today imbi has been playing around with stuff....
she has experimented with a few bits and pieces:
1. Quinine leaves - starting turning yellow colour, am hoping this will morph into rich darkish black colour. I wonder though, how to mordant it to cotton fabric - I think I have tried this before and it just runs out - maybe it needs boiling with ash or some other thing??
2. Iron oxide with hyro sulphite (stuff you use to reduce indigo)...seemed to make the cloth turn a darker red and caused a film on top of the water - and smelt real bad...like photographic developer turned rancid. I am excited to see what happens as it brews, but not looking forward to stinko.
3. Rusty stuff with water - might need to get out my notes on rust dye processes using ferric - but it might also be more fun to got out the tip and get funky rusty stuff to make marks on cloth
4. The most fun - painting on wood with watery paint and taking mono-prints with cloth before chucking cloth into pots of stuff...the fabric paint picks up the grain of the wood making lovely marks. I will keep experimenting with this on cotton, silk bits and other stuff.
C'est finis....
she has experimented with a few bits and pieces:
1. Quinine leaves - starting turning yellow colour, am hoping this will morph into rich darkish black colour. I wonder though, how to mordant it to cotton fabric - I think I have tried this before and it just runs out - maybe it needs boiling with ash or some other thing??
2. Iron oxide with hyro sulphite (stuff you use to reduce indigo)...seemed to make the cloth turn a darker red and caused a film on top of the water - and smelt real bad...like photographic developer turned rancid. I am excited to see what happens as it brews, but not looking forward to stinko.
3. Rusty stuff with water - might need to get out my notes on rust dye processes using ferric - but it might also be more fun to got out the tip and get funky rusty stuff to make marks on cloth
4. The most fun - painting on wood with watery paint and taking mono-prints with cloth before chucking cloth into pots of stuff...the fabric paint picks up the grain of the wood making lovely marks. I will keep experimenting with this on cotton, silk bits and other stuff.
C'est finis....
ooh be really really careful with those chemicals...i've heard that iron salts can do VERY nasty things to your body...and that Hydrosulphite stuff should be avoided like the plague
ReplyDeletebest mordant for cotton fabric is alternating dips (drying between each application) of protein (think soy/milk/whey/beanwater) and dips of ashwater.
it's a traditional japanese method (they allow the fabric to cure for a year before using) and i think it would work pretty well with mud, too
I'm thinking this is sage advice - chemicals seem tooo instant and poisonous...i like the idea of alternating dips much better...what about heat as well with fabric does that help with the process?
ReplyDeleteI read also that in Africa mud needs to be left to ferment for a YEAR at least...I am so impatient! Like a fast drag car churning ahead...