Using up Dye

I had some dye left over from a previous project

soaking in Meths (alcohol)

related to this 

that I wanted to use up

before we leave

How the fabrics looked in the beginning

The white is cotton and the beige a linen

Both are a knitted fabric

Fresh out of the jars

cochineal, annato, lac and madder

So I put in the cloth and filled the jars up 

with hot tap water

and then left the out in the sun

for a couple of weeks

They are much paler after washing

possibly they would have been brighter if

I had left them longer

My plan is to use them on this skirt

much as I am using the indigo dyed fabric

on this skirt

the fabric is wearing thin so holes develop 

every time it is washed

The holes dictate 

where I patch this week

The original fabric is a knitted hemp

These will be part of my 

working 

in the studio clothes

I already love the weight of my indigo skirt

it is a double layer 

and then the patches all that stitch

gives it a lovely weight

x te

Loving the Weekend Work

Samples

Playing with meths and pigment/natural resin

I had such a great weekend

Saturday the weather was glorious

got out into the vegie garden

and got the weeding done

and then in the afternoon went down to beach 

for a little rock climbing

But the studio was the best fun of all 

Started by playing with pouring pigment/natural resin in meths

this is dry gesso which I have wet

indigo, lac, xanthorrhoea and ink

I could have left it like this but no

I put another layer of gesso over the top

and then worked inot it while it was wet

the same here but only using indigo, ink and xanthorrhoea

and the end result

before

after

before

after

the detail tells you why

I love this technique so much

Next weekend I will apply wax

and make some marks

such fun

x te

In The Studio

Thought some of you might be interested in what I have been up to lately

These were done last weekend

They are cradled pine boards which Dan made for me

I have applied a premix plaster

which is totally natural

and then added milk paints

this week I added wax, oil stick,

 home made oil paint (indigo, lac, cochineal)

and pigment

before

after

before

after

before

after

before

after

before

after

only an after!!

but if you look at the top picture

you can see it on the upper right

such fun I had

x te