If you are seeing this post first I would suggest going to my post before this one-you will appreciate this one more.
So this second stack of watercolor papers I added rit indigo dye to the water bath. I only thought of this from watching a you tube video online.
Note: these papers are also out of the dye bath and rinsed so very wet still
I was smiling and wowing over these-and I got a bonus
all photos will enlarge to full size just click on them
And the bonus?? the parchment papers between each paper and leaves also got printed-how cool is that??
Paper artists-any ideas how to use these?
Conclusions: there were still some leaves too dark-black, but the dye in the dye bath is what made the difference with these. Many use logwood and other natural dyes in the simmering water-for now I am thinking I will save those for fabrics and use the rit dye for these purchased papers.
This has been a long process-I should not have set up two stacks of papers in 12 inch tiles-but I was thinking they both would fit into my roaster pan. Not really after adding plenty of water and rocks on top to weight them down.
I will describe the process in more detail in a soon to come post.
I thought my iron water seemed too potent-and it was. Many artists are using straight vinegar and rusty items-others are only using water and rusty items, and some are using half and half. I think My next set up will be half and half.
I almost rinsed the leaves off, not sure if that would have taken away all of the print. My iron water was very very brown -like a dye almost-if I could do over I would have added lots of water to this iron water. My memory is reminding me now that this happened to me on my first eco print on fabric-but I did not use iron water back then oh well ha ha
I added pomogranat rind to the water-it gives yellow dye and when it hits iron it is to turn green-For some reason I did not get the greens. At least while wet not showing up.
I liked the idea of what one artist was doing-she laid down parchment paper-than the paper-then the leaves-then parchment paper-she said she got much clearer prints this way and also she would not need to decide which side she wanted to use. I think this is a good idea unless you want a more blurred result of the prints-which would be pretty with colors-dyes in the water.
These photos of the papers are right after being revealed, rinsed off, and laid out to dry. So these are wet and will change some what after being totally dry. The yellows that came through nicely are from the red bud and mimosa. I don't think much yellow came through from the dye, again once dry I can see more of what happened. I know I am not happy with the ones that are very black but everything did print well-except for a wildflower I added to one sheet.
I just set up the second tile stack and added blue rit dye to the pot. They have been tied up quite awhile now-as I started this project very early this morning-we will see what happens with those.
photos will enlarge to full size just click on them
Now that I loot at these photos I think the yellow dye did come through, but the iron water was just too strong on some of the leaves. A thought-I did add tannin to my alum mordant as these two work together with cellulose-any thoughts if that added to some of the very dark prints??
Wow Another Tuesday is upon us, and I can't believe May is gone-where did it go??
I know I have been in a "fog" since Memorial Day weekend and we have had brutal hot weather for most all of May-absolutely no Spring here--so mostly trapped indoors but time is just passing me by way too fast.
I remember when I was working full time the days just dragged-went so slow, and I had to commute a long distance too for many years-very stressful as I am not someone that enjoys driving. We also had a full time home business as well-I get tired sometimes just thinking about all those 16-18 hour days we put in for years.
I really love that I am retired now and can just stay home-I really love and enjoy that very much. I have no idea why all this just got typed lol--I said my mind was still in a fog though (smiles)
I also know many of you are getting this same weather too, so I will stop commenting -for now that is-(smiling)
T Stands for Tuesday is where we gather together and share a drink related post over at our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth. Find the link in my right hand column-you are most welcome to join us.
I have lots to share so will try not to get even more wordy-I probably should have split this into a couple posts but decided to just do a big catch up.
My gluten free sourdough experiment baked up beautifully-but tasted horrible-I mean horrible. This organic quinoa flour I bought must never had the grain rinsed well first before it was then dried and ground into flour-this was soooo bitter and soooo sour. I did love the technique of how it was baked-it actually looks like bread, not as doughy as some I have tried in the past. I am not discouraged though as I see promise and am working on my sourdough starter by adding only brown rice flour in hopes to get rid of the quinoa-if I can't I will just start from scratch and follow her directions for capturing wild yeast.
Again the book is by MaryJane Butters Wild Bread. She also has a forum which I just joined as well. A nice way to get feedback and learn as well.
If you would like to try sourdough with regular wheat-I highly recommend this book and her forum-(gluten free too-but trust me your wheat sourdough should not have the problems that I have with gluten free) just read the whole book first including the back which was loaded with more information that I should have read first.
The wildlife got the bread-and it was all gone the next morning
(Note: since this is a heavy photos post-I am keeping some of the photos smaller-just click to fully enlarge them)
I got a good rise with the starter
I think one of her secrets for getting the gluten free bread to bake right is to also make small loaves. Normally if this was wheat you would make one loaf this one she had us making two small loaves-I think that is a good idea.
Many gluten free baked goods recipes always gives an internal temperature to know that it is baked. I have never done that before but decided to this time. the temperature was to be 200 degrees f to 205 degrees f the first loaf at 200 was a bit under baked the second one baked up perfect
Sad these did not taste as good as they looked sigh
The last two mornings Mother Nature has given us a beautiful cool down-instead of mid 70's f early morning it has been 58 degrees f and instead of high humidity full sun and mid 90's f we are in the low 80's f wonderful!!! Although today the air was pretty thick again for me-still too much pollen, mold in the air again for me-but at least I could work at catching up.
Of course the weeds in my butterfly garden areas was a nightmare. I had that really cleared of weeds, so I am almost thinking the less expensive big bags of garden soil I have been getting for this area must have weed seeds in it-and it comes with two types of thistle weeds-those are so hard to get out as the roots run deep.
I can't even find my milkweed plants in all this and did mark them with those wooden popsicle type sticks. I did preserver-and got most of the really bad thistle out-although I wasn't able to dig out the roots do to all the zinnias popping up. I spread the seeds thick in hopes they will crowd out the weeds.
The last two seasons I saved the flower heads as they began to dry and just put it all out this year.
These photos are mostly after I tried to get allot of the larger weeds out of the zinnias
Below blank spots were weeds
all this green is mostly flowers-zinnias-the butterflies will love it
I found this rope in an out building-a big tangled mess and I had straightened out enough for my project. Hubs said he got this at a garage sale when we first moved down for about $5.00 and already used some of it too-I am happy with the way this turned out.-I wanted to give a little definition and hopefully discourage the deer-we'll see haha
This is my madder dye plant that I planted from seed 3 years ago-hoping there are enough roots to harvest this late summer into fall. I planted this in a raised bed up near the house, and will plant more seeds this year to get another batch going
Have any of you dyed with madder root from scratch?? this is new for me
This is a sunflower type perennial that I planted last year and the deer ate all of the flowers-they love love sunflowers.This is to get up to 12 foot tall with lots of sunflower off shoots-I Hope they make it to full flower this year as I put a little fence around the bottom and tied some plastic bags in hopes to deter them-we will see.
Another view-and another arch-this one supports the big orange trumpet vines-the hummingbirds will love these-and they should bloom nicely this year as this is their third year. My friend from Wisconsin brought them down for me
You can see the rain forest type weather we have had is making everything grow and grow and grow ha ha
My indigo plants I grew from seed-am hoping these will grow well so I can play with indigo dye later
I have all this old straw down to help keep the weeds down and keep the moisture in the soil when we end up with weeks with no rain.
A little peak of our new vehicle-Hubs has always wanted a suburban. When he got his oil changed at the dealers for his truck he thought he would take a look at the used lot and see if perhaps there was a suburban-and wow there were two-we thought this was the better choice-very low mileage, just a year old, fully loaded-a treat for us, and loved the color. and the price was marked to sell-to us-lol Sometimes you get lucky and find just what you want-like it was meant to be.
This will be better for his fishing with friends-lots of room and seats. He loved his truck (we have always had a truck living rural), but could only have one other person with him.
Today I received my silk eco printed scarf that I won from an artist in England--It is sooooo lovely and beautiful and I agree with those of you that said this was the nicer scarf of the two-it truely is. I held this up with one arm and snapped a few photos.
Please click to enlarge for better viewing-this is so special-I love her art She used a variety of plant leaves.
She also included this eco printed paper-She does not have a blog but posts on this facebook page, so if you are on fb I wanted to share her page.
I stay on facebook for artists and groups like her-she is so gifted. I asked her about the paper as it feels like cloth almost-she made the paper and said she will tell me how she made it-I will ask if I can share the information with you. I have been wanting to eco print paper and had collected some different papers and weights a couple of years ago-this will inspire me for sure.
Again please click to enlarge these photos for better viewing-this handmade eco printed paper is amazing.
Sorry for such a long post-I just wanted to share with you all.
We had our first watermelon One deer came up and ate all the rind except for one-animals love the rind. (I didn't get a good photo of the deer)
I found fresh mangos on sale last week so I made one of our favorites-mango margaritas-so delicious and perfect for hot summer days. In the vita mix or heavy duty blender- Place chunks of a whole peeled mango, add to taste-tequilla, lime juice, orange liqueur, lime liqueur, agave, add a little water-blend til smooth-add loads of crushed ice and blend again-enjoy.
I am realizing I am falling in love with pretty water bottles. This one is by the Pioneer Woman-I love her flowers-in dishes, linens and more. I filled it up with coconut water when I was out pulling weeds
Whew--I hope you all made it through to the end without getting to bored--
Happy T Day everyone.
Hi everyone, this is where we share a drink related post with friends. Hosted by our Bleubeard and Elizabeth you are most welcome to join us-link in right hand column.
Friday and Saturday I worked outdoors allot, canned pinto beans, and more and was just really tired after all of it. post with lots of photos here if you missed it.
I got myself so overwhelmed for some reason-I think it was the heat and humidity here already that got me and just felt like I was soooo far behind in life things. So, ignore my short post where I said I was taking a break. I love all of you in the T gang too much to miss seeing your art.
I will be stopping the Cast Iron Friday's posts but will continue to share when I bake things in my cast iron especially my dutch ovens outdoors and my first time with my fire pit some time soon. I don't know why; guess cause I am a senior and turn 70 next year (still can not wrap my head around that one) that it was stressing me out-and blogging needs to be fun. Weird I know.
Anyways this morning we drove a couple hours north of us to meet my husband's sister from Chicago area that was in the area for a few hours. We happened upon a really good place to meet for breakfast. The food was so good-totally forgot to take my camera with me. But before we left his sister grabbed a waitress and asked if she could take a photo of all us. the one with all of us I wasn't ready for the photo ha ha but the other one at least I am smiling. I very very rarely show personal photos but since his sister already shared on facebook I figured I would share this time. I am in the salmon top with long hair, his sister and her daughter beside me and Hubs sitting. There is a 25 year difference in ages between brother and sister.
When we got home, I checked the computer for emails etc and Wow double Wow I found out that I was a winner of a silk eco printed scarf. I have been following this lady the Kitchen Witch from England that amazes me with her eco printing abilities. and she is someone that will answer questions on how to do it-love that and many don't like to share the details. She said she was overwhelmed with the response of her giveaway so she decided to draw a second name for another scarf. I was the second pick-sooo excited with this win. There were 351 entries so I am blessed to have been picked.
My win is the scarf on the right side of the photo. Here are the details The second scarf was made at the same time as the first and is lightweight silk measuring 114cm by 28cm and printed with sycamore, maple and rose leaves on a logwood background,
The first winner-scarf on the left--details-- made with fresh leaves. It is a lightweight silk scarf measuring 120 x 28cm printed with horse chestnut, sycamore and rose leaves on a background of cochineal.
Our wisteria vines are totally gorgeous now loaded with blooms, these are more mature now (planted in 2003) so are getting fuller and the blooms longer. I will share videos and photos soon
Update: I just posted two videos here
Did you watch the Royal Wedding? I totally loved everything. I recorded it from 3am to 8am on the BBC network so I could catch everything, and then watched it all late Saturday afternoon into the evening. Everything was so special, I loved that they broke traditions in different areas, and I just now read that Markle's bridal bouquet was laid at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior at the British capital's Westminster Abbey.
I have been enjoying my hard root beer a few nights now and sometimes I even add whipped cream on top-divine lol Especially after a hot day outdoors.
This week though I am sharing a new wine from Aldi
I loved the label with the name and the birds, but I really love this wine-very nice red and not a dry one.
Happy T Stands for Tuesdays everyone.
