The moon (and eco-dyeing results)

I'm once again joining Erika, (Bio Art Gal), our host this month at Art Journal Journey with her themes In the air/In the sky.

I was actually looking for a different quote when I ran across this one.

I knew I had a picture of the moon in my book on the cosmos, so pulled it out.  I also knew my circle cutter would never cut it as well as it should, so I just cut around it. 

The quote by Paul Brandt reads:

Do not tell me the sky is
the limit when there are
footprints on the moon.

For this page I created in my Challenges altered book, I began by laying down two colors of blue water soluble crayons.  I then added the moon image and the quote.

Thanks so very much for joining me today.  Bleubeard and I also hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your interpretation of Erika's theme.

Also, it occurred to me

that I had shown this fabric I was about to eco-dye, but never showed the final results.

This is what it looked like when I was unrolling it.

You can just barely see the copper rod I wrapped it in on the far left of the above photo.

For some reason, I thought I would get a better outcome from this, but I apparently didn't leave it in the steam bath long enough.

On the other hand, the copper rod did its "thing" quite well.  Note also the marks on the right side of the fabric.  That's where I wrapped the fabric using wax linen thread.

To say I was disappointed in the outcome

is like calling the Queen Mary a rowboat.

I even tried desaturating the photo, but that didn't help, either.

The only part that really pleased me was where the copper rod had laid during the heating process.

As I mentioned above, these are the marks left from the wax linen thread I wrapped around the cylinder before I steamed the fabric.

Thanks again for sticking with me while I showed these disappointing eco-dyeing results.  This fabric will need to be overdyed, or possibly painted sometime in the future.

Eco dyeing fabric

I really want to spend time in my craft room, but I must keep on top of the storms that are raging outside my home right now.

Some of you saw the herbs I bought on Herb Day.   What you didn't see was that before I went to Herb Day, I cleaned out my existing herbs that had overwintered outside.  I was surprised to see these lovely leaves had also overwintered.

They were kept moist and supple from the rains and small amounts of snow we had this past winter.   I decided to create eco-dyed fabric.  I first laid the leaves out in a pleasing manner, along with some rosemary I accidentally broke off when I was cleaning the contents of the pot.

I folded the sides inward about an inch on either side, then, using a copper tube, wrapped the leaves in place.

You can envision the copper tube I used.

Even before I wrapped the bundle in wax linen thread, I could see the veins in the leaves.  It really excited me.

Thanks for joining me today.  I'm off to steam this bundle for about two hours, then I'll let it sit in the pot while it cools.  I'm so glad you stopped by.  I appreciate your continued support of my art and my experiments.

More eco-dyeing

As I prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I thought I would share the last of my eco-dyeing for this year.  These will NOT stay whole cloths, but will be used as part of other quiltlets I hope to make next year.

You may remember this fabric bundle from last week.

I allowed this to steam longer 

and I allowed it to cool longer in the pot.  I was already getting excited.

What a mess.  Some of the leaves stayed intact, but the sunflowers disintegrated when unwrapped.

After it dried, I was blown away by the pink from the yellow sunflowers.  This piece is not color adjusted.

When I pulled in closer, I color compensated and the pink and copper pennies turned a beautiful, albeit false, color.

This is closer to the correct colors and I was so happy to have wrapped the bundle tightly enough that it left marks in the fabric.

I was getting tired of eco-dyeing only one bundle at a time, so I grabbed my favorite rusty piece and laid blackberry leaves onto a piece of cotton bed sheet.

I tried to mix it up a bit by using copper with blackberry leaves and other leaves from my garden on a piece of curtain sheer.

Since I realized I had a few days before I had to share these on my blog,

I decided to leave them in the pot longer.

Here are some of the details I like the most.  This

and this are from the sheer, which surprised me, since I wasn't expecting so much rust to have migrated to the sheer.

The characteristic black comes from the rust mixed with iron.  This

this,

and this are from the bed sheet.

My friend Johanna asked if I iron the fabric before I wash it in order to set the colors.  I always treat fabric, whether eco-dyed or rusted, exactly the same.  I wear gloves and after unwrapping, I wash the fabric in baking soda water, sometimes more than once, in order to make sure it is safe to handle.  To me, safety is the name of the game.

Thank you for joining me today

as I revealed my final completed and dried eco-dyed bed sheet and curtain sheer.  This is Day 21 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM).

More eco-dyeing and results

I completely forgot that I promised to share my first completed eco-dyed fabric using a copper pipe to wrap my fabric.  I have started another dyeing projects and will share that today, too.

To refresh your memory, this is the first piece of bed sheet I eco-dyed this autumn.  Instead of a rusty pipe, I used a copper pipe and some well worn copper pennies.

This is what I found when I unwrapped the bed sheet the next day.

Here it is in all its glory after it had been washed and dried.

It was too long to get it in one shot.

The back side was underwhelming.

An area I thought came out great.

I attribute that to my blackberry leaves.

I only have one copper pipe, so I decided this bed sheet would use nearly dead wild sunflowers

and various leaves from my yard, along with a few pennies.  This will take two days to steam and cool, so I will show the results later in the week or possibly next week.

Thank you for joining me today

as I revealed my first completed and dried eco-dyed bed sheet, and started a new piece using a few flowers and leaves from my yard.  This is Day 14 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM).

Eco-dyeing fabric

This is Day 4 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM), although I keep forgetting to mention it.

Today I'm trying something a bit different in my quest to learn more about eco-dyeing.   In the past I have used a piece of something rusty in which to wrap my fabric, but for this experiment, I am going with copper.

I brought in leaves from my back yard, ferns from my neighbor, and black raspberry leaves from my bush. 

I also added a few pennies, but some were new.  I'm soaking a few in vinegar in hopes they will acquire a green patina, but they aren't ready yet.

I thought I might need to iron the piece of bed sheet I was using for my fabric, but decided the steaming process would take care of that.

I got out my waxed linen thread and began encasing the fabric on both sides and the end opposite the  copper pipe.

I rolled the fabric and leaves around the copper pipe, then wrapped it in the waxed linen.  Next, although I fail to show it, I added water to the bottom of the pot, covered the pot and am steaming it on medium low heat for four hours.  Once it is thoroughly steamed, I will leave the piece in the pot overnight until it is completely cool. Then I will remove it from the pot tomorrow.

This is Day 4 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM) and I am eco-dyeing part of a bed sheet.

I want to reiterate, if you are on Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, or G +, I will visit, but I cannot leave a comment since I'm not a member of any of those platforms.