Botanical imprinted loose blouse 植物移印染襯衣

 

"Mum, this nightie is so soft.... I'd have a sweet dream with it...."

"Oh, no girl,  it's for my very good friend "iL".  You just put on to show me how it looks."

I made this wearable piece with different silk fabrics for my experiments of natural prints. They're the typical printable leaves, incl. rose leaves, eucalyptus silver dollar and kinds of unknown species of windfalls from suburb.

Since I need to test imprints on different fabrics, some with mordant, some not, quite a lot of panels were used.  To make use of the scraps, I sewed the panels into a loose blouse with my simple sewing skills. 

從幾片實驗的植物印染布料車縫的一件襯衣，絲薄輕柔，雖然不是時尚款式，作為夏日家居便服也挺舒適吧！這是我送給一位很好朋友 "iL"的衣物，其實是我硬要給她的，因為我知道她會珍視我的「手藝」.

 

The blouse is made with 5 long panels across.  The top two front & back with sleeves are the longest.

Neckline is wool felted with merino.

Sides of waist with folds to make pleats style.

Bottom layers overlapped to make drapes

 

To bring out shapes of dried leaves, I used iron mordant over the fabric.

One of the ways is to spray a little rusty water over the leaves after laid-out on fabric. 

Imprints on silk habotai are particularly bold.

These are with no mordant on crepe de chine, leaves are bits dull.

Rose leaves and euc silver dollar dipped in iron (or rusty) solution give shades.
 Red is euc silver dollar.

The background shades are of iron mordant to bring out the outlines

Double prints of leaves

A light and loose blouse for my very good friend (iL) who is my great supporter and always drives my creation.  That day I said I've made a blouse with assorted experiments of some leaves picked with her in a train station during our lunch break while we're working years ago, some were samples I tested for my Canada teaching. The blouse is a collection of my experiments. I was wondering if she would like it. She said she would love to wear it her coming US vacation. 

Be it a nightie to have a sweet dream or a casual wear on the couch ! 
 How delighted I am to have someone who appreciates my work and drives my creativity juice flowing !
 

DIY art journal with natural prints 手作小本子

一

The art journal I made with nuno felt cover........

以羊羊混絲及植物印染的藝術小本是我特別喜愛的手作，每一次都是獨一無二，尤其內頁的植物印染不能重複，當我完成了，捧在手上，很有滿足感，要是送岀去也想收件人懂得珍愛，今日就寄出遠在北歐的一位幸運兒 Christina，她在我的Facebook 專頁答對問題。希望這羊毛書皮小手本帶給溫暖！

..........with botanical imprints and blank pages. The art journal is more than 100 pages for writing. 

The purple nuno felt cover is the main part of the art journal. It's the silk chiffon scrap I wrapped with a little logwood chips to boil with alum for a purple dye bath for other fabrics dyeing. Each time I make the purple dye bath in this way, so a few scraps saved and always wanted to make use of every bit.

Base of the cover is Finnish wool and textural surface is the purple chiffon. 

Closure is a wool felted button. Glass beads are embellished for sparkling look.

Some pages with natural contact imprints of maple, ginkgo, oak and a few unknown local species.

This maple is windfall from Korea. A a friend who knows I love to do leaves imprints. She got it from Korea. This one is bold and I love most.

Art journal of 7 signatures with more than 100 pages for whatever purposes.

Be it a diary or sketch book........... it's a nice handmade art journal.

May be a note book for travels......

Now I decided to give it away to someone who may find it special.

This is a giveaway for the lucky one who left comments on my Facebook  page for the gimmick. Christina, this is on the way to you.... in the Scandinavian country. Wish you find it warm in your coming long winter!

Natural color extraction experiment 天然色素試驗畫作

 

I wanted to test color extraction from natural materials. These are grey blue, purple and yellow.  

祗是三種天然物質作出的鮮明色調,  馬藍葉的灰藍與綠, 胭脂蟲的紫及姜黃粉的黃. 把馬藍葉子剪碎加石灰粉, 胭脂蟲晶體加明礬,姜黃粉加明礬, 各樣都要用溫水稀爛做出顏色塗上布料上, 在鍋上煮25分鐘, 數天後浸醋水定色, 雖然這不是最正確提取布畫顏料的方法, 但不防可作天然染料的來源.

 All from Strobilantes for grey blue, Cochineal for purple and yellow from Turmeric

 I chopped a few Strobilantes (馬藍葉) leaves. Poured 3 spoons of warm water, after a few hours fermentation then added little lime. Stirred to get oxygen to make the grey blue.

 Pink is from crushed Cochineal,  mixed with hot water and little alum.

 Yellow is from Turmeric mixed with hot water and alum.

 Here are the clear images of the color sources..... Green leaves of Strobilantes.

Crystal of Cochinel before crushed

 Turmeric powder

 After a few hours fermentation the indigo is getting blue, the Cochineal becomes purple immediately with warm water

 I used a brush to dip some indigo extraction for the mountain on the silk fabric.....

 from Cochineal extraction to brush the purple lavender field....

 After a few brushes of grey blue from indigo, I wiped with the fresh Strobilantes for the green,  

 Mogi doesn't like much the outcome

 Two days later I tested the colorfast by soaking into water.  Too bad......pink came out. So I colored again and bundled to steam for 25 minutes to fix the color.

 Washed and no breeding but Mogi seems do not approve it.
 Now  I know when heated the colors are fixed.

 

So I painted with cochinael for flowers and indigo for stems on the same fabric.

               After steamed for a while color fixed.  Know this is not a proper way to color silk but no harm for the trial with all natural colors.
A few days later I soaked the fabric in vinegar water to further fix the color.  It works.
 

 Talking about Strobilantes, it's strange ........ When I wrapped the frozen leaves on the fabric it's breeding with grey blue in room temperature.........

 But...... after heated it becomes purple / pink.   It's fun to play with natural color from plants. I will do some more experiments with this sort of leaves.

Eclectic Natural Printed dress 個人獨特裙子

 

It's a sunny summer day. 

Go natural, be myself.......

in a stable, greeting by the horse in a beautiful day...........

 

Not in a fashion trend but eclectic is my way. The day in a natural wrap with my own eco printed/ dyed "experiments". Having a good day in the north of the territories........

I've done lots of natural experiments with fabrics in many ways. To make use of my various scraps, I designed a simple loose dress just with a few panels, the front & back of botanical imprinted silk, two sides with turmeric dyed chiffon. Cut both down sides of the chiffon to sew the scraps of botanical imprinted silk. 

While I was thinking the next step, Mogi grabbed it for a nap......

   It's done, shoulders with folds, waist with strips. 

This is eclectic dress, either can be front or back but with different styles.

 

Tie the waist side strips to make ruffles movement.

 

With the loop and the twisted knot, wrap around to have folds in the front.

Such easy and simple to make a free size loose dress, I made without measurement. I'm no good in measurement or calculation but only done in instrict. Since I was a teenage my father bought me a Singer sewing machine which costed him a month's salary. He loved all of us. Today I have my hands to print, to make my own dress all credited to my beloved father.  He's in the Heaven I hope he knows I'm happy with the talent he gifted me. 

隨心隨意做的一件衣裳，沒有刻意去量度，祗是直覺的剪裁，因為這是自己穿著，沒有外來壓力，很輕鬆的完成，感謝父親在我年少時送給我一台勝家衣車，練就我對車縫的興趣。

Thinking of him on Father's Day today.