Fungi and Mushroom Dyeing

For a while I have been thinking about dyeing with fungi and lichens.

 When the fairy rings appeared in the lawn I took it as a sign.

Fairy Ring Mushroom (Marasmius oreacles)

My mushroom book says they are edible but doesn't mention anything about their dye potential.

I scraped a variety of lichens off the old alder trees.

Dead branches from the Big Leaf Maple host colonies of lichens that I added to my collection.

I also have a bag of windfall lichens, mosses and fungi collected on my morning walks.

Now, how do I go about dyeing with them?

Next step is to do some Internet research.

Down to the Bog

I am trying some more dyeing in the environment. 

First I pre-mordanted a wool blanket in alum and cream of tarter but I'm not sure I had to do that.

Then I headed outside, negotiated the right distance to walk around this family without being attacked, and went on into the forest...

...down to the bog.

 I dropped the blanket into the water...

...and stomped on it.

The idea is to leave it for up to a year with occasional liftings to oxidise what is going on.

It is an old Scandinavian technique for getting shades of black on wool.

How to sit correctly in front of the computer

The Bridesmaid and the Bead

There will be a family wedding this summer. Older daughter is the bride and younger daughter is a bridesmaid. We found the bridesmaid dress. It has a beautiful  hand beaded, flowing design all over it.

But there is a problem - I counted 71 places where the beads have come off.

 The bridesmaid pointed out the problem to the cashier and got a further discount on the price then confidently said her mother could fix it. 

I looked at the little pack of extra beads attached to the dress's tag. 

Hmmm, not enough for the repairs.

There are 4 different beads in the mix. 

I went into my bead stash. No matches. 

I didn't realise my bead stash was so inadequate.

I spied this beaded place mat under a plant pot and found 2 of the beads in it. The dress has priority. The place mat will just be a little smaller when I have finished. 

Oh dear, now I have to go to a bead store to find the 2 missing beads. 

The things I will do for my children! 

Pattern Design: Linear Patterns

In the 2nd lesson of 'Pattern Design for Artists' we begin exploring linear repeating patterns.

After making a quick stamp to trial a design we used it to make 1 dimensional patterns.

The above image shows the set up for printing as I was taught by Eleanor Hannan  www.eleanorhannan.com. It is such an efficient way to stamp, paint-wise and time-wise. Thank you Eleanor for so generously sharing your knowledge. 

Elisha is developing designs based on the geometric shapes of buildings.

Sarah is working with natural patterns on rocks.

Connie is developing hummingbird based designs.

The assignment was to produce 20 different repeating patterns with their 1st design.

Teaching at Victoria College of Art

I spent 2 days getting the Victoria College of Art's Lower Studio ready for teaching in this spring term.

This is the before shot.

Day 2 my well-trained assistant set up the print tables.

All ready for "Pattern Design for Artists"

I enjoy teaching this course because there are always great discoveries to be made.

Auction House Lot- Finland Arabia, Russian plate, textiles

There was a collection of other things in the box I won at the auction.

A large printed table cloth and 2 plates....

One is a rather lovely painted, wooden plate from Russia (I'm guessing) and a Finnish Arabia plate, produced between 1971 and 1975.

...and this odd assortment.

These crocheted kitchen items were made using interesting techniques.

There was a collection of airline cutlery, most of the airlines now defunct. The previous owner appears to have had plans to polish all of the 'silver.' Yah for plastic airline cutlery, unless one likes 'polishing the silver.'

And that is it - all for $5!

Auction house Treasures cont.

The 3rd treasure I spied in the box at the auction was this neatly worked Russia icon-like embroidery on a cloth hemmed at one end and torn at the other.

(detail)

The 4th treasure was this Chinese silk jacket which is reversible.

It has lots of lovely details like these hand-made frog closures.

It needed a gentle wash before it could be worn so it was lowered into a warm bath with Orvus paste.

I was a little concerned the colours might run so I added a couple of Colour Catcher sheets to the bath.

Wouldn't you know it - the red was the fugitive, but surprisingly little excess dye came out.

The jacket is now lying on a towel in the boiler room drying. 

It sounds as though this jacket is at a spa.

I'll show you pictures of its new owner wearing it, once I have delivered it

Auction House Treasures

I had a successful bid at Kilshaw's auction house this week.

In a cardboard box I had my eye on 4 textiles in particular - this NW Indian shisha embroidery.

It is not as fine as one I already have in my collection but it is in very good condition and I like that the pieces haven't been cut out for the garment yet.

The 2nd textile is this large linen pillow case. The linen is fine but still surprisingly heavy.

It doesn't look much at the present but once it is laundered and ironed it will look beautiful.

There is pulled thread work around the edge and in each corner with a satin stitch floral motif.

I'll show it again once it is laundered.

Synesthesia #7 Aqua Green

I collected up the fabric and made a decision on the value range.

The layers of fabric were stacked lightest to darkest and the energy lines of this colour sewn on the back of the ground.

Then the cutting started.

Several hours later.

It is coming along quite nicely but there is still a lot of cutting back to do.

Cut back applique is one of my favourite techniques because it always has surprises, and some 'oops.'

Synesthesia #6 Blue Green

Making another in the Synesthesia series.

The sample looks right though the ground could do with a little more stabilising.

Coming along.

That ground is still wrinkling up a bit with the intensive stitching and changes in direction.

I am using strips cut from my collection of silk blouses. 

Lightweight silks can be warmed with the fingers and easily manipulated.

Sampling

While spring cleaning I gathered up all of the wool threads from pre-owned kits I had collected, having taken the fabric out for other projects.

I also looked again at a collection of fulled knit fabric that has been waiting patiently for me.

Donna Clement  http://donnaclement.blogspot.ca/ and I had dyed then knit then fulled bags of chunky yarns then we split up the results.

Several months ago I had bought Gail Callahan's Color Grid http://colorgrid.net/ and wanted to try it.

I put all 3 things together with scissors and a needle and stuffed them into a bag for a 'To Go' project.

While on a road trip I stitched.

It has possibilities.

Donna, have you done anything with your half?

The Spring Clean Continues

Sorting threads and yarns into 24 colour hues. Each pile gets put in its own bin.

The stage where things look worse before they start looking better.

I kept pinning pieces to my design wall to give me time to think about them.

A few new projects came out of this airing.

Sorting all of my precious laundered domestic linens.

There was great satisfaction in getting this resource shelf reorganised.

After I had washed the floor, I felt the spring-cleaning urge subside.

Now back to work.