Indigo Sugar Experiments

After reading about the experiments of Catharine Ellis here

I was inspired to do some playing of my own

But I was reluctant to use food I could eat

so I found my source in the scrap/compost bin

I used

Banana Skins

Orange peel

Carrot Peel 

& Sweet Potato Peel

All were treated the same way

Brought to boil and simmered 30 mins

Then plant matter removed 

 liquid reduced by half

Removed from heat

 allowed to cool a little

1 teaspoon indigo and a little meths in a jar

Swirl to dissolve

Add cooled juice

(it still wants to be quite warm)

And 2 teaspoons lime

Shake jar vigorously and place in the sun

Jars in the Sun

The fabrics used

1. knitted linen, beige

2. Knitted cotton, white

3. Silk Cotton Blend, pale green

Banana Skins

while they worked they were not wildly successful

Carrot Peel

Much Better

Orange Peel

on a par with the carrot 

Orange Sweet Potato Peel

This dropped right off in the last test

I don't know if this is inherent to the material

or whether it was a slightly cooler day 

and this was the largest jar

and just didn't get warm enough

or possibly there wasn't as much peel to begin with

Maybe it needs to be repeated 

with exactly the same weight 

of plant material to begin with

But someone else can do that

I will definitely find a place in my freezer

for a few peelings 

of carrot, orange and sweet potato

to feed future indigo pots

and forego trying to find 

the fructose

I also hope to continue the experiments

once I have a vegie garden happening

with a glut

But I do wonder how capsicum cores would go

and would purple carrot skins make a difference?

More indigo play here 

x te

Intuitive Art Journal

I have been playing over with Erin Faith Allen 

since early December doing her

  Metamorph online workshop 

I thought I might share some of the Journal spreads with you

Bearing in mind I am very much out of my comfort zone

So it is all about working with your intuition 

and just seeing what turns up

This one started because of a bleed through

all the pages have been prepped with traditional

rabbitskin glue gesso

and using natural materials 

and home made paints, 

e.g.milk paints and watercolour

I am also using 

Indian inks

as well as natural dye pigment

dissolved in meths (a type of alcohol)

and natural earth pigments

and natural indigo 

These last 3 are very much

works in progress

some collage

and some paint rag glued in

Each month has a theme

and I have just completed month 4 FIRE

and there are still 8 months to go

I am hoping for improvements

along the way

or at least more confidence

x te

Stacking Blocks

So I waxed up some blocks

These are pine

coated in traditional gesso

made from rabbitskin glue and 

whiting (calcium carbonate)

I wrote words on them

added a little milk paint

then clear beeswax medium

a little yellow ochre and red iron oxide pigments

plus I brushed on some bixa orellana seeds(annato/achiote)

soaked in meths

then some more wax

5 I left like that

the rest I added

natural indigo powder

and some titanium white

before heating

These are now for sale so let me know if you are interested

prices below

the edges can be left raw

or a thin coating of clear cold wax medium applied

they can also be stained with a little red first

or I can apply a nice coating of Xanthorrhoea Resin

Prices

1 = $35

2 = $65

4 = $125

8 = $240

16 = $450

If you buy 4, 8, or 16 I will pay the postage

Australia only

x te