I told you a while ago about a gathering and a workshop on natural dyes. For anyone interested, you can find it here.
Well, there is some more I would like to share. After the basic knowledge, comes the even more fun part. Which means that when you have made all the preparation of mordant, then you can choose to play.
Flowers, leaves, just petals, stems, actually any part of the plant you want, any color combination and any pattern you want to create, no limitations. It is one of the most liberating methods.
Nothing can go wrong actually. In the worst case, the fabric will come out as you had an accident while painting a wall :) Even in this case, you can try again.
How beautiful these hands working with flower petals look!
After pacing the material you want, then you roll the fabric. It must be tight. You will understand the importance of this step if you ever try to print whole flowers or whole parts or have a specific design in mind. The more stable and tight they are the better result will be. Well placed will help too :)
You can also play with onion skins. I saw recently a project where the onion skins were cut in heart shape and where used to print baby clothes, super sweet, but also extremely time consuming. The print was fabulous though.
Next step, the fabrics will be put in a colander in a covered pot and will be steamed for 20-30 minutes.
Unrolling them...
... and the moment of truth!
All petals were carefully removed. Here the print is abstract and absolutely lovely!
The big surprise was seeing these small blue prints from a flower that no one expected or knew that it could extract color.
The girls had to unroll quite a few fabrics.
While others where playing with iron rust solution using brushes to write a slogan or paint hearts (we had some teenagers joining us!).
These methods are perfect for upcycling old clothes and fabrics, giving them a new life and a refreshing vibe. Just to remind you that you can only dye natural fabrics with natural methods. Doesn't work for anything synthetic. And it is pure magic :)
If you would like to know more about me this is my introduction post.
