Pursuit the bounty of nature 那自然美的追隨

 

Pile of colorful natural printed fabrics just done with an Indonesia visitor M.  She's so enthusiastic of natural printing and wanted to play with flower prints. I said I can't and will not teach the techniques just learnt this year with Irit Dulman because of code of conduct and ethics of artists.  I can show the way what I've done with skills learnt two years ago in Spain with Irit whom heads up my sharing.  I said not all flowers can print and colorfast.  I can do local plants and rarely found the flowers I'm pleased but two of them so far are my favourite.   So we started to pursuit the bounty of nature........

 

I'm also serious to welcome my visitor M with the kit.

 

Mogi, looks puzzled who's the visitor is.......

 

Welcome M.....

Mogi greeting M's arrival..... 

Mogi is my helping hand, a guest teacher and our works approver.

 We used the windfalls, flowers picked on my biking and the ferns outside my gate and two kinds of eucalyptus bought from florist.

We tried wool flannel, crepe de chine, viscose, cotton, wool blend.....

Different species of eucalyptus prints nice on wool flannel without any mordant.

 

This prints on crepe de chine also without mordant looks bright. 

Then go further to do with different mordant, various fabrics with different steps.......

  

Outlines, shades and the flower prints are what make her impressive.

 The flower prints are delicate

 I like to do partial shades for the comparison.  Here's the sample prints done with different flowers

 

Prints on wool blend cotton (50/50)

The main flowers are Lagerstroemia speciosa and Hibisus tiliacenus,  we made piles of colorful prints with appropriate mordant for shades and colors.

 Thank you M for the long way coming to explore bounty of nature.  Hope you enjoy and experiment more the alchemy of natural printing.

Outing inspired creation 寓郊遊於創意

 

Bounty from nature !

"What day is today? What can I expect today?"

"Everyday is a special day. Each day is a happy day !"

Yup, that's the Q&A of me and Mogi.

After a consecutive torrential rainy days, we've the clear, blue and sunny days.  That said I'm out for a sporty as well a creative day.

我愛香港大自然的美，不獨是山巒景致，山頭的花花草草或散落地上的花兒也是我的寶物。日前騎行單車及與澳洲來訪學生遠足撿拾的花兒，印上了時令的黃槿木及大葉紫薇。

Our stunning nature, the greenery or the water are never boring.

My visitor student Violeta after the tutorial in my home studio, we managed to have hiking with our regular team on Friday.  We started the trail from Shek Pik to Shui Hau Village on Lantau.

 

Walking up and down the steps in a sunny day. 

It's a moderate hiking trail all along the island in the bush.

 

Sunny, hot and sometimes with sea breeze was not that hard  

 In two hours we arrived a camp site for a break and view ......

Are the cows tired?  We're not...... heading to......

  

 the sandbay of Shui Hau Village.

  

A view in the bay then forward to Tai O

Tai O is a fishing village, the waterways of creek and river merges with lots of stilt houses over it, so called Oriental Venice.

One of the attractions is to watch the Chinese white dolphins.  We took the 20-min boat ride and was lucky to have seen a few dolphins jumping up. The motions were so fast that I was not able to take a shot.  All in our memory !

We called it a day and returned by MTR.  Violeta and I were not heading home instead going to Shamshuipo for materials shopping.  Violeta's so impressed with our transport networks, the many varieties of materials and accessories of good prices and the stunning scenery of Hong Kong.
Yes, we've a well developed transport network to every corner of the region.
Wish Violeta and Paul enjoy more before returning home.

 

My overseas friends can't imagine we have the vast splendid greenery, undulating mountains and beautiful coasts. Just the day before, I went cycling in the east of New Territories. I just love the sandbays and the mangroves.

 

Particularly the tide out gorgeous views are gorgeous.

 

 There're lots of mangroves.  Now the blooming season of Hibiscus tiliaceus with lots on the ground. How can I resist to print with them ?  That's why every time when I do hiking or biking I'd have good hunts.

 

Home with a  few of the Hibiscvus tiliaceus and Lagerstroemia speciosa, I made the prints.

 

Next I will have more photos of the making and prints.  Stay tuned.

Thank you for stopping by.

Mix & Match natural printed outfit 拼拼貼貼草木印染外衣

 

Have done so many panels of prints experiments.  Some good some so so but just wanted to make use of every single piece I sewed together with the pattern learnt from Rivital Avidar with little modified. Of course some printing skills from Irit Dulman.  I like the high slits of traditional Vietnamese costume. This outfit is made with 6 panels cut from the width of different fabrics. They're sorts of silk and wool cotton blend also done in different techniques of natural prints. So far it is the outfit I like most. You'll see details of close look.

The outfit with all-side prints and two wooden buttons.  The back prints with eucalyptus and Lagerstroemia speciosa as well sumac.

 

The main part of front is eucalyptus and papaya with madder. Sleeve blue from indigo.

"Before and After" of the front prints

That's the casual outfit 

 

Just fine in a breezy winter here in Hong Kong 

So the outfit I made with natural prints of eucalyptus, rose & leaf, sumac, casaurina, Lagerstroemia speciosa, papaya leaf and natural dyes of tannin, madder and indigo.

In a nutshell this is the signature garment with all the techniques I learnt or developed myself so far.

Some people asked me the tutorial printing of this garment.  As I said it's the combination of a few skills from basic to advanced that takes some time to achieve.  Sorry for not able to show all techniques right now.  However a part of this outfit, i.e. the eucalyptus on the front and the sleeve I have detailed pdf tutorial on my ETSY.  Here's the link of shopping.