Kimberly Baxter Packwood

Kimberly Baxter Packwood is a fiber artist living on the prairie, in Ames, Iowa. She is the owner of The Prairie Fibers Company, a supplier of natural dyes and other fiber arts supplies.

Kimberly uses several unique methods of creating designs on fabric. One is a technique she calls compost dyeing, which involves burying fabric in a compost pile for a period of time. Another technique is fermentation dyeing -- wrapping plant materials in fabric and sealing them in plastic for several weeks to several months

She then uses these fabrics in quilts -- piecing, layering and stitching. Here are four of her recent fiber art pieces that use compost- and fermentation-dyed fabrics.

Prairie Potholes II:



Pale Horse:



Sandstone I:



Sandstone II (Petraglyph):



You can see more of Kimberly's work on her fiber art website.

Liz Plummer

Liz Plummer is a fiber and quilt artist living in South Wales in the UK, and she has been experimenting with creating color and patterns on silk using rust.

Here is Liz's explanation of how she got started with rust dyeing:

"I started it really as a result of a discussion on the Quiltart list, when I realized that I had some bottles of vinegar left from an abortive attempt at using 'real' nappies when the kids were babies! And my husband was away so I could snaffle some of his rusty tools without him knowing!! So accidental, really... And soaking stuff in vinegar is so much easier than all that hassle with soda ash or mordants."

These are two of Liz's recent rust pieces on silk:

This is a quilt she created from a rust piece:



And a closeup of the quilt:

This is one of the tools that Liz uses to rust her fabrics -- a rusty bucket:

She wraps fabric around the bucket, or other rusty tools, and lets the rust transfer onto the fabric.

You can see more of Liz's rust and quilt work on her blog and her website.

Welcome!

I started this blog because of my interest in natural and nontoxic art materials. I have been an acrylic painter for many years, and I find it increasingly difficult to ignore the environmental problems of the planet. As a result, I have begun to experiment with various natural materials in my art, and I want to showcase the work of other artists who are also working with natural materials.

My own experiments have involved using mold to create patterns on canvas:






And painting with dry Earth pigments in a soy milk binder:






Other artists are using all sorts of materials including rust, wax, plants, clay, and minerals. I look forward to sharing their work with you.