Eco-Dyeing on Paper Play Day

I recently had a play day in my studio with eco-dyeing on paper.  I'd just returned home from running weekend workshops in Bundaberg (4 hours north of Brisbane), and had some left over red cabbage, so I decided not to waste it and have some brewing fun.

Using the red cabbage / alum / copper sulphate mix, I achieved some lovely results.  I collected some eucalypt leaves from my local park, but also tried a few plants from my garden.

I'll use the resulting eco-prints to make notebooks to sell at markets later this year.  I also intend to make a concertina artist book with the large pieces.

Eucalypt leaves

My stash of rusty metal bits

The brew - I cut up the red cabbage and put it into a laundry
bag to get the colour started. I removed the bag before dyeing
to make space for my bundles.
And it looks purple, but dyes blue/green/grey.

Making a bundle.
My technique is usually stuff in as much as you can,
but I decided to be a bit more conservative!

My bundles ready to go into the pot.
  I use large 'paddle-pop' sticks (also known as tongue depressers I think?)
and rubber bands.  I sometimes use tiles and clips but
that takes up too much room in the pot.

 

After 45 minutes simmering and maybe a bit of 'sitting' time,
I remove my bundles from the brew to cool before I unwrap them.
Patience is the key!

Unbundling - the best part of the process!

I love the dark marks that the rusty bottletop has made.
It contrasts really well with the brew colour (greeny/blue/grey)
and the leaf print.

The prints lighten as they darken -this one is still wet.
The purples lightened somewhat but still a beautiful print.

Wonderful marks and moody darks.

A clear leaf print.  The advantage of the cabbage brew
is that the brew colour doesn't dominate
like an iron brew (my favourite).

Lots of prints for notebooks.
Might be hard to part with them though!

My unique fashion label

Last week I had the dye pot out doing some eco-dyeing on cotton t-shirts.  Great fun! Then the second stage was monoprinting leaves onto the shirts.  Below are photos of the printing in progress and the finished shirts.

Revealing the monoprint, using dwarf banksia leaves

Printing using 'interesting' gum leaves - lots of holes makes for
a print with character!

The finished shirt and gum leaves after printing

The banksia t-shirt finished

And then I used the same gum leaves to do some monoprints on paper, here are a couple of the resulting prints.  I've titled them 'Where I meet the Earth'.  The prints reminded me of looking down at decaying leaf litter on a rainforest floor - perhaps one of those memorable occasions when I'm checking my hiking boots for leeches!   ;-)