Next Step On The Learning Curve

Yesterday got by me without posting, so here I am on a Saturday! Here in New England the sun is shining again and it’s supposed to warm up by this afternoon, so I’m hoping to get outdoors for a bit today, maybe get in a photo shoot.

Although I have been working on some textile art pieces as well as some earrings, I can’t seem to stop myself from eco-printing – it’s definitely an addiction! I added an ingredient to my bag of tricks and it stepped it up for me in terms of getting the best color yet! It’s calcium carbonate, aka chalk. After mordanting this piece of raw silk with alum , then soy milk, I soaked them in sea water overnight, then in chalk water – viola! The most intense color to date.

Some of the eucalyptus turned blue but some, a different euc and seeds turned a deep orange. Some of the eucalyptus was presoaked in vinegar water, others in iron water. I’m not certain but I think the blue was influenced by the iron water and the orange a product of the vinegar water.

The yellow is from a first dyebath in sunflower dye.

Not the best photo, but here’s a sample of one of my new earrings using some of the DSP (deconstructed screen printed) fabric from this summer’s batch.More pics soon.