Eco Printing/Dyeing....

A couple of weeks ago some good friends and I visited a local Crafters Spring Market. It was a fun day out! And of course seeing many of the items for sale in my head and out loud I say I can do that or I have read about that....

Information. I am an information junkie! This is a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing because I am not afraid to try new things. Bad thing because I find it hard to focus on what things to do. I am like a squirrel running around trying to do it all!

So after our day out I offered to eco dye some scarves with my friends.

I hadn't done it before but of course had read about it. Followed the andthenwesetitonfire blog posts on the subject, googled you tube clips and checked out India Flint' s website who wrote a wonderful book on the subject.

I already had some blank silk scarves and had been collecting rusty metal and had an old canning pot that had seen better days.

I went to the local re use it store and supplemented my rusting metal collection and bought some old pails.

I was ready!

I invited the girls over after I had got the equipment ready and tables covered.

We watched a few you tube video's and I answered a few questions.

Now remember that we are total newbies to this process and they have never done any kind of dyeing before.

Here my friend Alice is setting up a piece of treated cotton with her chosen plants. She is a very knowledgeable plant person and came with many different forged plants. 

This is my friend Caroline. She also is a very knowledgeable plant person and worked as a florist. The flowers she choose came from some beautiful left overs from her son and daughter in law's wedding. These are treated silk scarf blanks. 

Here are the four of us. Alice, me (Jo), Caroline, SueAnn poising for prosperity sake! 

My re purposed canner is filled with rusty water silk scarf bundles on copper pipe and branches. The cotton bundles went in too! My kids did not think that this looked at all appetizing but it did smell quite nice with a vinegar and eucalyptus smell!

Next day was the reveal after everything had cooked and cooled. Notice my old wash tub comes in handy and my dog lurking behind in the next picture. 

We hosed the fabric off with my garden hose to remove the remaining leaves and debris. 

Again Moe the wonder dog had to be underfoot the whole way!

Cotton piece

Scarves! 

All in all it was a great project. For the ones of us that went with just wing it  mode it was a great surprised  to how the scarves turned out. For us who wanted a controlled outcome were surprised and trying to analyze what and why happened. 

Lessons Learned

Learn more about the process... so I can understand what causality. 

Buy more scarves and fabric... so I can experiment more. 

Do some controlled experiments... so I can be more intentional about placement and effects. 

Record results ....so I can remember what I did in the experiments. 

Buy India Flints Book Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes For Beautiful Textiles .... so I can do all of the above! 

I did order India's book while at my sisters in the US last week and spent a good time reading it. Now I need to go back and make some notes as to what experiements to do from the plants in my own back yard. Today I also plan to order some more silk and cotton to play with. So you may be seeing some more experimentation in the next few weeks! 

I am linking up with 

needleandthreadnetwork

Mid Week Makers

Have a wonderful week.

Jo