Ecodyeing a poem

One wonderful afternoon last year two of my lovely friends introduced me into the magical world of eco dyeing.

Eco dyeing is a form of natural dyeing where the colours of natural dyes from plant materials are transferred to fabric by using steam.

I thought the process fascinating and the result was really beautiful! 

They kindly gave me the fabric we created that afternoon. I was determined to put it to good use and made into a poem art piece (it is rather big!). 

I added a lot of subtle stitching, to give it more balance and to emphasize some parts. And onto it I embroidered a poem by Emily Brontë which I think fits really well with the atmosphere of the piece. 

I'm very happy with the outcome : thanks again friends! 

                        I stretched the piece over a canvas (80 x 80):

Batik

In a workshop led by Ailish Henderson, I learned to create wax drawings and prints on fabric, using the batik method. The great thing is I didn't have to buy any new equipment, because I could use my wax burner and watercolour paint.

I love the more unpredictable character of this craft and the whimsical shapes it produces : it means that you’ve got to be creative in thinking about the result.

The fire will be part of a bigger piece I'm planning. The green pattern I made into an embroidered piece on its own.

This one I made into a book case by adding stitching :

Tea and milk dyeing

I heard of a dyeing method using milk and tea and decided to give it a try. It’s really easy and gets great results.

What you do is this : make a pattern on the fabric using the milk and let it dry for some days. Then soak the fabric in hot strong tea for a couple of hours. After a while the pattern emerges, because the areas with the milk will dye darker, wonderful!

I'm sure I’ll find a good application for these fabrics in the near future, watch this space! 

Kitchen Story

This collage piece is a stitched story about the kitchen in my childhood home. It took rather longer to plan than usual, because I first made a mind map to set free my thoughts and associations.

The technique of mind mapping is something I learned from Ali Ferguson. I found it to be very useful and insightful. 

Starting from this mind map, I selected meaningful materials, words and motifs. 

For the materials, I chose a piece of an actual cushion cover from that time, some jeans fabric (we wore jeans all the time back then), fabric scraps from a pair of slippers I had, some pieces of kitchen textiles and random fabrics that remind me of the atmosphere of this eighties kitchen.

As the motif I picked a whisk, which my mum often used, among many other things for making mayonnaise. This was a job that required a lot of attention and we often chatted as I watched her.

By stitching together the words and this image I’ve tried to capture a cherished memory of peaceful, secure and happy times.

Woollen handbag

In 2018 (you can read the blogpost here) I dyed some yarn with onion peel. 4 of the skeins, all of a different shade of yellow, I knit into a piece with wide stripes. 

This piece I washed on a high temperature and high spin cycle, to get it felted. It worked : the fabric is firmer, smaller and thicker now. 

And this week I decided to make it into a handbag of my own design.

I chose a nice fabric for the inner lining. It’s all hand-sewn, because I wanted to do some slow, meditative stitching. The wooden handles fit perfectly, in my opinion. 

This project is is a good example of slow crafting: hand-spun and naturally dyed yarn, hand-knit and hand-sewn into a bag. It reminds me that the journey is so much more important than the goal. That it turned out to be a nice handbag is a bonus 😊

the knitted fabric, before felting :

working on the bag, with the lining fabric and the handles:

the inside of the finished handbag:

Bottle wears sock

I love glass and beautiful bottles I tend to keep. 

Here is one of these bottles I decorated with a piece cut off a felted wool sock. I embroidered some abstract flowers onto the fabric. The yarn is a Nepalese hennep cotton blend, naturally died with walnut.

The result is quite stylish I think...

Real wool to dye for

(apologies for the pun…)
I bought these five skeins of homespun yarn (100% wool) from an acquaintance. After following a workshop in wool dyeing, I continued dying them at home.
I used onion peel to make five dye baths varying in colour strength. This way you get five different tints of yellow.

Making the dye                                                                                      one of the dye baths (hot)

the onion peels have done their job!

let them soak! (some skeins are dyed twice)

5 different skeins !! 

She says she's fine

Towards the end of 2017 I joined a textile art group. We meet every fortnight to explore the  possibilities of textile art, and the results of last month's work are exhibited in late August and in September (details at the bottom of this post).
My piece has grown organically : it consists mainly of embroidery with scrap materials (ribbons from T-shirts, plastic and metal bits, embroidery thread, rope) on white cloth stained with blue ink.

An anxious woman (We are all her, at some point in our lives), Expectations and demands (not in the least our own) are high. The feeling of failure, lost chances, being misunderstood. Sadness, the isolation of loneliness, brooding. Music and lyrics keep nagging at our brain. Eyes to the ground, lips tight, a sigh. The whirlpool of our minds.
But also a hopeful reference: the red mouth, talking with each other, conversation that clears things up.

I loved this way of being creative, without limits, without pattern or expectation.

some details :

The making of :

And everyone is very much invited to our exhibition "Women's portrets" :

(and to bring a friend :-))