Baskets from the garden

November 27, 2017 6 Comments

On the weekend I caught the last day of the Intertwined exhibition as the Koorie Heritage Trust. As well as the more traditional baskets and eel traps, Lisa Waup‘s little woven nest of feather and fibre really stood out. Lovely pastel colours interwoven with wallaby browns. Artwork like Lisa’s and that of Ruth Woods of Craft School Oz are so inspirational. It’s just amazing what you can do with found objects and plants from the garden, plants that I thought were rather useless, but grew where edibles refused.
I have a brown thumb when it comes to growing bush tucker. After years of doing nothing my Midyim berry was ended with a careless boot. My cranberry heath although they began promisingly lush and green, were taken with a sudden browning around the edges which in a matter of days engulfed the entire plant. Meanwhile the poa grasses, almost mockingly thrive on neglect, self-seeding and spilling beyond their allocated borders onto paths. The lomandra too are getting so long they threaten to fell passersby with a tentacle around an unsuspecting ankle. Nature will have its way, if I can’t eat it , I might as well learn to weave it.

A fortnight ago I had the opportunity to indulge in two passions: crafting and gardening. Ruth runs workshops all over Victoria, but the one at Alowyn gardens includes a wander through the silver birch forest garden and perennial border gathering weaving material as we walked. Such a treat! I couldn’t recommend it more, it is such a special place to learn from an especially talented lady.

Ruth’s work is a unique mix of all the styles shared by women from South East Asia to Arnhem land and no doubt her own particular panache. Her enthusiasm is infectious and I loved that she is always on the eye out for new materials to work with. Agapanthus may be too fleshy to use, but why not try succulent leaves? I was particularly taken with the cordyline leaves which although were once green dried to lovely obergine, just to show that you cannot judge a leaf by its colour.

It was a lovely day and at then end each basket reflected the personality of the maker, some were meticulous and small, some adorned with flamboyish sweeps of leaves or nuts. Mine was the biggest I think, not sure what that says about me? No time for timidity? Probably more that I thought making cordage was a particularly neat trick. Each basket was different, although from what I overheard, almost all destined to become a resting spot for kitchen eggs!

I hope you can find some inspiration from the beautiful collection that was whipped up in a day by a cheerful group of amateur enthusiasts. Let me know if you have any weaving tips, tricks or inspo, I’d love to hear about it.

Lomandra leaves can be used green, or collect the try bits by pulling as you pass, they’ll just come away from the base.

Iris leaves are fiberous and a fantastic material to use. Dry for a few weeks then soak in water to make them pliable.

Daylilies are edible and great for weaving!

Like corn husks succulent leaves can be wrapped around strappy leaves or cordage.

Ruth used palm inflorescence for the top

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Coiling a cordyline cordage. What a tongue twister!

A few of the stunners made at the workshop

Naturally dyed raffia was fun to use, much nicer than the dental floss texture of the artificial sinew

These friends didn’t know the other was attending. Maybe a new shared hobby for those summer evenings on the porch.

Guides

Eco dyeing and printing

March 5, 2016 4 Comments

It’s a perfect day for writing. Grey, but warm with the occasional patter of rain on our tin roof. A sound imprinted on most Australians from childhood. It’s a dawn for reflection and The Art Deco Music Collection.

Has a little, superficially insignificant thing stirred you into action? I often dream about learning skills, they’re relatively simple to achieve, but somehow I need a reminder that the time or cost isn’t an extravagance, retirees have it right. The reminder came when my friend confessed her desire to learn Auslan, just for fun. Not astounding in and of itself, but astounding because of its source, a person not disposed to whimsy. She is straightforward-sensible, inclined towards planning and irked by impulse. This change in her was an inspiration, time for me too, to wander off the well-worn path.

Soon after the fates delivered me the Handmaker’s Factory, via an untraceable web of click links. I had decided to book a workshop before I even realised it was on my door steps, 15 minutes’ walk away in Kensington. Good luck or good Google data collection?

Eco dyeing is something that has fascinated and mystified me since I first spied India Flint’s Eco Colour. Complexity lurks beneath the surface of art. It is not as simple as step into your back garden and there are nature’s dyes in all their natural glory. It seemed more like a confusing science experiment of mordants and modifiers, some of which, though natural, could kill you!

Although the internet is abundant with information, nothing really beats learning from an expert. Nichola, of Handmaker’s Factory, broke it down and gave us the confidence to take our knowledge home for our own experiments. We could leave the toxic chromium mixtures for the experts and opt for soy milk and vinegar instead.

I couldn’t rave about Nicholas’ approach enough, minimum lecturing, learning by doing. I highly recommend you take her workshop; you even come away with your own eco dyed silk scarf. Here are a few Eureka moments I had during the workshop, I hope this will encourage you to try doing some eco dyeing yourself. Perhaps this can be your reminder to be inspired? I’d love to see what you come up with.

All the equipment you need is a cooking pot, bucket, steamer and tongs; but save these for eco dyeing, food and dye don’t mix even if it is natural

A mordant helps the dye bond with the fibre, some dyes like eucalyptus contain their own. Although natural dyes are doomed to fade over time, sun and water, a mordant will make colours stronger and last longer. Just add the mordant to a bucket of water and soak. You can pre-mordant whole batch of material, dry it and use it a later date. You can also soak and dry the cloth a few times for extra strength. Watch this space for experiments!

Alum (Aluminium sulphate found in hardware pool department) + cream of tartar (grocery store) is what we used for animal fibres, they are classified as “protein fibre” and take colour more easily

Humble old unsweetened soy milk adds protein to cellulose fibres so the dye sticks. This is an interesting post on cellulose fibres and eco dyeing

Colours will differ depending on the fabric you use, creating colour swatches is a fantastic way to keep track.

When boiled carrot tops create lovely yellow-green colours

Purple cabbage provided a brilliant purple

Eucalyptus leaves have a huge array of colours and can even vary between seasons in the same tree or even from leaves harvested on different sides of the tree! We achieved lovely reddish colours.

Some plants will surprise you with their dye colour, brilliant coloured flowers may have a different colour such as red marigolds being yellow or no colour at all blue hydrangeas hardly left an imprint at all.

You can even change the colour of the fabric after it has been dyed by bathing it in a few teaspoons of a Modifier in water.

The simplest way of modifying the colour is by changing the pH from acidic to alkaline or vice versa. We tried vinegar and washing soda (grocery)

Iron darkens, copper adds green. (iron sulphate and copper sulphate from nurseries or gardening section of local hardware. We used this to dye a concrete slab in New Mexico!

The longer you soak, boil and leave to dry the stronger the colours. Our steamed bundles didn’t have super strong leaf prints because after steaming we only left them an hour or so before unravelling, would be great to see the results of leaving for a few weeks. It’s an exercise in patience!

Do you have any other hints? What passions have you indulged in recently?

cloth-soaking-mordant-alum-animal-products-soy-milk-plant-based-add-protein

vinegar-washing-soda-modifiers-acidic-alkaline

Guides

D.I.Y. Chalkboard Calendar

August 6, 2013 1 Comment

A D.I.Y. chalkboard calendar is the perfect winter activity, and you probably have the materials lying around already!

With rain falling outside and breath forming indignant clouds inside, winter is not a time for us to slow down, we might just freeze where we sit! That is how I found myself up a ladder one wintry morning paint roller in hand… some people might call me spontaneous, perhaps our new housemate considered it impulsive. But in the end it was a triumph in transformation!

Our shed overflows with old paint cans, boring whites, charcoal leftover from some craft activity or other, tiling grout and random rollers galour! I don’t think this is an uncommon sight, it’s a crafter’s goldmine!

Link to my inspirations one, two, three.

ingredients

White interior paint

Black paint (interior or acrylic, any colour you like)

White tile grout

Masking tape

Containers with tight lids for mixing (1 per colour)

Spoon

Stick to stir paint

Small roller or paintbrushes

Old sheets to cover floor to prevent splashes

Paint roller tray, any shallow flat container will do

Hover over to help shake the paint!

method

That’s it, too easy! The only problem after I finished was realising I really didn’t have that perhaps my social life isn’t exciting enough to display at that scale!

Cover floor with sheets and put masking tape on light switches, skirting boards and window jambs, anything you don’t want to get paint on.
Masking tape the area you want for your chalkboard, I just did the whole wall because there was some unfortunate post party graffiti up there, you know the kind!
Mix tile grout with white paint in a ratio of 1:8 (about 2 tablespoons for 1 cup of paint)
I put both in a container with a tight lid and shake it like mad to mix it thoroughly.
Pour this base coat into the tray and apply to the entire surface you want to cover with a roller.
After this has dried layout your basic pattern in tape, as some lines will overlap you’ll have to do this in stages. If you are doing shades of grey like me you might want to layout all the white shapes first, then light grey and so on with black last. I didn’t do that, that was dumb!
Mix colours/shades as for the base coat, just adding different ratios of black and white (or colour).
If you don’t have many brushes start with lighter shades first and work your way up to black, to reduce time spent washing brushes between coats.
Let it dry! Some people recommend sand papering it and conditioning by rubbing chalk over everything and wiping it off. I didn’t, I’m lazy that way!

Marking triangle locations by dangling a weighted string to line up the triangles.

Hover over to see before and after!

Guides

CROCHET AWAY THOSE WINTER BLUES

August 19, 2012 1 Comment

Starburst grannysquares and balls of secondhand wool

Dylan’s mum has a blanket, painstakingly crocheted by her granny from her grandchildren’s old jumpers, too worn to go through another cycle of unravel and reknit.
How beautiful imagining each colour having had so many different lives!

Cuddled up in the brightly coloured wrap, looking at rain putting a hold to my days adventures, I decided to be inspired rather than discouraged.

Winter gets into my bones, I hate it. In Melbourne it doesn’t magically float down over the land in delicate drifts, as I romantically (and probably erroneously) imagine it does in Europe and the Americas. Instead it splutters and it drizzles.

A pathetic
overcast sulker

that turns lettuces bitter without the payoff of a snowball fight montage!

Baskets from the garden

Eco dyeing and printing

It’s a perfect day for writing. Grey, but warm with the occasional patter of rain on our tin roof. A sound imprinted on most Australians from childhood. It’s a dawn for reflection and The Art Deco Music Collection.

D.I.Y. Chalkboard Calendar

A D.I.Y. chalkboard calendar is the perfect winter activity, and you probably have the materials lying around already!

ingredients

Hover over to help shake the paint!

method

Marking triangle locations by dangling a weighted string to line up the triangles.

Hover over to see before and after!

CROCHET AWAY THOSE WINTER BLUES

A pathetic overcast sulker

A pathetic
overcast sulker