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Following My Whims

27/3/2019

 
Following my whims in February took me back to block printing, using blocks we had carved few years back & also, mono printing my beloved kawakawa leaves.
Indulging my monochromatic tendencies I started with a little bit of block printing, using white fabric paint on black cotton.
Must admit I was surprised by what a difference the brand of paint makes.

I equally enjoy the white block on black & the ‘less white - more grey’ tones on black using the blocks
Initially I didn’t like the uneven white blotchiness I obtained with the more highly pigmented paints on the kawakawa leaves & preferred the smoothness of the grey.

I realised that my preference was based on what I had come to ‘expect’ & a preconceived motion of what I might ‘do next’ with the prints rather than what I was obtaining in the exploration.
​Ha ! rookie mistake falling victim to my own preconceptions.
I changed fabrics, back to the natural dyed cottons of varying weights & monoprinted some singles, groupings & multiples of kawakawa leaves.

It felt so indulgent to be picking more than one leaf at a time !
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 too 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

​

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    About
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    Hi, I'm Sally
    I'm a fibre artist who loves botanicals - especially NZ native plants
    you can find me on 
    ​instagram & ravelry 

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