I am sooo impressed with the generosity of the eucalyptus leaves...I had seen some going for a display and asked for the branches when they were through with them and voila, beautiful silk and wool, not to mention the smell in the house...very fragrant. I took the leaves and just soaked them for a few weeks, and then the color of the water was so deep rust and then placed some silk/merino which I had previously mordanted with alum and COT, and just let it sit in the bath for an overnight, and that is the single skein, almost dried...the other is two more skeins that I have soaking in the strained eucalyptus water...I love the color they came out and keep adding more water to the leaves and it seems it is endlessly putting out more color. So I am soaking more leaves. Also have some cherry bark soaking and it is putting out color already. I will try that as soon as I have more mordanted wool finished, and the garden planted...\
I did plant some woad seeds today, which I had received from Kirkoe in Germany, and have some lovely little weld plants in the garden which have spread all over the place. I am concentrating on more plants for dyeing, and will make a plot for them so I can keep track of them in the garden. It is a wonderfully springy day today, and the doors are open and the sun is shining.
2 comments:
Gorgeous colour! And I'll bet the scent was divine. :-)
do you know what species that eucalyptus is? often the blue-grey leaved ones will give bright reds if fresh leaves are processed in rainwater [the stuff that comes out of the taps can often have hidden impurities that tamper with colour]
on the other hand if that's Eucalyptus globulus [the Tassie Bluegum that grows abundantly on the West Coast of North America] you might try some ecoprints from the leaves [juveniles sometimes do a lime green print, even though they boil up to a brown]
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