I love these as none of the black is super black, which looks pleasing to me on the undyed fabrics. 

I decided to test my heat setting process by over-dyeing some of my black monoprints in a harakeke pod dye bath.
I also popped a few whenu of muka in too.

Love, love, love these - perhaps mostly because it worked !

So there it is:
Changing paints, changing fabrics, creating layers all whilst preserving the detail of the leaves.
Overdyeing, or is it underdyeing, with natural dye.
​White on black, grey on black, black on white, black on harakeke pod brown.

It's been a fabulous summer following my whims & now, at the end of March, I have washed & ironed all the small squares of fabric I've been using over the past few months.
Some I used to filter the inks I made & some are the result of these last explorations.
I literally have a couch covered in 30cm squares of different browns, all obtained from harakeke pods - no wonder we can't find one word to describe them all.
Some look slightly pink, some look slightly green, there are definitely a few that hover a little to close to beige for comfort & some are a rich warm harakeke brown.

Tino nui te mihi aroha ki te pā harakeke.
​He taonga tuku iho.

Sal x
​

For months now I’ve been thinking about IG & about why, all of sudden, I really didn’t feel I wanted to use the platform anymore. 

I actually want to use IG in the way it was intended - ya know - instantly ! 
I want to share stuff I’m doing & things I’m excited about, in this moment, as in, now. 
Yet for some reason that became harder & harder to do. 

Was it because I wasn’t doing anything interesting? Maybe 
Was it because I actually didn’t want to share ? Not really 
Was it because I felt like too many people in my feed had started to use it as Latergram & actually weren’t present ? Yep, totally. 
Did that annoy the fuck outta me ? Yes it did & it still does. 

So after months of thinking about it & also thinking about my blog & the role it has, I think I’ve come up with a palatable way for me to get back to using them both. 

I was hoping that writing content for my blog would lead me to sharing about that on IG & so kick off my active participation in both but the reality is that I simply can’t make that work. 
My blog posts tend to be about what I’ve BEEN doing because I want it to be a journal of sorts. 
My IG posts tend to be about what I AM doing because I want it to be a snap shot of THIS instant & mostly by adding comments I have a record of how I felt about it at that moment. 

So there ya go. 

Do I over think things ? Yes, I believe I do.
Do I know I’m over thinking things ? Oh yes ! & believe me sometimes it is excruciatingly painful. 
Does any of it matter ? Yes, I believe it matters. 

Why ? Because I simply can not do things for which I see no reason. 
I believe that part of the reason the world has become such a shit fight (technical term) is because humans don’t think about things enough. 

Humans are in such a rush. They’re so proud of being sooooo busy & it’s bollocks !
​Constantly striving, chasing egocentric often money centred goals & it drives me crazy. 

I am fortunate to be surrounded, in the most part, by thinkers. 
Some of them are younger than me; the important generation who are taking considered action.
They are concerned & articulate. 
They are taking their time with decision making because they don’t want to waste any more time working in dysfunctional systems.
Unfortunately some of these are systems my generation set up - presumably with good intention, however, now 2 decades later, the systems, structures & people in them are failing. 

During my time as a health care professional I tried - I really, really tried.  
I failed to change the system & in all honesty, that makes me very sad.
I came me to realise changing systems is not within my capability. 

My role now is to support the next generation. Simply by being here & providing sanctuary, safety, support & love.
Love.
Unconditional, non judgemental, love.

While I’m here I will potter around with my botanicals; thinking, crafting & making art - peacefully, lovingly & sustainably.
& that’s what I'll share. 

Sal x

Long story short; a dye bath for fabric or fibre is dependant on having either fabric or fibre ready to dye which makes it not worth doing when you don't have fabric or fibre you want to dye. Further complication is that when you are dyeing cellulose fibres with plant based dyes you may end up with nothing other than boiled cotton fabric which has steadfastly refused to take up even a smidgeon of colour from the dye bath !
 
Make Ink A Foragers Guide to Natural Ink making by Jason Logan had been mentioned on Instagram & as it piqued my interest but wasn't available in NZ, I requested it through our local library & waited patiently for it to arrive. I knew it would be full of plant references which are pretty much useless in NZ & especially useless for me as I'm still far more curious about the potential of what we have available here, particularly in our own native plants.
That's ok. I'm used to that.

I was not expecting magic.
I was expecting a very beautiful book with a few tidbits of useful information.
It is indeed a very beautiful book.  
It is an absolute pleasure to read & it does contain magic.

The magic it gave me is freedom.
It gave me a reason to make colour for the sake of making colour.
It gave me a water based process which, for the plant based explorations, has it's origin in natural dyeing.
A process that is very familiar to me.
This particular ink making process removes the stumbling block.
It reduces the colour making to it's simplest form & the end point is when YOU get the colour YOU want.

"What distinguishes ink from other art supplies is its use as a tool for communication."
I could go on & on about how much I love this sentence.  

I'm going to add to it.
​
Making ink is about communication. 
Foraging is about observation.
Observation is about being attentive to your surroundings.
Being attentive to your surroundings is about developing a relationship with place.
It's about the unspoken dialogue you have with your surroundings which informs you of the health & well being of place.
It's about sharing. 
It's about reciprocity.
It's about acknowledging & honouring place through the language we use as writers, artists, stitchers, weavers, or spinners.

Now off you go.
Make Ink my friends & let's get this conversation started.

Sal xx