Natural dye sustainability program 可持續天然印染社區發展

Nuno felt and natural print and dye

Further to my last workshop of natural dye in THEi for their sustainability program, today I was honored to be a guest for their students to conduct a series of workshops for the trainers of Salvation Army to deploy the sustainability program in the coming year.

有幸今日參與 THei 學生為救世軍義工成員的天然印染工作坊, 這是學院與救世軍的一項可持續發展項目之一.  席間我也示範 nuno felt 及純羊毛的印染效果. 我特別有興趣以紅花可做熱染黃色及隨後泠染的粉紅, 一天的工作坊各人喜孜孜拿著豐富色彩回去, 我也有幸捧著學院講師的著作 "布喜" , 絕對是我的 一本天書. 

After the leuctuer's briefing the workshop started with practice on natural dye with Safflower which gives yellow in hot dye then cold dye to get pink color.

Shades of colors are pretty on different fabrics depend on timing of dipping.

Yellow can also be got from Turmeric dye

So bright yellow on silk and cotton 

While they're practising natural dyeing, I made a wool felt purse to show them the difference on wool dyeing/printing.

The purse was dyed in Turmeric dye pot with eucalyptus prints.  It looks mustard yellow.

They're impressed with the outcome of leaves prints.

I also done two pieces of nuno felt with crinkle chiffon base.  Bundle dyed in Turmeric and iron pot separately.

Their pieces are fantastic.

With iron mordant sandwiched fabric the leaves outlines are great.

Clear outlines of maple, rose and euc leaves on silk.

Paper prints were tried.  Also cotton glove dyed in hot Safflower then cold Safflower was pretty, shades from yellow to orange.

The trainers from Salvation Army and students from THEi are wonderful.  Some participants from Salvation Army are voluntees who will train others for further development in the organisation. Thanks for THEi for the sustainability program.  I walked away with new skills of natural dye.  What's more is the book "Fabric-lous 布喜", the author is one of the organisers.  The book is informative with step-by-step easy guide.  My bible for fabric design!

Making eco prints with students學生的植物印染製作

 I'd a class of "Making eco prints" for a group of more than 40 participants.  The yummy color brighten my day.

 植物印染工作坊在香港比較少有, 最近我為Thei 設計學院的40多位學生介紹葉子移印工作坊, 三小時內我們實習了三種技巧, 原是綠色的葉子經過熱力巧妙地變成鮮明橙紅印在絲質布料上,  何解? 且看學生們如何製作 .......

 I was invited to give a workshop of eco printing in the campus of Thei for the tertiary design students last Friday. 

   My silk and gorgett fabrics with leaves prints displayed. 

 Leaves used were mainly of eucalyptus.....

 Plus some maple leaves, rose leaves, cajuput leaves, banyan air roots and a little rose petals.

 After a brief intro and demo, students and teachers started the leaves laying.

 First piece was a square silk fabric.  We used eucalyptus cinerea leaf that gives bold print in a short time of boiling   

 After an hour of boiling,got the prints.

 This was the warm up for the first part of workshop.

 Followed by making a longer piece on gorgett.

 I provided a few iron pre-mordanted fabrics as base to make different turnout of prints.

   Rolled up with a hard paper core to make the bundle firm.

 Put all bundles in dyeing pots with euc leaves, stems and barks. Boiled for 1.5 hours and left over the weekend.

 Today we opened the bundles.  Looks they're tasting crabs !?  Is it yummy?

 Excited to see how they look.....

 All euc cinerea got bright orange,  green is rose leaves and brown are windfalls.

 Some got bold and sharp prints, but some loose as it's not tied tightly.

 String marks at the end.

 This subtle look is the effect of the base of iron mordanted fabric rolled up together. Iron react with tannin rich leaves.

 Cajuput leaves are not bright but with outlines, windfall of euc leave is brown.

 Soft look of green rose leaves, orange eucalyptus leaves and banyan air root marks. 

 

 After the 2nd bundle, I introduced the paper prints.

 Samples of paper prints with euc leaves, rose leaves and eco print book covers.

 Batches of drawing papers with some leaves.  Clamped with iron clips and iron mordanted fabric scraps.  Steamed for an hour. 

 Prints on papers are mostly yellow.  

  This sort of eco printing is new to students. 

 A subtle scarf is done in 3 hours. It's easy and environmental-friendly.  

Boys and girls, hope you enjoyed the experiments and there're lots to explore. Quite some informative sites for ref, to name a few.

DipandStain by James Dennison

Blog of India Flint

The Natural Surface by Kimberley Baxter Packwood