Finally, I have a section of my new workspace set up enough to do some work! The Project is ongoing but I pulled out some ecoprints that didn’t hold up on their own but made a great backdrop to do some ink painting on. I certainly need more practice at using the sumi-e ink on fabric. It’s a whole different ballgame than it is on paper.You can’t really call it sumi-e because it’s definitely not done with one brush stroke – it took more than that for the ink to penetrate the fabric. It could be that I hadn’t washed out the mordants so it may have been the culprit, but these will be good to do some thread painting on and see what happens. Just waiting on an order of Isacord thread before I can give it a go. I’d love to her from you if you have any experience with this process and if you have any tips for me.
My generous friend, Yvette, gifted me with tons of what she called fabric scraps but there were many bags of silk remnants, some quite large pieces left over from making her gorgeous silk scarves that you can see here. They’re all sorted and in plastic bins. I’ll start washing those out and give it a try on some of those.
I also began a sewing project using some of the wool I ecoprinted this year. I made a basic pattern shape for a short tunic but I’m adjusting as I go along. I have to steal the time for these efforts in between my endless cleaning. I’m not much of a seamstress, though, so I really have to focus on what I’m doing for this.
Any of you have a pattern like this? I’m not at all sure that what I’m doing will actually be wearable! Hopefully, I’ll soon find out.
Turtlemoon Impressions 
The sumi-e ink looks quite successful to me. The lack of sharp edges makes it blend with the eco prints.
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Thanks Madalene! The magic of sumi-e technique of brush painting with ink on paper is the freshness of applying the ink in one brush stroke without going over it, which didn’t work here. One stroke left almost no ink to penetrate the fabric. I had to go back in as with our ordinary western style of painting, which ends up not being sumi-e at all. But I’ll keep trying as I eek out more time.
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