A visit to Gair Park

Windfalls collected

Bundling and Layering watercolour paper and cloth

Into the dye pot which had been simmering with leaves, bark and resin collected from the parks gutters

Out of the dye pot to dry. 

The colours change over time as the dyestuff oxidises

The final results on paper

Rust and Leaves

I think that this is my favourite ecodye so far. Wool dyed with eucalyptus windfalls via steaming. The red dye from the leaves is substantive, a chemical reaction between the protein of the wool fibres and the chemicals in the leaves. The rust creates a black permanent stain in a similar reaction.

Scraps from an old bunch of flowers left at a bus stop.

I've been experimenting with a scrap of silk and a few leaves that came to me via extra decoration in a bunch of flowers. The leaves where slightly purple and I suspected some sort of commercial dye given their sheen.

After 2 Hours of steaming this was the result, the natural pigments intermingling with whatever they were soaked in to create their lustre.

One of the things I love about the ecodye technique is that every piece is unique, each one an unsuspected gift of colour.

Wanderings

After the fire

A patch of bush land that was recently burnt off in preparation for summer. Ash will soon turn to green sprouts and new leaves. The girls are collecting charcoal for making potions and paint in the back yard with mortar and pestle and buckets of rain water.

The Burning of the Vines

A night of celebration at the local winery.

Cat snuggles

Gifts from the playground

Small treasures

These tiny beautiful lichen are grey and faded until the rain, then they start to shine beautiful greens against the stones and leaves.

Comfort day

Post knee injury, before surgery, in need of comfort, I found shelter at one of my favourite

cafes.

Rain in a rain shadow.

It's been raining, cool soaking rain that enriches the smell of leaf litter, that turns the mid summer temperatures from unbearable to delightful.

It has inspred damp bush walks, a delight in the soaked textures and patterns and colours of every day things. Books have been read, the sewing pile sorted, difficult weeds in the garden have been pulled with ease.

This weather is my bliss.

Frogs are calling from the bath tub pond, hurredy submerging when they see me. The pond is filled with wet area edible herbs like thai curry leaf and cardomon leaf as well as beautiful iris and lillypad flowers. Small native fish patrol its borders, ever on the look out for freshly laid mosquito larvae.

The ground around the tub has been planted with beautiful ribbon like lamandra grasses and wild running sweet potate vines. Weeds pop up here and there, often pulled out for the dinner plate or the chickens.

We have a fox, I heard her stalking the garden last night, looking for a way into the chooks safe sancturary. Shes already taken 6. Four on the first night. Two more on seperate nights when I'd thought their area secure enough. Now she paces in frustration before spying me and becoming a dark shadow racing into the moonshade.

I love this weather, it is what makes enduring the sweaty heat of summer bearable. As the rain becomes thicker I'll head in side to dry off, warm up and reach for my sewing pile or watercolours.