Making Iron mordant potion n suchnesses....

This brew is one way to crank up the alchemy of work with Eucalyptus and indeed other green folks in creating Plant echoes / Ecodye. Making it is simple, the results from its addition can be beautiful, however don’t expect predictable from this form, that’s not really part of its character. Exploring and play, are….

Take a gathering o rusty objects and pop em in a jar. I have been using a stash of bits from an old thick reinforced water tank that came from a special bushland area, so it’s vibes are part of the story. I popped em in a jar and then filled the remaining space with white vinegar. Yup, the cheap kind that makes your face screw up to taste it.

Allow this to brew for about month is best, but 2 weeks will do.

I add a splash o this to leaves that are soaking in preparation to dye or to the cauldron water to amp things up. Often, I then use some o the soaking brew as the base in my dye pot when cooking bundles or loose fabrics to colour them. How much is a splash I hear some o you ask? A bit be my reply lovelies, I simply don’t work that way. Make a batch and try, see what happens for you. I will say, I soak leaves at least 2 weeks prior generally, and am not stingy with potion added to them, 1-2 cups or so. This combination is what I believe gives stronger colours and clearer prints, mostly working with wools, but also linens and cottons. It can weaken fabrics over time, so work to find your own levels with the mordant you make.

It can also be used to mordant plant fibre fabrics, but can result in a brown streaking effect or stained necklines if not dried flat, or too much is used. Less is enough in this case, talking tablespoon/s here. In this case second hand, or third, fabrics are best. New fabrics have all kinds of 'seals' on them.

Some batches are stronger than others, there’s variation. Once you have a sturdy source of rust, you should get several brews from that, simply by topping up the vinegar in the jar, once you’ve used it up. The best ones have colouration in them, you can see it’s changed and is ready to use.

Injoy!

Gifting ourselves soul nourishments.....

Sometimes we hold off on gifting ourselves soul nourishments, perhaps whilst what is needed clarifies, like sediment dropping in water....

Today in these wee hours, I went to a box that contains my craftings of a textile nature, and decisively lifted out the shawl that I hand dyed and stitched some months ago now. Reverantly, feeling a bit like a naughty child too, I wrapped around me the piece that I had earmarked for well, something 'special'. It came to me like a whisper, the idea. It's for you...to wear...to wrap around this bodyhome....

Now seated here, cat Nomad upon my lap, purring merrily, it feels good, and right. We both are injoying its Eucalyptyness in a way a bought item could rarely story. That confirmed it for me, this feeling is a touch of magic. Like the first unfurled bundle that offered up colours that stay to eyes open and curious. That skirt the prints of leaves echoed upon that I wore to threadbareness...

For the next 3 weeks n on, I will lovingly wear this cloak as a journey map. Soul highvis wear. Less oh & s or fluro, more maintaining sanity vibe. It's my mantra to continue the crafts that created it, whether I get saves on my Pinterest or not. If my Etsy store has 1 piece or pages. It's really not relevant, except if'n it brings passers by such as yourself an iota o da joy I receive. It's a life call. To dye n stitch, garden, cook, herbalise, love n laugh. Practice what I consider my witchery in honour of it's existance. Cos without it I'd be pickled in a bottle full time, or blue as indigo in not such a beautyway.

The world of fast fashion is all about appearances, shallow and destructive to the planet in it's practices. It bores me, basically with it's lack of connection to anything I consider 'real'. How can I criticise tho, without creating some other tangent and maintain any sense of authenticity? So, as I continue along an ambling paced path, I will dig my heels in deeper. Immerse more....dive deeper....

 

May you also be open to whatever nourishes your soul in the now, wee hours or otherwise ;).

Blessings n good vibes

Spirit upon granite country, and the glorious colours o Gum tips....

 Some moving pictures gathered like leaves, one very much so, on funky camping trip with dear friends and fella. Queensland granite belt country, exposed bedrock n waterhole trails. Feeling quiet, so I'll leave wordage in the now.... 

Thread doodles experimenting n' you just never know what'll come out o' the cauldron.....

Around about 4pm, I can find myself twitchy for something to occupy the beverage part of my brain. Don't own a tv, no Netfix. So, in the spirit o crafting, I have begun some 'thread doodles'. Playfully using simple stitches, they're a way for the hands to dance stuff away. Whilst in the same breath, practicality wise, exploring how to reinforce buttonholes sturdily....

 I do love a story, tis true. It's part of what I enjoy about plant echoes, foundling preloved fabrics, remembering leaves n nuts origins, in place n time. The combination of stitching with ecodye, acknowledges n creates a layering. Said example being the case of thread doodles. Some o the leave used to colour these, were from a tree I helped plant. Now in spirit, due to latter day renovations by latter day dwellers. The leaves didn't actually print super clear n neato mosquito, but their vibe is present. A resonance from that tree who is no more....

Also, I unfurled them hot, after 2 hours cooking, not awaiting overnight cooling, because I had a visit from a mate from high school and I wanted to share it with Soph. She lives in a land, relatively, far far away and rarely gets to see what I've literally been immersed in. Now when I look at them I will think to, and of her...

 

Several stories emerged from the cauldron this brewing. Another piece popped in was a baby blanket, once the comforter n warmer of my cousin, Clea. Sewn together by her mum Marian for her, from a piece of woolen blanket, edged with Liberty fabric and colourfull Indian cotton. Evocative in my lineage, both. 

Now I'll be honest, I'm not a scientific or mathematical type, like my bro. My dyeing is slightly feral round the edges at times. Accuracy n finite measurements, nope not really. Splash o iron potion, soak leaves till ready to go ahead. I do jot some things in my diary, when I remember, mordant begun dates, leaves harvested this date, began soaking here. An example is today's leaves were from a variety of windfalls, some familiar trees, others not. Some printed, others didn't. Variables. It's just my way....

Back to the blanket. I didn't mordant the cotton edges n backing, thought I'd just see what happened. I used some of that ex-Lemon scented gum (Corymbia citriodora) and wasn't sure what the result would be. Great shapes, blacks, greys n browns. The cotton got leaf prints, mayhap from the sheer previous use n age of the piece? 

There were wrinkles n wrunkles, know the feeling!

Clarissa Pinkola Estes has on her study wall, words along the lines of "Perfection is the enemy of done". Sometimes you just have to begin n see what happens! Take the above photo, it's not perfection, questionable it's Instagram worthy, yet it illustrates the story. As she speaks of herself as a writer, I could also be that skeleton at the typewriter, gone before the work is begun. Mayhap waiting for the aha moment of the perfect blog post! That's not to say I don't devote myself to developing skill n mastery in that which I choose to engage with, I do, and have. I simply believe there's a place for process based intentional living. 'She'll be right' n 'give it a go'....

As the Moon wanes, the cauldron brew I used today was over a month old. Possibly preserved by it's vinegar content, yet black as the night. So, I ended up with a pretty witchy crew of pieces! Not the clear reds and oranges on cream backgrounds of some previous batches, but beautiful all, in their own ways. 

 

Go the diversity! It's gonna happen anyways (I hope) may as well go with and injoy it. In creating and culture, conformity has never been a favorite. Best sign off for now, before I get on said soap box....