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Showing posts with label heirloom flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heirloom flowers. Show all posts
Nature Prints
I have some purple/black bearded iris in a canning jar on the counter. They are beautiful- I "saved" them from the post office- with permission, of course!!! Their tall stalks had been broken and their blooms dragging in the mud. When I go back to the post office today, I am going to check and make sure none of the brilliant yellow ones have broken- or they will come home with me also!!! :>)
I noticed, as the day long blooms start to wither, they cry huge purple tears on the counter top.
I thought this might be a good opportunity to see how the blossoms might work as a dye. So, I dug up some felted wool, and put some spent blooms and the wool in water. The water turned a pretty shade of blue! In order to have the color set into the fabric, I thought I might try boiling it to see what happens.
The pretty blue, when boiled, turns the fabric to a not so attractive earthen shade of yellowish brown. Not quite the color I was looking for! I'll have to do a little reading on dying to see how to set color.
This morning, there was more iris 'blood' on the counter, so I grabbed a piece of watercolor paper, and my rubber gloves (iris blood stains), and started dabbing away on the paper with the limp bloom.
Now you see why things don't get done around here - I am SO easily distracted!!!
It actually turned out quite nicely-the photos don't quite do it justice. I'm thinking more "spoonflower" fabric with this one!!!
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