Amazing mould formed on the surface of the hornbeam catkins dyebath
White carbon paper leaf rubbings (enhanced and reversed in photoshop)
Swiss cheese plant dye experiments
Another week of slower progress balancing my garden residency with work pressures. I found some ready-made artwork taking the lid off the hornbeam catkins pot of dye. I’d only left it just over a week, but an amazing lunar mould-scape had developed. I think this went off quicker than other dye batches is because the catkins weren’t gathered fresh... I swept them up from the pavement after the decay process had perhaps already kicked in.
With the knowledge that my natural inks may start to go mouldy at some point (hopefully delayed by the addition of a clove in each one) I decided to start using them in earnest. I really enjoyed making a quick set of sketches using a wax resist and three layers of ink. Working intuitively and building up layers.
An experiment of leaf rubbings with white carbon paper on black paper was a little faint, but when scanned in and levels changed in photoshop, the rubbings came to life.
Finally, my favourite dye batch yet... using trimmings from my giant Swiss cheese plant in my hall. It desperately needed pruning and I thought I may as well see what colour I could extract from the leaves. The dye bath was black and gave out a lovely range of soft greeny-greys. I’m hoping it will boil down to a good ink too...