Total Lack of Tea

I thought it might be nice to show some of the

unrelated to tea things that I have been up to

I soaked 3 Tshirts in soy milk

and then naturally dyed them

with leaves and some natural dye powder

I had left over from the workshop I taught

at Beautiful Silks last year

I was not entirely happy with the results

But as I tell my students

that is just an opportunity to do something else

Here I printed with the rusty etching plates

seen in a previous post

This one you may want to open in another window

egg printed with a lino block

then dyed with leaves

see tutorial here

This is another Tshirt that has not been soyed

But I have been using it as a paint rag

It is now curing before I wash it

and either wear as is

or overdye

I am thining I may have my new range

of clothes to sell.

And here are some tiny books

All made from bits of old prints

from uni

This is the last of them now

so now I will have to do some new prints

to use in my books

Naturally of course

x te

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 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.