Solar Discharge

I'm back to working with natural dyes and pigments, inspired by India Flint's new book, Eco Colour. I highly recommend this book, but it's only available in Australia, so you'll have to order it from there.

Look at this solar discharge piece in process. I tied up a piece of dyed cotton canvas into a spiral bundle, and I'm letting the sun fade one side of it. Here's the unfaded side, or the "before" picture, so to speak:



And here's the faded side, or the "after" picture:



It's been sitting in the sun for about a month now, and I think it should be ready to open in another week or so. Stay tuned!

Solar Dyeing Experiments

I've been experimenting with solar dyeing -- using the heat and energy of the sun to dye fabrics rather than boiling or simmering them using electricity or gas.

Lots of yellows in this batch of pomegranate rind, yellow dock root, and juniper berries:

Some materials work really well with solar dyeing, like this batch of pomegranate rind with a little copper added from an oxidized copper pipe:

Other materials don't work well, like these carrot tops which don't appear to be emitting any color at all:

Thus the need for experimentation!