Ooh, what’s in the bundles? They’re blue and tightly wrapped. There’s a bit of brown showing through too …
On Monday, I spent the day catching up on unfinished business. The business of eco-dyeing. I’ve had such a sparse time of it over the last few months because of work commitments that I was pretty damn stir crazy by the time I’d gathered my leaves and excitedly brought home my first bunch of Eucalyptus Cinerea from the florists.
The other leaves were collected from my driveway and garden, blown roughly to the ground by cyclone Marcia that made her way through our town a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, Marcia had spent her energy except for gallons of rain that she dumped on us on her way down from Yepoon where she’d crossed from the ocean to the land.
Our normally fairly dry creek burst its banks due to the constant downpour and king tides that had something to do with keeping the river backed up with water for a day or two. Here’s one of the local road on the first morning …
As you can imagine, lots of children were hugely disappointed at not being able to attend school – along with adults who also couldn’t make work because the roads were cut off…
Disappointed. Sure. *Smiles*.
Anyway, while cyclone Marcia brought devastation to homes and crops north of here, along with flooding to the south, she did kindly provide me with windfall leaves that I eagerly collected for my dye pot.
I had two second-hand cotton tee shirts that I’d pre-mordanted a few months ago and kept until I had the time to dye them.
Sunday was that day.
I was so eager to get the bundles into the pot that I forgot to photograph the layout of the leaves. Sorry about that.
Anyhow, here’s the reveal, with a selection of photos. I love the shade of blue imparted by the natural Aquarelle botanic liquid dye.
Unwrapping the long sleeved tee shirt. Some of the leaves are still attached.
The short sleeved tee shirt with a more linear pattern.
Long sleeved tee on the line.
After they’d dried, I rinsed them in water to wash off remnants of leaves and mordant. Then ironed them. Then hung them out to dry. They have lost some of their depth of colour, but I have to say, I really love them and am pleased at how they’ve turned out.
I also now have two eco-dyed silk scarves using the same eco colour palette. Here they are side by side. What do you think?
I love the tie die lines from the bundling string on the bottom scarf. I also love the depth of colour from the leaves on the other scarf.
My next project was two un-mordanted cotton items that I stuffed with leaves, tied and boiled in turmeric water. That produced an interesting result. But more on that next blog post.
Creative Expression of Life 
Written
on 6 February, 2017