Wool felt eco printed 2-bag, not too bad? 植物印染羊毛手袋

 In order to make the striking tie lines on flaps, I felted two purses and dyed the left one in avocado skin, pits + euc leaves and the other one in eucalyptus & barks pot.  Here are two bags, not too bad!?

This purse I made with white wool, a few long fleece and  nuno felted flowers on the top flap and lower bottom.  

 In the florist I found the silver dollar euc leaves with buds.  Can't resist to buy lots.

 I carefully cut the leaves and fixed with thread.

 Rolled up the bundle

 Boiled with euc leaves and barks

2 hours of boiling is my limited patience

 Opened it.  Ya, striking lines are what I expected. 

 Braided the silk strips (my not pretty printed fabrics)

 Stitched lining and magnet button

 All finished

 Striking marks of the very tight thread ties.  This is done in euc silver dollar + barks pot.

 This is done in avacado pot in the first hour but I found it's not so brown as wanted, then put some more euc leaves.  Lines are striking as wished.

A cross shoulder purse is made. The strap is detachable. 

 For cosmatics is also good

I'm quite happy to do something from scratch, even the strap is made with strips of fabric that iron dyed. 

Two bags, two different tones but same technique.

Rust dye chiffon scarf 鏽染絲巾

Accidentally I found the easier way of iron mordant.  This is not my discovery.  Experts may already known and used it. 

 很偶然我的鐵鏽媒染有新發現, 可能專家們覺得我小兒科, 這鐵鏽媒染對我而言是簡單、快捷及不會太濃黑。且看做法.......

This is the way I make the iron mordant by wrapping the chiffon around a rusty pipe, clamp it with rusty clips.  Pour vinegar diluted water over the bundle.  Let it soaked, set aside in open area for some hours.  For me 8-hour is fine to get fabric rusted.  I've made two pieces.

This is one of it.  Indeed rust prints are almost good enough.  

My thought was to wrap with euc leaves to get bright orange color over brown rust marks.  I bundled and boiled in clear water with some vinegar .  After opening some brown rust marks got dark after boiling.

Rose leaves and euc silver dollars leaves are dark with some tie marks.

Though not as expected to have orange prints, I noted the brown rust "penetrated" fabric so most part got iron mordant to dark color in the boiling pot.

The chiffon scarf with both ends some rust marks while the middle part has soft grey. 

This one is longer

This one is wider with some bold euc leaves prints and a little purple.

I like the shades of dark and the tie marks.

I used to wrap with rusty objects and boil for some hours but it's too dark or fabric "rotten" by the iron objects.  After this experiment I'll do my way to get fabric iron mordant so it would not be too dark.

Before I do not like much dark scarf but this gradation of colors even with a little purple in the middle.  Loving it ........Thanks for Sandy D who taught me the way to do rust marks while we're in Spain.

Wool felt cobblestone handbag "石板路＂手袋

This is the "cobblestone" textural suface handbag I made just after new techniques learnt from Nicola Brown in Portugal. 

 

In Portugal and Spain some paths and buildings are made with cobblestones.   

Inspired by the cobblestones paths, this is the sample I made in the workshop for the trial. 

Back home, I applied the technique on the flap and made this one. 

Completed with lining, inner pockets and magnet closures.  The bag size is good for a wallet, iPone and iPad.

With detachable strap.....

A clutch is fine

Thanks Heather for the idea of using resist and also the skills of making 3D flowers.

Tie marks of eco printed scarf 絲巾印染線紋

Playing eco print is fun. Joy of unbundling is like opening a present. (Sometimes something may not as expected).  This piece of chiffon I intended to do the tie marks across.  It did turnout as what I want.

 

Pictures speak themselves........

Shades of eucalyptus leaves, some with iron mordant some were not.

Different strings have different sorts of marks

  

A soft chiffon scarf with shades of euc leaves and tie marks is done.

                  

Steps of making : I folded the fabric like croissant and bundled the whole roll with strings along.

Tips to make the string marks: First to tie with rubber band then roll up the bundle tightly and tie a knot in the middle.  Hold the bundle against the table with one hand and the other pulling the string.   The pot should have some leaves or rusty iron so that would make the tie marks.

This scarf was a piece I demo in Portugal.

Eco print all purpose cards 植物印染紙卡

My travels to Portugal and Spain were fabulous.  Ever since I encountered eco print these years, I like to pick some windfalls for my experiments.  Although some people advocate regionalism, there's no harm to do windfalls from other regions as a keepsake or something special.  

Upon return last week I couldn't wait to try the paper prints thus made the cards. 

A set of leaves printed cards.  How did they make?

Ah ha.........

I picked some windfalls from my friend's house some euc leaves and some unknown leaves in Malaga. 

Just dipped the leaves in water and laid over papers

I made a stack of 10-fold 15 x 10cm papers, covered and clipped the top & back with rusted iron clippers.

Boiled in a rice cooker with water and some vinegar

Opened it after 1.5 hours boiling

Prints of dried euc leaves are quite strong and papers in a range of greys, charcoals and blacks with the effect of rusty water.

Among all I love this most, the unknown leaves.  The leaf shapes are pretty with rust deposit prints.

 I picked a few to make the cards.

Each card with a blank paper inserted and tied with thread

The all purpose cards are made.

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