I really enjoy teaching workshops on natural dyeing because I get such a buzz from inspiring people to look at nature in a different way, to learn more about the plants they use and exploring the many and varied ways to utilise natural colour for our enjoyment. However, when I am teaching I rarely get time to explore new techniques myself. So it was with great anticipation that my good friend, Sylvia Riley from Sydney, came up to Canberra for a long weekend so that we could have a print-fest at Megalo! Having her there enabled me to print the full width of fabrics on my textile screens - around 140cm wide.
 |
| Squeegee passing with my print-pal, Sylvia, at Megalo |
Megalo is such a great place to print because it has a full-width 8m table 👏 We both managed to get metres of fabric printed, although we were exhausted at the end of it. My meterage is to be used for one-off naturally dyed and stitched scarves for the upcoming
Open Studio Day.
 |
| Different mordants printed onto cotton |
|
The only trouble with mordant printing is that when they dry, they are almost invisible, such as the alum above. The slightly stained part of the design is a very weak iron and alum mix. All the mordants are printed and aged before dyeing.
 |
| Process from print to dyed fabric using a range of mordants. |
|
The first dyebath I put this mordant-printed scarf length into was
Acacia catechu, or Cutch. This gave me a lovely range of browns and tans, however I felt the scarf was a little 'dull' so once I washed and ironed it, I over-printed with some alum and another iron mix.
 |
| Adding more detail to the scarf with new mordants |
 |
| Barely visible now but will show up in the next dyeing. |
These small prints will add further highlights once I dye in my second dyebath,
Rajentot. I am waiting for this mordant to dry as we speak and will show the finished cloth in a few days time.
By the way, I am teaching an intermediate class on repeat printing at Megalo for the next two Saturdays, more details click
here.
