Scribbly gums, scar tissue and beauty therein...

A few days ago, my beloved and I set out on foot, basket and secateurs in hand, to gather Eucalyptus leaves for my fledgling experiments with 'eco dyeing'. These words coming from the title of a book on plant dyeing I recently borrowed from the local library, by the inspiring India Flint. Specificly on colouring fabric using plants and minimal toxic mordants (fixatives). Eucalyptus species, especially those with leaves o a blueish tint, she discovered work pretty good without 'mordants' on protein fibres, like wool and silk. Of course, I chose to work with cotton! That'd be right. Ha! The tale of preparing cellulose fibre is mayhaps for another time, but began with me swimming in the ocean with 3 metres of unbleached cotton and numerous doilies from the op shop 3 weeks earlier...

Back to ambling with a basket in hand towards local bushlands. We were heading along a path into a deeper part of the Scribbly Gum forest, (so called because of the 'writing' created by small grubs under and upon the bark). I began to notice that those blueish tint leaves, were all way up high in the canopy, beyond reach. However, I recalled a patch nearby, who's form was a more scrambling nature. So we reversed, and made our wending way towards the area. We entered what is a relatively close to suburban realms place. Here the trees have had their cores burnt by bush fire several times, yet regrown around these wounds, and continued to live. In one of the holes created in a trunk by this scarring, we were greeted by a special sight....

A cluster of orchids! Beings who had found their niche, literally amid scar tissue. In a world where for us people, life requires navigating challenges, these Cryptostylis erecta, otherwise less formally known as 'Bonnet Orchids' or 'Tartan Toungue Orchids' had discovered their groove. Sprouting where ants had carried a kind of fine saw dusty soil and moisture collected, upon the dead tissue. It felt like an affirmation, a gift. Keep going you two, you never know what you'll find, or where the trail will lead!

Merrily, I collected my fresh gum leaves, some with nuts, and dried windfall from the ground. I took them home and proceeded to boil n steam up my first pieces of bundled cotton fabric, wrapped upon copper pipe. The results were fairly pale greens and browns, darker where copper touched, but I love them, because they are a start! It's a learning curve. I have some idea's of how to deepen the colours, mayhaps even get some clear leaf prints furthur along. I have rusty iron bits n bobs brewing in white vinegar in a glass jar as I type. An ' iron mordant' said to help with these processes. I am definitely on my L plates, but what delightful diversions along the journey! Seems we stumbled upon both surprise orchids, and for me, another way of engaging with the magic of plants!