Art Meets Chemistry

January 4, 2014 was the first day of 3 workshops taught by Irit Dulman that I was fortunate to attend.
We created a felted garment from silk and fine merino fiber and then did botanical printing.
Enjoy a few close up view of the pieces I created.

Felting with Judith Colvin

Took a felting class taught by Judith Colvin last week and made this bag. Judith lives in Montana and comes to California every year in January, she taught me to felt three years ago, she's a great teacher, and a really generous person. She raises Bluefaced Leicester sheep, their wool was used for this bag. A photo I took on one of my weekly hikes was my inspiration. It had a simple shadow of a branch and I liked the white lines on the dark ground.
  

Eco Dye

Finished Hankies

Dyed with pre reduced Indigo

Blackberry, each took the color differently.

Dyeing Vintage Hankies

Light on the linen

More vintage linens to dye 

This technique is called mokume shibori (wood grain)

Dyeing to make Green

Green is likely my favorite color. I used peach leaves
and wrapped this silk dupioni around a copper pipe.
Dying started on Friday and the unveiling occurred in Arnold
Thanks Maureen for photographing this.

Green coloring show here was achieved
because it was next to the copper pipe.
Eucalyptus acted more like a resist.

Tried steaming instead of submerging the bundle. Steamed for two hours.

This is the dress I made with this fabric.

The purple patches were a perfect match.

Back detail

Dyeing with Passion Fruit

Fabric used for this is a silk wool blend purchased from Thai Silks. Eucalyptus leaves from Pescadero, picked up on the side of the road near Harley Farms Goat Diary. Also, used some rose leaves from my garden. The dye bath is made up of passion fruit from my yard. I used this rusty old pot that I picked up at a junk yard. Leaves were presoaked a previous dye bath to soften them a bit. I clamped the folded bundle between two copper squares with "metal monster clips" and then tied it with string. The bundle was immersed in the bath for two hours, simmering. Let sit overnight before opening.