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.

eco print experiments

I have been experimenting with eco prints on watercolor paper and silk.  It is really fascinating!  First, I have been soaking the Arches watercolor paper (cold press)  in vinegar or pickle juice, as it had alum in it too. I have ordered some but in a pinch the pickle juice seemed to work fine.  While I was soaking the papers I collected windfall leaves, mostly eucalyptus, hollyhock blossoms and leaves and some liquid ambar as well. After the paper was thoroughly soaked I placed the leaves and flowers, layering one sheet of paper on top of another and then put the layers in between two pieces of cardboard. I secured it with string and made a tight "bundle" and put it in a pot to steam on top of the vegetable steamer.  I let them steam for about an hour and took them out.  I really love the results!  I have been also been playing with painting over the eco prints with watercolors.  I love the process of carving out some shapes and also "popping" some of the leaf shapes with a darker color.

Here is one of the eco prints that I went back and added some washes and carved out some shapes with paint.  I think I will put these on some colored backgrounds and make some cards.

More later on my adventures doing eco prints on silk and also my first attempts at using cotton. I will take them out of the bundles in the morning and see what surprises they bring!   That's really the most fun of this process, creating the bundles and letting them sit, then getting to "unveil" the results the next day or next week, depending on what type of bundle it is.

just starting out

This is the beginning of a new adventure for me, I've never blogged before. I want to be connected to other fiber artists and I have been so inspired by other blogs, especially India Flint and Lori Lawson.  As I sat spinning yesterday I thought of many things.  It is so meditative for me and as I watched the web of fibers turn to beautiful yarn I thought of what a wonderful metaphor spinning is--to spin a connection to my inner world while producing something useful and beautiful for the outer world. In sharing my progress in spinning, dyeing, knitting and weaving I hope to also spin connections to others doing the same work.