Oh, Nuts!

Here I am again.  Finally.  I apologize for being absent from my blog for so long, but due to family illnesses and my own, plus a very active teaching schedule, I just haven't had the time.  I am about to get caught up and back to my dyeing, so I thought I would show my latest efforts.  I have just  opened a Silk Crepe de Chine scarf, 22" x 90", that I dyed Shibori style using small green hickory nuts and a dye bath that had copper scrap in it. I had used the dye bath previously to print on paper using sea grape leaves, Boston fern, hickory leaves, oak leaves and the leaves from a red passion flower vine.  The container was a galvanized trash can.  I boiled the prints between two ceramic tiles for one hour and left them in the dye bath overnight to cool.  I will post a couple of the resulting prints and the scarf photos after I write this entry.  I hope I can encourage you to experiment fearlessly.  Use whatever fabrics you can and keep good notes.  Natural fibers seem to work the best, but I have printed on cotton polyester blends when the dye bath was very acidic.  I love the prints I get on watercolor paper, and it is rather an inexpensive medium, so feel free to experiment.,