Some natural dye stuff

I'm doing my best to do as much as I can in natural dye as possible this semester. Most specifically, I'm using natural dyes in my thesis work, predominately weaving, and the work I am doing for my Surface Resist and Dye class.

This is my studio right before Thanksgiving Break. My natural dye plaid is on the wall, as well as my new set of supplemental weft (tapestry) weavings for an upcoming competition. The blue and green weaving is the second of my sister set (void) weavings.


This is the first of my sister set-- intentionally weaving holes (voids) into the cloth, until the weaving becomes about the construction of voids and how light and color interact due to the holes in the cloth and the cloth's transparency.


This is a detail of the second sister (void) weaving.


Printing and painting with natural dyes:


These two panels of silk are printed exactly the same with the same dyes. Their mordants are different, however, resulting in the differences in color. On the left it is mordanted with alum, on the right oxilic acid (beet leaves).


Natural Dye Painting with a Iron Oxide Mordant




For my next project, I'm using the painting and printing techniques I learned from this last project to do warp painting on bamboo yarn. It's the next sister weaving, thinner yarn, more transparency, distinctive voids like the second weaving. I'm using turmeric, logwood, and henna to paint the warp. I'm planning to use henna, walnut, turmeric, and possibly sandalwood/alkanet (other pale reds and purples) for the weft yarn. I've been adding "static" (inlay) in the form of wool yarn on the other two, but wool may be just too much for this one, so I may just go for 5/2 cotton walnut I've got (or maybe the indigo/turmeric green 10/2 bamboo I've got-- interruption in color rather than in visual regularity or uniformity).