A very good friend of mine who teaches Art and Design recently went along to a natural dyemaking course. She later wanted to continue with some experiments at home so she invited me to join her. It was somewhat of a refresher for both of us as we had touched on the process a little in our course at Canberra school of Art. However she had a few new ideas for us to try.

It is a lovely process of collecting and boiling up the leaves. You never know exactly what your going to get. Results can vary due to the time of year, growing conditions and other factors. One thing I learned was I need to brush up on my tree identification so you know what is what!

The Proscess

Wattle and white wool

Before and after

The Results

Wattle

It is actually a little greener than it appears in the photo. I used mostly leaves as the blossoms were all but finished.

Eucalyptus mannifera and a rusty spanner

The iron spanner made the colour darker, more brown than orange.

Eucalyptus bridgesiana

Eucalyptus mannifera

We didn't use any modants in this round of experimenting, apart from throwing in the rusty spannner but that was quite experimental. Commonly used mordants for wool include Iron, Copper, Tin, Chrome and Alum. They can effect the colours and ensure the dye is colourfast. we will play with some of these next time, stay tuned for the results,

School holiday time is drawing to a close. This holidays I tried to combine work and keeping my very active five year old son busy and interested.

Mt Majura

We packed a picnic, binoculars, camera, sketchbook and set out by mid morning. Canberra in the spring is such a beautiful time of year to get outdoors. Mt Majura is one of the many nature parks in the bush capital.

We made it to the top, stopping along the way to photograph flowers, draw dinosaurs, observe shingle back lizards and do a spot of rock hoping.

Intrepid explorer and friend.

Indigofera australis

Stypandra Glauca

Wurmbea dioica (Early nancy)

Dinosaur drawing.

The top!

Bulbine glauca (Rock lily)

Rock hoping.

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Another day another picnic.

So many species flowering this time of year. We had a great day, we searched in vain for dinosaurs in the rainforest section but we did find some other replites, birds and even a Monotreme.