Friday, June 26, 2015

LOWS AND HIGHS OF ECO-PRINT DYEING

What a couple of days I just enjoyed.....fabulous fun!!  Along with two buddies, I spent a couple of days along the SC shore near Charleston in the pursuit of learning the secrets of eco-print dyeing. I'll share much more in the days that follow....but because I'm totally pooped, this overview will be brief.
 Armed with pages and pages of guidelines from the Internet (all lacking specific step-by steps), a car full of supplies, and great enthusiasm.....we began. One of our first tasks was to gather foliage/flower heads to print. 
 .......Which were arranged on a piece of pre-mordant fabric. 

 .....Then rolled around wood rods and tied into a bundle.  Our first bundles were placed in a steamer and left to cook for about 2 hours.
 Honestly, we could hardly contain ourselves as we opened the bundles, expecting colorful prints of the leaves and flowers.  WHAT?!?!  Nothing....we got big fat nothings.  
Well...some had a tiny bit of color....the majority of what you see here is the remains of the plant/flowers...stuck to the fabric.....geesh.  Our disappointment was pretty extreme.  How come this didn't work???
So, the next morning we were up bright and early, determined to try again and save what we had already printed (or not printed as was the case).  With trial and error and a lot of ingenuity......at the end of our time together....this is what I came home with.......stay with me.....I'll go through all the drama after a good nights sleep.

See what others have been creating this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Whoop, Whoop, Fridays, Crazy Mom Quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts.

7 comments:

Ramona said...

That had to be disappointing, but I am sure you will create something wonderful.. even from your disappointments.

quiltedfabricart said...

What a great time you must have had! Collecting all the bits is half the fun of it :-) can't wait to find out your "secret" I tried Eco bundling once putting my bundle under a slow dripping faucet for 3 weeks. Had mixed results. Your bounty looks pretty good.

Norma Schlager said...

I have also tried eco-dyeing with disappointing results. I remember using choke berries that are this gorgeous shade of fuchsia and I got nothing. But I'm sure you had a fun day anyway with friends.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Good to know I'm not the only one this sort of thing happens to. I hate it when a technique is portrayed one way & my results come nowhere close! But it looks like you solved the mystery - looking forward to seeing how.

Maggi said...

It looks like you eventually produced some great results.

Angela said...

I think you got some interesting pieces to use.

margaret said...

so interesting what you are doing here, I have also been following http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.co.uk/ who is doing lots of dyeing using leaves etc, thought you might like to check her out too.