These are all cellulose fabrics that were dyed with eucalyptus. I made two dyebaths with euc leaves ~ the top one had a small piece of copper in the bath, and the two below had some rusty iron in the bath.
All the pieces had been wrapped or tied up for shibori in some way, and they sat in their respective glass jars solar dyeing for a week after the initial hour-long steep in the liquid.
The fabrics had been premordanted
once in either alkaline (soda ash/water) or protein (soy milk/water). The bottom piece had been dyed previously with plant dyes, which also deposited tannic acid on the fabric, hence the darker color. I have one more batch of hot bundles that I'll be unwrapping today after a week-long sit.
Now I am premordanting cellulose fabrics
four times, alternately with alkaline and protein, to build up a better foundation of color acceptance. So I'm anticipating that further eco dyeing I do -- hot or cold bundled or pot-dyed -- will result in more darkly colored fabric with much better plant prints.
It's all such an experiment ~ just like life itself!
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