Botanical printing - just add colour

new silk scarves will be for sale at our FLIGHT exhibition

at Balmain in August

Flight

I can hardly believe we are putting on our THIRD biennial exhibition

We have done Fusion, then Focus and now

FLIGHT

time has flown

I began looking at ‘domestic cloths’ - embroidered tray covers, table runners and special hand towels - when I was clearing out my mothers’ house. They were made to celebrate a ‘best’ event. They are a tribute to ‘femininity’ – both in the process of their creation, and in the appreciation of the observer. I am liberating these domestic cloths from the back of the bottom drawer, renovating them with creative techniques and elevating them to the wall, to be enjoyed on a daily basis. By working with these items I am ultimately celebrating the femininity in the lives of the original makers.

This one started as a stained white cotton hand towel. It was dyed in a eucalyptus bath and had various Liberty prints collaged on to it. It was sliced into strips from top to bottom, and other strips of dyed wool and silks were woven in to create a new cloth surface. A ‘suture’ stitch is used extensively to hold it all together. The couching and embroidery on the top was inspired by a scrap of lace. It shows both masculine and feminine elements in equal parts. The contrast between the precise ‘best’ of the ‘parlour’ (as inherited from my British ancestors) and the insidious nature of the Australian bush – the stain readily made by the gum leaves, the dust, the flies and the general dry ‘spikeyness’ of the flora fascinates me.

the leaf printing journey

Printing with leaves takes a lot of time and experimentation

Printed this paper in my first workshop
with Elizabeth Bunsen
I did lots of embellishing to add interest

The next 3 photos are of current print bundles
Now I get colour & definition of leaf shape
and print on fabric

eucalyptus with casuarina needles creating a fine tracery
on fine merino wool scarf

eucalyptus with grevillia (silky oak)
on silk satin

eucalyptus with a different grevillia
again on silk satin

of course, you don't NEED to look

These are all silk satin scarves

beautiful t-shirt scarves for summer

(just when we are heading into winter!)

this one has a beautiful smoky, hazy effect

Grevillia - very graphic

is it getting monotonous? more printing

these are produced by using wet leaves on dry fabric

lots of scrunchy folds

very distinct but patchy prints

quite a lovely quality

printing on wool

the leaves

the print

a very beautiful print on silk scrim