Thursday, September 17, 2009

Dyeing with Lemon Scented Eucalyptus bark

I have been trying to find information about dyeing with Lemon Scented Eucalyptus and have not got very far. There is not a lot of information on the internet. I did find some information in some books I had but it is more about dyeing with eucalyptus bark, not specifically from the lemon scented tree.
However, I did find some information that was of use and have experimented with some silk sliver (also known as roving) and wool roving, as well as some pongee silk and small pieces of wool batting. I got quite a variety of colours, depending on what process I used and the mordants.
First I tried some old bark from the tree next door (yes, I do have restless nights sleeping under it on windy nights).

I collected the bark over a few months, so it was very dry and I did not have to take any from the tree. All the books I have been reading about dyeing with eucalyptus bark remind us strongly to try not to damage the tree. Taking bark from all around a tree will likely kill it.


The bark is not particularly dark but I hoped to get some colour from it.
I tried using some without pre-soaking, I just brought it to the boil and let it simmer for an hour. Then I drained it off and put in my bits and pieces.



They came out very pale. I used tissue silk, pongee silk and some wool batting (for quilting).

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Trying to edit the glog

I'm having trouble with the glog. I want to go in and edit it but it refuses to recogise my log-in details. Neither does it recognise my email address, so I can't get the help I need. I think I had this trouble before, working from home rather than university, as I am now. Very annoying.
If I were going to use this with a class, I would like to have these irritations ironed-out. I can see benefits for class use but I am not convinced that it would be worth the trouble in a busy schedule.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Semantic Typography

We did an exercise in class last week about Semantic Typography and my word was hammer.
Then I was experimenting with ImageChef and found the animated text icon and made this. It's not very interesting but I am playing around with new technology and new ideas. So here are some very easily done pieces.
ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

I've got to admit, this FOCUS one is hard for me, my eyes don't really like the blue and red.
ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

Here is a link to a book of Semantic Typography.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Trying to embed the glog.

This is my attempt to make the glog fit the blog, with the help of one of the students in my class. He rewrote the html code and took out the scale and size. It seemed to work at university but when I looked on another computer, there was only a small part of the glog visible. So it seem that you can only copy the code and change the numbers for scale and image size.