Thursday, January 13, 2011

red geraniums did it again

There's a lot you can do, dye-wise, with red geraniums (pelargonium). This is one plant that puts all of us, whether in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere, in the same season. Most of us in the Northern have geraniums over-wintering under plant lights or by a sunny window, and those in the Southern have them outside where they belong! But they bloom no matter where they are, these sweethearts.

This is white silk on which I laid semi-dried oak leaves and sprinkled red geranium flower petals all over. Then it was tightly rolled, tied, and steamed, 20 minutes on two consecutive days, over boiling water. As a mordant, about 1/2 t. alum was sprinkled in the water and the pot was aluminum as well. I just left it on the counter in between steaming sessions, then let it dry completely before unrolling and ironing.

voilà! -- red geranium/oak leaf dyed silk

There is a plan in the works for this silk and some other silks from the dye-pot. And the Rumi cloth. I'm not exactly sure how, but somehow these pieces will be parts of a new whole.

rumi cloth, marigold silk, red geranium/oak leaf silk, elderberry/orange marigold silk

6 comments:

  1. So beautiful...I look forward to seeing your piece as you work on it.
    I also love the tea jar idea.

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  2. Wonderful results : ) amazing, I didn't know geraniums gave color, they are sooo sweet and beautiful, all those colors. I'll definately have to try some once it gets warm enough to find them in our local nursery : ) I also use my jar collection for all kinds of stuff too, but lately I've been using them for dye stuff, heehee : ) I've added another jar of eco dye of avocado skins with copper and so far, it only loooks dark brown. not sure I like it much, I'll give it at least 10 days to see what it'll do and then ?? the red cabbage jars are still loooking the same colors, coool, but we'll see at the end of 10 days on those too. Have you ever used the avocado skins for dye ?? just wondering : )
    Blessings, Sandra-AZMountainwoman : )

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  3. Mo'a, thank you -- it's scary & exciting at the same time!

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  4. Grace, I'm amazed at this one, too! Red geraniums. Who'da thunk?

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  5. Sandra MountainWoman, you know I haven't gotten to avocado skins yet. Was there something about a certain variety to get a pink color? Maybe I dreamt it. Keep us posted though! It's so fun, isn't it?

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