Still experimenting

I had quite a few old chemises that are made of silk so I decided to actually use them! I have kept them because the silk is lovely. 

I also still have some of the hollyhock dye bath left. 

So today I looked up yet another site on how to naturally dye silk and have just done more mordanting of the fabric. I have done it slightly differently because I went to a different site - so many sites with good advice!  Because the chemises had colour I am not sure how things will turn out - but I really don't care!

I'm hoping to collect some more fabrics, not necessarily silk, and dye them and see if they 'speak to me' about how to use them. 

If not, I'll have yet more pieces of dyed silk and other fabrics.

 The leftover flowers that I used have turned into some sort of sludge but I am willing to try one or two pieces of silk to see what happens. I'll try to be more creative with the rest, see if I can make different colours. I still have a LOT of dried and frozen hollyhocks to I am anticipating lots of purples and, possibly, pinks. 

If I do use the sludge, I don't think the dye will be even but that doesn't bother me either. I am just aiming to have fun. 

As I have only prepared silk, I think that I won't get the greens and browns I got with the wool. - they were also old chemises. 

Our garden is being overtaken by oxalis - not a good thing. But I am hoping some may survive (if we don't work our how to actually get rid or it) and I will cut the yellow flowers and try them. I have a faint recollection of using the leaves too but they will only give green, easily obtained from other sources. It would actually be good to get rid of the oxalis, so I may not get to see the beautiful flowers. 

Christmas!!

 I nearly missed the date! 25/12/25.

I haven't done much textile work lately but I am hoping to do a couple of workshops in the summer school for the EGV and the HWSG. It is an attempt to make me try something slightly different - not totally different as that would be too daunting. 

The hollyhocks are flowering again - I am still collecting them - just need to actually use them!! I have a few days coming up with no appointments so, perhaps, I'll give it a go. 

It was overcast a lot today and cool for Christmas Day. It's supposed to warm up next week, so I'll see if I can get myself organised. 

I am also thinking about doing some sun dyeing. I saw a gorgeous plant in the garden a day or so ago. It is actually a weed and has thorns but it has beautiful, fragile-looking leaves.  So I rescued a piece from the green bin and it is waiting for me to get myself organised. 

I love thy way the stems  grow horizontally.

Christmas Day 2022

Well, how time has rushed by! 

Happy Christmas to you - wherever you are, whatever conditions are dominant. 

I took some photos recently, of the hydrangeas that are in a pot at our front door. I take photos most years as they are gorgeous and always remind me that Christmas is coming! 

We have had some unseasonably cold weather leading up to Christmas and I was wondering if the flowers were affected, they were rather pale. 

The weather has warmed up (it was hot today - all of a sudden, we haven't had a good chance to get used to the hotter weather) and the flowers have changed colour.

They also let you know when they are thirsty - I love that they revive when you water them, that it isn't too late. 

The dark hollyhocks are in flower again too. I cannot resist picking the ones that are shrivelling. I may have to find some fabric to dye - again. They give a good colour usually. I haven't dyed with them, or anything much, for ages (exception was the stink lily recently but that was just using leftover bits and pieces of silk). 

Fortunately, it will be the summer holidays and I 'should' have time to play around. Just need the energy. 

I am trying to do some tapestry weaving, will post about that another day - maybe this year, maybe next year!

2021

 Well, today is the first day of 2021. 1/1/21. Let's hope is has less disruption than 2020. 

My brother tells me that the number is a prime number and that its factors are 47 and 43. I think I understood what he was saying. Apparently prime numbers only have 2 factors. 

I have been trying to get motivated - most people I know are feeling like they are struggling with creativity. It takes energy to come up with an idea. The making can be challenging and involving and slow but the initial idea is the thing that takes the most energy - that is what I am finding at present, anyway. 

I have just looked at a video from the Stitch Club, part of TextileArt.org, and the message I got was to try new things, or old things you used to do, and not worry about making anything, just play!! I need to have a think about that. Finding all the bits and pieces may be too challenging!! Also, there were a few ideas and I think I need to focus on one at a time. But it was interesting and refreshing,.

Another idea was to enter a challenge, or a call for entries, which has a theme and try to work towards that. This can be especially good if it is something you have never done before. I'll have to have a look around and see what ideas come up. 

I am still playing around with the blackwork embroidery. I am currently working on a piece that has been painted in random colours, based on the crumpled paper idea. I am just making it up as I go, don't even know what, if anything, I will do with it when I finish. In fact, I have used a piece of fabric that doesn't have much room for making it into anything, or even framing it (not that I would want it on the wall). I may put the various pieces together and make a small folding book - who knows? Who cares? 

One of my Facebook groups has suggested doing postcards this year, to be sent by mid-March. So that might get me going. I have done my first. I am not that happy with it, I think I have done the petals too big. But I won't worry about it too much, I may need to send it, we have to make 11 and I won't throw it out just yet.

I have based this one on a flower that is currently blooming, and will do so for months, going on past experience. The hollyhock. I am collecting the flowers when they fall down and putting them in the freezer. I have used them in the past for dyeing, may do so again. Not immediately, but they are there if I need them. 

I Just Couldn't Resist!

It was too much for me, all those lovely hollyhock flowers fallen on the ground. I just had to pick them up.

I also had to clear out the freezer so I can make the Geraldine Dillon frozen chocolate cheesecake - I only make it once a year and the time is upon us. Christmas lunch, on a hot day, purportedly.

So out came the frozen hollyhocks which have been there for who knows how long.

I had obviously been thinking about this for a few days because I had some silk soaking in alum, since Saturday. I began to think that it probably isn't good for the silk to be soaking for days in a mordant, so I had to get to today and do something with it all.

Then I dissolved some alum in a pot of water. As usual, I didn't have any great plan or any good, scientific method. I just looked through old posts and tried to remember what I did last year.

I found an interesting site on natural dyeing.

I came across a recipe for using hollyhock flowers in cooking too. Apparently, it is related to the hibiscus, which can be substituted in the recipe. So I suppose hibiscus might dye fabric also. But our flowers are pink and not as dark as the hollyhocks, so I might leave that experimentation till much later.

So now I have two jars with various silk fabrics. They are doing the cold water, slow dyeing thing (but in the hothouse in summer and some days are forecast to be hot soon, so not that cold). One jar has frozen hollyhock flowers and the other has ones I picked up off the ground today. As it rained yesterday, the colour may not be as good as it would have been if I had done it yesterday, but yesterday was too hot to do much.

The frozen flowers are in the right-hand jar. I think the colour is more intense, it certainly came out more quickly. I will have to wait a few days to see if the dried flowers develop more intensity. 

Then I decided to make a dye bath. I dissolved some alum in the water, heated it up and then put in the rest of the frozen flowers. The colour comes out immediately, it is wonderful to see.

I put the fabric in after the flowers had been simmering for about 40 minutes - I remember reading that reds and yellows don't do so well if you heat them for too long.

After draining out the flowers, I put in some untreated silk and let it simmer for about another half hour. It is currently cooling down. I will leave it overnight and rinse it out tomorrow.

Once again, I have no ideas for using the silk pieces. None of them is very large, it will have to be some sort of collage or patchwork.

But I just couldn't let the flowers go to waste! Once again, I have only used the flowers that have dried up and fallen off the plant.