Week seven

Book cover of torn Somerset paper with a tracing paper wrapper

‘24.01.21’ – another snow markings book

The black paper shows off the markings well, but is maybe a bit heavy for the snowy subject matter

A tiny circular concertina book with a stitched line which follows a drawn line walk down my garden steps

Experiments with natural ink (made with red cabbage and a discarded bouquet) and masking fluid

Latest dyeing results – the multifarious browns of bramble

Feeling the gravitational pull back to making books this week… three tiny books have emerged from recent mark making work. Interesting to see how I’m still drawn to presenting work in a book format even when that’s not a conscious decision. This is process led though, which is different to my usual approach of choosing a format and then thinking of appropriate content. I’m enjoying experimenting with my natural inks and masking fluid (although I’m not sure how stable the colour will be, so probably best to scan these in to preserve them in some way). Quite a bit of dyeing going on in the background - this week’s finished results are from bramble prunings… a surprisingly broad range of browns. After a biting cold snap, the temperature has started to rise again and it’s beginning to feel like Spring is finally on its way. Hurray!

Natural dyeing

Dyeing embroidery thread and lined thread for bookbinding

A rare green result (from rosemary)

A palette of soft browns from the last of the red acer leaves fallen from the tree in my garden

An amazingly vibrant pink dye made from sloes

Apologies for the prolonged silence on here… I’ve been very busy with work for the past couple of months. Not too busy to squeeze in some more natural dyeing experiments though. A trip to Norfolk at the end of September yielded some useful finds… eucalyptus bark, hawthorn berries and leaves, acorn galls and a bumper crop of sloes. I’ve been making dye with all of these, with varying degrees of success. Up until recently, I’ve just been dyeing cotton lawn fabric, but I’ve expanded my experiments to include some antique linen, white embroidery thread, lined thread (which I use for bookbinding) and also some Aran yarn. The yarn takes up the colour much better than the other (plant) fibres, but it’s really interesting to compare the results across the range of materials. I’ve been using an iron oxide post-mordant (made by soaking rusty nails in vinegar and water) to extend the colour palettes of the dyes, and I’m also trying to make leftover dye into ink (need some more practice with that).

A summer of dyeing

Coreopsis - collected from two pots, dead-headed over a few months (and stored in the freezer)

The dry fabric (top left), a third batch of dye left to soak for only a few hours (top right) and how it looks after being dipped in iron oxide (bottom)

Fabric dyed with Lady’s Mantle drying on the line

Dyeing with rhubarb root

The lovely soft colours of dyeing with acorns

After being interested in the idea of natural dyes for a while now, this summer - with more time at home at weekends - I’ve finally dipped my toe in the waters (or dye bath) of starting to experiment with creating dyes from plants. I don’t have an end result in mind, I’m just fascinated by the process of creating new colours from natural materials.

I prepared a few metres of cotton lawn (scouring the fabric and then mordanting it with Alum) and then have been dyeing fabric swatches over the past few months. I’m learning as I go along (from books and lots of really useful online content shared by other natural dyers) but I’ve found the slow process of learning a new skill through ‘doing’ to be very absorbing. I started with rhubarb root (a pinky-ochre) and then moved onto mulberries (pale grey, not the purple you would expect) and Lady’s Mantle (a strong yellow-ochre). Buddleia (bright yellow) and Coreopsis (strong orange) provided the most dramatic results, but I’m very pleased with the soft browns of acorns.

The fabric does take on colour in a cold dye bath but heating the fabric up in the dye bath definitely gives more intense results. I’m also starting to experiment with dipping some of the dyed fabric into second mordants - iron oxide (made with rusty nails and vinegar) dulls colours, some more dramatically than others; vinegar lightens colours and bicarbonate of soda darkens them a little. So you can get quite a colour palette from one dye bath.