workshop with India Flint

oooh Finally!

Tomorrow I make my way to switzerland not for leisure but to participate in a workshop by India Flint herself!! This couldn't get any better!

I haven't been doing much work lately. So much going on ... but I'm hoping the workshop will inspire and enchant me so that I get back on track. Last experiments I did were parcially rewarding. Eucalyptus! All my research says they should produce brilliant reds, browns, oranges and even blacks in some cases. but untill recently my attempts had been in vain.

I finally managed to get my hands on some decent fresh ecalyptus and voila! some definate orangy-reds came to life. I've not yet been able to get the brilliant red that I am so fascinated by, but then again the geographical and climatic conditions in the UK do make it almost impossible for that I'm told as compared to the Australian varieties where this plant is a native.

I better go and pack now... more update after the workshop!

The Begining

It all started with my final major project at University. I was attempting to make natural watercolours. What inspired me to take on the project was a chance encounter with a book in Waterstone's. Its called 'Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles' by author and artist India Flint. Now, I'd done a bit of vegetable dyeing before but this was a something beyond imagination (at least back then). I got completely hooked and still am today!

You can read more about India Flint at

http://www.indiaflint.com/

After graduation I was doing what pretty much everybody was doing... hunting for jobs. When things settled down a bit I began to do experimenting of my own. Buying clothes from charity shops, cutting up bedsheets etc and trying to dye them with onion skins, turmeric, anything else from the kitchen.. finally I went to a workshop for natural dyeing which to my surprise and pleasure were using and promoting the techniques mentioned by India Flint in her book Eco Colour. That gave me a confidence boost and I started making more samples, buying fabrics and hunting for materials, equipment etc. There was no stopping me then!

Here are some pictures of my experiments:

1) First try on cotton, no mordant.

Threw in a key amongst the leaves and what a surprise!

Fabric: Cotton

2) The Awesome Onion skins!

Fabric: Wool

3) Sample 1 & 2 washed and dried.

4) Alas! Very first experiment on silk! How ecstatic I was with the result!

Fabric: Habotabi silk

And so the Curiosity continues with spring arriving, experimenting with leaves and flowers continuing to be astonished with the delicate hidden secrets of nature and its colours....!