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My ebooks and ecourses are still available to purchase, but please understand that it will take me longer than usual to reply to emails and ecourse comments.
12 Comments
Hi Louise
What sort of wool product will we be needing for Week 1 please?
Small white something eg little top, plain baby blanket from an op shop?
Thanks
Kathy
Great question! I’ll be demonstrating on a rectangle cut from a woollen blanket and on a jumper (pullover), both of which I found secondhand. But the basic technique is adaptable to different shapes. I recommend getting some kind of square or rectangle wool fabric whether that is a scarf, a piece of fabric or a wool blanket, plus a piece of clothing such as a jacket, jumper, dress. The wool can be white or even a pale colour. What you suggested sounds great.
I have always read that you need to start with a wet piece of fabric but I see yours was dry.
There seems to be lots of common misconceptions about eco-printing, like the fabric always needing to be wet, or having to soak the leaves in vinegar. I’ve always used dry fabric and it works for me. Because we are boiling our bundles, rather than steaming, the water in the pot will quickly saturate it anyway.
Hello! What have you added to the pot’s water? Mordant made with iron and vinegar? I do not always understand English
Yes, the mordant that we made from iron and vinegar in week 0. This is an optional addition, if you want to darken the dye bath.
Hello! Once it has finished boiling and you have already turned off the fire, until it has to leave the bundle in the pot?
I leave it in the pot until it has cooled down, or sometimes overnight.
haii, so you mean that if we use wool, we can use fresh leaves, while soaked leaves for cotton. how about for silk? anyway, i can’t find any wool for sale in indonesia.. ?
Yes that’s right, soaked leaves for cotton (when using an iron mordant), and fresh for wool or silk (also fresh for cotton when using a soy binder because this behaves similar to wool/silk). Some eco-printer use fresh leaves for everything, but this is what I have personally gotten best results with.
Hello Louise, What happens if I soak leaves and used them in protein-based fabric?
Hi, if you are using iron with the protein based fibres it is fine, but if not there aren’t enough tannins left in soaked leaves so you will get pale prints compared with using fresh leaves.