are lots more photos. 

Ros

Jill

Rene

Sue B

Maree

And here are some of the results.

We had some fabulous results on cotton with a new technique I have been working on which I demonstrated for the first time at this workshop.

Expect a tutorial real soon.