Dyeing in the Blue Mountains

I've been absent for a while as I was busy getting ready and organised to leave home for 3 weeks.

Katoomba sunset, looking down Megalong Valley

I've been staying with my son and his fiancee.in Katoomba while I'm attending workshops at the Blue Mountains Contextart Art Forum, held at the Korowal School in Hazelbrook.  Being able to enjoy these beautiful surroundings and spend time in the extensive gardens was a bonus of the workshops

Over the weekend I did eco-dyeing using plant material from the nearby bush, with Kirsten Ingmar and Trace Willans.  They have very different methods, but both were great tutors and I had good fun, made some lovely new friends..........hello Pat and Christine.......and learnt a lot.  

  Pat and I collaborated on leaf dyeing this cotton tshirt by the bundling method.  Trace showed us how to use egg yolk to enhance the colour and print on cotton, by adding protein to the fabric. This would work on any cellulose fibre....linen, bamboo, rame etc.  We dyed the tshirt in a pot of mountain devil...a local native plant...mordanted with copper.  Note the green on the neckline where the dye has reacted with  perfume on the shirt.

 Back view, love that great string line pattern

 Leaf detail

Close up of string line

I didn't take photos of the bundling and wrapping process, but Trace has a great tutorial on her blog if you'd like to try it.

I did these samples using various shibori style techniques and chemical mordants in a variety of plant based dyes.

 Pole wrapped silk dyed in mountain devil, copper mordant.  It's more a green than the picture shows.

 Shibori folded raw silk, clamped and dyed between wooden blocks in bark with a copper mordant.

Silk georgette bundled with coreopsis flowers, dyed in onion skins with an alum mordant

Highlights of the two days

I'll be back again to post about the basketry workshop I'm doing all this week with Wendy Golden.