Roadside Rose experiments....

When on a gallery trip with a friend, we pulled up at a roadside stall, selling bunches of Roses. There, in the wet grass nearby, were stacks o discarded leaf trimmings! Merrily I gathered handfulls! Roses are so evocative of healing (and kick ass protection), especially of the heart chakra, and I felt in combination with Eucalyptus she could evoke the layering of birthplace land, and witchery traditions. Also matching the rambling wild Rose I've managed to grow from cuttings in our garden. The mother plant of whom I adore, and who I have wild crafted tinctures from for a number of years. So, I knew Rose could touch in exquisite n unexpected ways...

Driving home with the scent of 2 bunches of old school Rose flowers, divine!

Once back at the Nook, I popped the leaves in a bucket to soak, and began to stitch a top slash jackety thang. With cotton, linen, wool and silk parts to see how they took on different materials. It was the first experiment! Admittedly. I got a lil excited and didn't wait to allow the bundle to cool in the pot till the following morning. So, the results could have perhaps been darker, if'n I had. However as unexpected things sometimes do, the soft colours delighted me (picture from back)...

I could see the leaves could produce a green on the wool and silk, a black /grey on linen /cotton. :) So I proceeded to begin to craft an emerging 'Soul skin shawl' for the Hedgewitch in one. This time waiting till the following morning to unfurl....

Mushcat n I both meditated on the results, indeedy. Now, the stitchin' begins....

 

 

Allowing a proposal to brew....

I'm currently working towards an exhibition proposal, some processes of which, have been slightly interupted by the great sending of humanity to their rooms my Mother Earth. Other aspects have been greatly booned by this pause, ie. the makings themselves. It's a bit like working a spell, containing the energy, allowing it to build and then releasing it's energies out into the world....

We live in an age of social media, that shows and shares our, sometimes daily, existence with those who choose to engage in the ethernet. I made the call to withdraw from such arenas several months ago, it wasn't a hard call really, twas doin' my head in at the time, but as the crescendo builds I'm itching to share what I've been working upon these months, and will be in the next to come. The same desire for a sense of community that led me to give Instagram a try, calls me. Yet, there's magic in patience, secrets n mystery. This is what I hope to preserve and allow to soak, mayhap even ferment a little, by holding off....

My assistant / familiar, whilst watching over procedures, is encouraging me to be the witness to these feelings (as she is to the practicalities). Take a deep breath, and continue to dye n stitch quietly, for the love of. Tis a practice in and of itself. Aaaahh wise teacher....

I have shared with my family n circles close, it's inevitable. Their encouragement and posativity have urged me onwards, thanks folks....

I am a crafter n maker. Have been since a little one….

 

 

There are parallel themes of creativity, and connection to nature, especially Australian plants, in my family, on both sides.….

My maternal Grandmother, Bea’s, garden was a blend of both Australian natives, and English cottage plantings, in a manner years before her time. As was the Native Tree Preservation Society she helped establish to protect coastal Tea tree vegetation near her home in Beaumaris, Victoria. It’s still going strong.

My paternal Grandmother, Alice, was a gatherer of clothing she would tantalisingly reveal to me on visits. Cupboards of Victorian lace, and museum quality costume pieces. Upon retiring, she promptly created a crafting room ‘down the garden’, where she made mysterious things happen. Paper from recycled phone books n plants, pressed dried flowers, patchworked, sewed. A ‘she shed’.

My Mum, Diana, is a Landscape Architect now turned peasant, nomad n watercolourist, with a deeply ingrained passion for Australian plants. My Dad, Julian was a Television director, who made, amongst other programs, the insightful and far ahead of its time ‘Babakiueria’ a role reversal of who were the indigenous folk In Australia, he was also an avid ‘Mr Fixit’. Fella’s crafting.

In my own life, the act of creating has led me into several tangents over the years, remaining a sturdy tree under whose shade to nourish, in a not unchallenging life.

During the last few years, the path I currently walk, usually ambling barefoot, has emerged and developed….

In my current works, and this proposal, I am stretching my wee wings and finding my own ways. Experimenting with hand sewing with intention, what I am coming to call ‘witchin’ stitchin’. Upcycling scavenged / foundling clothes n fabrics into other forms in a kind of metamorphosis. Then bundling them with a mix of gathered /windfall leaves and boiling them in a cauldron, thus colouring them with 'plant echoes’.

This exhibition would be my first, and I do hope to begin from this place…..

Ecodye explorations and stitching experiments....

So, heylo folks! Have been pretty quiet of late on blogging front, for all my massive following, hee hee. There are several reasons. My beloved is now a Cancer survivor and that whole journey has required much of us. Blessings on his healing recovery....

Creatively, I have been immersed in my botanical dyeing, and making along these lines. So much to share! Mostly, with the dyeing, or 'bundling' I have learned, I have been experimenting with the scribbly gums that grow locally. They give a blue /black/ purple coloration depending on fabric thickness, and mordants. I work mostly with op shop finds, cottons and linens generally. Now the word is spreading, and requests, and clothes are coming.

 These trousers were for a friend, JC, who once I offered to dye her something, appeared with two pair!

The above was a fine cotton mini skirt, (not very me) with two layers of fabric, which I cut the waistband off, and then hand stitched the two pieces together to form a longer skirt (more me). Added a new elastic, a la abundant belly, waistband and now I'm happy :). My wardrobe is an evolving thang it seems, not many synthetics left anymore.

I also needs be share this wee singlet for Miles granddaughter, Grace, just cos its so leetle! Noting as I look at that pic, I'm developing rather interesting fingernails with all this ecodye!

I made a shirt n dress for my dear Mum, and frock for my Aunt Marian (first pic) which included a florists bunch of what is increasingly hard to get heart shaped leaf Eucalyptus which isn't the one where the leaf is directly connected to the main stem. Some 'reality' tv show featured them as a wedding bouquet, and they're nigh impossible to source now, combine that and the drought! Who'd a thought rare gum leaves!

The above frock, I think because of the strong browns of the mordant appears as if some ancient ceremonial or ritual robe from times gone by. I did enjoy the look of the separate leaves round the neckline!

Oh and I mustn't forget my making chair, (scuse the very unstyled power cordage spaghetti!) which I've begun reupholstering in a very ad lib fashion, with bits n bobs from my learning curve with all these marvelous processes! Gawd I have been rather immersed!

Its been a wonderful journey of discovery! Guided by my enrolling in India Flints 'Conscious Clothing' course some months back now. She is an inspiration! Very down to earth, and encouraging of going slowly. Love a bit o humble pie in amazingly talented folks. Are we not all gifted in eachs own ways?

Well, thats probably enough said and shared for now! Ha! Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and good vibes, ChloeOpal

Those Scribbly Gum leaves find their way to the Dye pot....

If you mayhaps read my previous post, you will have seen wordology referring to the call of gathering Scribbly Gum leaves, for L plate experiments with 'eco dyeing' cotton fabrics? Well, those leaves soaked for nigh on two weeks, and were joined by a variety of others, as the local electricity company were rather kindly trimming around their precious wires! I was terribly chaotic, no species labeling, just memory of tree n leaf shapes and locations. Then this morning I felt the time had come, aka I was busting at the seams, to try and see how things unfolded. So I lay out the variety of leaves with a sigh...

This time I had added a 'premordant' to the preparation of the fabric. Bits n bobs of rusty joy brewed away in a jar of white vinegar, which I then diluted with ordinary ol tap water, and dipped said cotton in. Allowing it to dry, n cure a whiles. I had rather pale tea like, still lovely, nothing wrong with a cup o tea, type results last time around. I was hoping the mordanting, not sure if that word exists, could deepen my colours, and mayhaps result in a leaf imprint here or there.

So I laid my mix o leaves out like an abstract painting, n bundled, to maketh ready for the cauldron, with my Spirit kin Moraig dancing a wee jig o glee beside me. So excitingk, and a wee bit ad hoc. The soundtrack was 'The Isle of Roan Inish' mixed with several disco tunes. I feel this helped proceedings.

I wasn't looking at my pot with a lid whilst folding n rolling, hence I found they were too long! Bum! However, fear not my friends, the local tip shop had regaled me with a larger one, lidless but sized perfectly! I reread my references, and decided to cover the wee wool bound rolls o magik with water n boil em, rather than steaming. See how that goes...

I added some Lichen, carefully collected and Australia posted to me by my Mum, and some Cronewort from the garden, for her sheer presence n blessings, to the water. Turned up the unwooded hearthfire and off we go journeyers! What will happen in those potently intentioned waters that smell like walking in a forest???

Oh the joy!! They worked!! Leaf prints n all. My beloved who had been wondering quietly at the buckets of soaking leaves, oohed and aaahhed appreciatively. The shots are taken when freshly unbundled, so the colours lightened some as the fabrics dried but big learning curve from my first attempt. Stoked! The skirt I dyed,which doubles as a dress has barely left my body :)....

References:

'Eco Colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles' by India Flint, Murdoch Books, 2008.

'Gum Leaf Alchemy: Eco printing on Cotton' by Louise Upshall, Gumnut Magic.

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!