It is that time of year. Walnut husks are soaking and stewing to coax out their delicious brown color. A couple of dozens of green husks were left to soak for two days, and then boiled for two hours. Only linen and paper went into the pot this time, which means more mocha than dark chocolate hues. I tried a bit of shibori – soy beans wrapped and tied and some pulled running stitches. The fabric received two half-hour sessions in the dye pot, with alternating dips in the alum mordant solution. Then it was left in the dye overnight.
The paper, layered with rust colored dogwood leaves was folded and clamped between two wooden boards. They were left barely simmering in the pot for about 2 hours and then dried overnight. The marks from the leaves, and the dark edges from the dye is just magical. Sigh. I also love how the wood was stained by the walnut color.
Oooo-wee, girl, I love those greys!
ReplyDeleteHeather
Beautiful color. What type of paper did you use?
ReplyDeletewow, this is terrific
ReplyDeleteits amazing ..so beauty filled ..
ReplyDeleteThose colours have such depth. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful. I'm really enjoying dyeing paper this way too. I love those dark marks on the edges, almost like it's been burnt.
ReplyDeleteThat shibori pattern is my absolute favourite! I love the colour and pattern.. just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSUPERB, no other word, SUPERB
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the kindness. I am thrilled too... The paper is a Somerset 100% cotton lightweight. Just something I had lying around. I am not even sure if this is the best kind of paper for this process.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all your steps with such splendid photos...delish...every last bit of it!!
ReplyDeleteIf you still have the walnut day, don't trow it out. I did a dye bath with black walnut 2 (!) years ago, stuck it in the fridge in the covered pot (stainless steel) for about a year (kinda kept ignoring it due to other things going on) - and getting more and more scared to open the lid to see all the mold. Eventually about 6 months ago I opened the pot and not one spore of mold. Now it's been sitting out in the hot studio, still covered, but still no mold - must be all the lovely tannins keeping it out of there. So I'm going back to dying with it this winter....
ReplyDeleteI have to do this with the bowl of acorns I picked up yesterday after a wind came through!!! thank you for the step by step!!
ReplyDeleteI love to see paper used in eco-prints, and these are absolutely stunning........well done!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful results! I love them all. And I love the images of all of the steps along the way. The simmering walnuts are really gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWow - I love your shibori piece. Thanks for sharing this. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. Really simple but powerful work.
ReplyDeleteYour fabrics are gorgeous!
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