Glorious Weekend !

Can you believe the weather?!...it's roasting hot in April ! I'm not complaining, it's great to be able to get outside in the garden without the winter coat. So, yes, this weekend I have been mostly pottering about in the garden but also darting in and out the house to tend to my dyeing pots doing their thing! First on my list to get done was to dye some silk for a custom order I had received a couple of weeks ago. The custom order is for three 90cm x 20cm eucalytus printed silk scarves for a lady who wants them for her sisters wedding later in the year...... I emailed these photos to my customer and she is very pleased with the results so far and can't wait to see the finished results..... the next few nights will be spent sewing these up!

Also on the go was a new batch of silk hankies.

The first to be dyed revealed this cheery lemon shade, seen here drying on the line....

I then went on to do another two batches!!

The photos below show all three colours together (not sure this is the best light though).

Once labelled up, these will be sold in sets of three, one of each colour.

Lemon, Lilac & Dusky Pink...

Finally, with spare eucalytus and silk lying around I wrapped the two together and poped them in the steamer....

But now i'm stuck woth what to make from this???.... I was thinking for a change to make it as a Sarong, being summer and holiday time, or as a Curtain, as homeware is something I am looking into introducing this year too, or I could just make it an oversized shawl/wrap....

Help, i'd love to know your thoughts !

Finally...

...the silk from the jar experiments has been made into a scarf!

Do you remember this jar with the silk stuffed inside and left to do it's thing through snow, frost and sunshine?

The final destination for the silk was in a aluminium bucket with several exhaust dyes poured on top. Lots of reclaimed iron nails were added. The top of the bucket was wrapped with cling film and then it was left out in the sunshine and rain for a further couple of weeks.

I didn't report on this at the time as it was when I lost my camera back in July so I couldn't take any pictures to share!

So, anyway, here is a final piece (finally) to show you all.

I have made a triangular scarf...

The piece of silk has enough left to make a second triangular scarf and hopefully a long scarf or a circle snood scarf.

I think it was worth the wait :)

From the pots...

...the dye pots that is!

Here is a selection of what I got up to with my dye pots the past weekend....

From the eucalyptus pot...

Eucalyptus leaves wrapped in silk and boiled to create a subtle print....

Silk wrap tie-dye and clipped with bull dog clips....

From the Sanders wood pot....

Scrumptious peachy Merino yarn....

Vibrant tie dyed silk....

Wish I didn't have to go to work and could stay home all day creating instead!!!

The First of Many...

...yarn dyeing experiements!

From the left over stems of eucalyptus I had from testing out the new eco prints as previously posted about I now have my first samples of dyed yarn.

A couple of lovely shades of burnt oranges on DK Merino yarn, created solely from a eucalyptus dye pot.

What do you think? Would you wear these colours?.....

New Prints

Some quick photos of yesterdays experimenting with eco prints.

I was trying to create new designs to use in my greetings cards collection....

Apologies for the creases and various shades of white due to my camera settings!

Treasury Feature

Lissi's Naturally Dyed Peach Silk Scarf has been featured in a lovely treasury called 'One Perfect Summer Day'.

Please take a look here before it closes !

Gold !

Using the same techniques and testings as in the Previous post ( A New Glow ) I experimented with a piece of silk that had been dyed using onion skins.

The silk had been boiled in the dye pot for 30mins to achieve a lovely warm peachy glow, as shown on the left hand side of the note pad below. Having used this shade in previous work I thought it would be good to carry on experimenting to see what other colours can be obtained, and mixed up some colour modifer solutions.

The results are as follows....

(left to right, top row - Soda Water; Iron Water; Copper & Vinegar Water; bottom row - Vinegar Water; Copper Water.)

The variety is really clear and I was quite surprised at all the lovely shades that came from the same dyed cloth! I fell for the gold shade which came from the Copper & Vinegar Water solution.

The rest of the silk was then modified and below are a couple of products awaiting photo styling before being added to my shops...

Golden Neck-Tie Silk Scarf

Golden Triangle Silk Scarf

Let me know what you think!

Contents = silk + foliage = unknown

In a recent post I showed a photo of silk sitting contently in a jar of eucalyptus dye, well below is that very piece of silk!

As I explained in the post it had been experimented with for a compost dye technique and I hadn't been patient enough to leave it long. The marks on the silk are from the compost dye which had various leaves folded in with the fabric. The dye the silk has been sat in has been exhausted as it would normally be showing a deeper orangey-tan colour having stewed for so long. And so I decided I would experiment further....


I collected foliage from out and about outside my home. In the picture above you can see Ivy, Bracken, Laurel, Rhododendron and dried leaves from autumn, plus the odd flecks of purple are Crocuses that have seen better days.

They were all spritzed with water them folded tightly and squeezed back into the jar.....



I'm very curious as to what will emerge differently this time, if anything, and for how long I can wait before opening.....

I must be more patient....

Last week I added a good metre or so of silk to this jar of eucalyptus dye along with a few onion skins squashed in between. The silk had previously been experimented with a 'compost dye' technique where the fibre is wetted then dye stuffs (i.e. leaves, petals, vegetable skins etc) are folded in with the fabric and left in a tied plastic bag to do as they please.
Unfortunately, I was very inpatient and opened it only after a week or so and therefore not a lot had happened! So, now I know I must be more patient!

The silk has now been soaking for 7 days sitting on a sunny window sill which can be called 'Solar Dying' but I don't think it has been warm or sunny enough. I am thinking of releasing it from the jar to heat in a pan for an hour then straining the liquid and returning the fabric to the jar with some addition findings....

I will post the results in a week or two...depending on how long i can wait!

Experimenting...

Yesterday I decided that I would make time, I have been trying to make time for the past few weeks mind, to conduct some fresh colour tests for future dye projects.

I wanted to start basic with what I know best - Eucalyptus dyes. I used a secondry dye that had been brewed a few weeks a ago and stored, and began by warming it gently. I then cut up several sample pieces of silk and threw them all in the pot (below) and set the timer rolling.

(Please note that the flash was used and therefore the liquid dye was not quite as bright as this photograph is showing!)

The silk swatches were removed every 15 minutes. There were 5 batches of swatches so the longest time soaked totalled 75 minutes. The results for solely Eucalyptus dyed swatches can be seen below with the various times marked.

The remaining swatches were then divided into three ready for their next stage of experimentation, which was to add them to colour modifiers to see if any changes would occur.

The modifiers I had prepared were a Soda Water Modifier, a Vinegar Water Modifier and a Iron Water Modifier as below...

(All three modifiers were prepared by me, but the Iron Water is marked as home made as this was solely prepared from re-claimed rusty nails rather than a powder bought solution.)

The next step was to prepare all the various water modifiers to all the individually timed swatches. So out came the plastic cups. Each were marked as to what their contents would be, then a teaspoon of the specific modifier was added along side half a cup of cold tap water.

The swatches were then added and photographed after 15 minutes to record any changes...

Already at 15 minutes soaking time I could begin to see colour changes.

Then they were photographed at 30 minutes....

Then again at 45 minutes...

And finally at 60 minutes....

It is clear from the photographs that a lot of the colour changes occur within the first 30 minutes of being added to the colour modifier.

The swatches were then chopped in half, leaving one half in the pots to soak for a further hour with an additional teaspoon of modifier.

The results from both tests were then recorded beside each other to compare for additional changes and to store for future records and dyeing times.

Soda Water Modifier Results

Vinegar Water Modifier

Iron Water Modifier

And that is just a few tests from one leaf source! I have plans to test a lot of different plants and flowers, and hopefully it won't be too long before I find the time again!

I hope you have enjoyed this post and found it quite interesting, would love to know your thoughts.

Latest Edition....

Today I added my newest style of scarf to my Folksy Shop - a Triangle scarf. It is made from the most luxurious soft habotai 12 silk and was printed using my favourite eucalyptus steaming technique!

Below are more images of the print details within the scarf and styles for wearing......

More products to be listed soon......