eco print cottons

Silk, wool and any animal fiber are protein fibers and easily take dye but plant fibers like cotton and linen need to be soaked in protein in order to get a print.  India Flint, in her wonderful books ECO PRINTS  and SECOND SKIN suggests using the rinse water from cleaning out empty yogurt containers. I didn't have any yogurt containers so I finished off the cottage cheese and used the rinse water from that to soak this cotton t shirt.  I soaked it for about 2 hours and then I placed eucalyptus bark and leaves, liquid ambar leaves, morning glory blossoms and leaves, both yellow and purple onion skins and some purple cabbage on the fabric.  I made a tight bundle and tied it with string, then put it in the pot to steam for a couple hours.  I let it cool and put it in a zip loc baggie overnight.  This morning I eagerly opened the bundle and I was really thrilled with the shades of greens, blues and golds that printed on the fabric.  I let it dry on the rack today and tonight I think it is even prettier, there are some purples in there too!  Lovely!  I see some eco printed t shirts in my future for sure.

 As I was soaking the t shirt in milky water I added an old cotton napkin to the mixture.  It has an interesting texture and is much stiffer than the t shirt material, although both are made of cotton.  What an interesting comparison!  The cotton napkin took the colors so differently than the t shirt cotton.  I put almost the same mix of blossoms on the napkin but I sprinkled a bit more red geranium and morning glory on it.  I bundled it and put it in the pot to steam with the t shirt bundle.  This morning when I unwrapped the bundle I was quite surprised at how different they look!  The cotton napkin has several shades of purple, a little goldish brown from the eucalyptus bark but the greens are very light and the blues didn't come through at all.  I'm trying to keep notes on this in my journal so I can repeat some color combinations.  I really love the color mix on the

t shirt but I could definitely see this cotton napkin incorporated into a nuno felt scarf or wrap. Actually I made a mostly purple nuno felt scarf last year (shown above).  I am ready to make another one with all of my eco print scraps!  I find the possibilities of working with fibers endlessly fascinating. The colors, the textures and the experience of making something by hand really enriches my life and feeds my artistic soul.