Fustic and Indigo green is The Best. This shade of green makes me slap my face a la Macaulay Caulkin and rather than scream, I kind of just go “eughaaargh” and make other nonsense noises because words just cannot explain how good it is.

Growing up in Australia I’m used to seeing stereotypical images of our bush (that’s Aussie for forest for any international readers), the ones where the ground is brown, the tree is brown, and the leaves are a dull greenish silver, or just army green. It does have it’s beauty and if you’re an art fan, please go look up John Glover. He’ll make you slap your face a la Macaulay as well.

For most of my life I have always found green rather boring, unless it was a beautiful foreign forest green, the kind I have never seen a great deal of living here. So imagine my incredible delight when I thought to myself “perhaps I will try a green” and stumbled upon this loveliness. Since I have it has opened my eyes to it in the Australian landscape too. Now I see it everywhere. It flashes out at me like little emerald gems that were once secreted away because to see them always would tarnish their beauty.

I know I say this about every colour, but I think it’s my favourite. It is however a harder colour to achieve. Well, it’s not really hard per say, it’s just that it takes longer to achieve, because you have to dye your textile twice. In the world of natural dyes that means in whatever order you choose to work, you effectively dye your work three times, because fustic requires a mordant first. If you want to do it on cotton, it means 3 mordants and 2 dye jobs! That is just crazy, what kind of lunatic would spend that much time dyeing something?

Me.

I have always found the colour red to be immensely appealing.  It’s bright, yet dark, it glows, but can be sombre. It’s the colour of love, blood, danger, the desert and fire engines. It means different things and triggers different emotional responses depending on the context in which it is used.

Possibly the loveliest part of dyeing with madder, is the smell of it. It has a rich earthy sweet smell, and it just smells red!  Standing at the stove, checking my dye, breathing in the sweet earthy aroma makes me feel really connected to what I am working on. It conjures up a sense of well being and warmth, contentment and pleasure.

If I was a religious person I would say it feels like a prayer. Standing at the stove, feeling the heat, breathing in the dye’s scent, it centres me and makes me calm. I imagine it’s how a chef feels when they are concocting a culinary masterpiece, and all the flavours come together just so, and they can smell it, and they know the joy of what they’re making before it is done.

Madder is a traditional dye plant and it’s use has been dated as far back as 2000 BC.  The dye is present in the root of the plant, and is cultivated in 3 year intervals. I would love to grow my own madder for use, but the 3 year wait to then harvest has dissuaded me so far.

All my experiments with Madder root have been on merino and alpaca yarns. I would like to attempt a Turkey Red on cotton one day, but the length of time and investment involved in using it with a plant based fibre is daunting to say the least. I will do it eventually, even if just to say that I have.

Madder root is quite a weak dye and requires a lot of it for depth of shade. It can make for a bit of a thrilling dye experience because then if you screw up, you know you might as well have set some money on fire instead! The upside however when it works out is you get a brilliant deep red, and you can then use the dye bath again and again to achieve lighter shades. The lighter corals, peaches and pinks are quite lovely, and are just as colourfast.  They remind me of the roses that grow in the front yards around Moreland at the end of summer.

Madder is considered to be very light and washfast, and can be good to use as a control sample when testing other dyes for the same. The most important technical thing to remember when you dye with Madder Root is to not let it get too hot, or your colour will not be as pleasantly vibrant.

Enjoy your dyeing with Madder! Don’t forget to take a moment to relax, breathe it in, and let it’s earthy wonderfulness wash over you.

Merino throws dyed with Madder available in the shop!

Before I began to make items for sale and had a “real” job, I had no idea the length of time it takes to create the things that we use in everyday life.  If I needed something I could just go to the shops and buy whatever I needed, and I could buy it for very little money. And I still can. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to go and buy something that has been mass produced and then sold for less than $20. I imagine many many hands have touched that item, and how can it have been produced for so little and a profit still be made? It doesnt make sense that it could have been; not without corners being cut, and somebody not receiving adequate payment for their work.

So I try to buy handmade items where I can, or items that have been produced ethically, and I particularly enjoy buying work that has been made locally.

All my work is produced slowly. I buy my supplies in as close to a raw state as I can manage. Everything I sell began it’s life in an undyed, neutral state.  It takes time for it to become the finished item that I sell. Sometimes a very long time, depending on what it is.

I kind of like that about it. Everything I make is crafted individually, or very close to individually.

It’s nice to work this way. I get to enjoy whatever I create while I create it. I shape it, and it shapes me.

I’ll slowly be adding the time it takes for an item to be made to my store descriptions. I think it’s nice to know how something was made, and be given the opportunity to be mindful of its humble beginnings.

I’ve worked on some new stuff recently which I haven’t shown off yet blog wise! I’ve done a short run of Linen cushion covers which you can grab in the shop, and I also made some one of a kind patchwork scarves using merino.

I’ve been doing a lot of admin behind the scenes and have recently picked up not one but four new stockist! How cool is that?? I think it’s pretty cool. In Melbourne you can find me at Hut13 on Swan St in Richmond. It’s pretty close to the Corner hotel. Then you can find me at Nook in West End (Brisbane QLD) and at Mr Sparrow in Subiaco (Perth WA). Lastly you can find me online at Hunt & Bow.

I feel pretty lucky to be picked up by such great stores!

In other news I have some cool stuff I want to work on over the xmas. I’m going to finally get a fermentation vat going, and a 123 vat as well. Then I have a number of new techniques to try out, so I’ll no doubt have some great photos to share of those too. I’ve recently been admiring the work of Hiroyuki Shindo, which I highly recommend taking a look at. Truly awe inspiring beautiful stuff. Something to aim for!

This weekend I will be at Bend and Snap Market at 1000 £ Bend on Sunday. I’ve got some new goodies in the shape of merino gloves to unveil, dyed with Indigo, Madder and Cochineal. They’re pretty spesh, and super warm.

I’ll also have a few merino scarves dyed with Madder and Cochineal as well as a bunch of yarn of differing bases, as well as my Indigo. Busy busy! I’ve got the yarn mordanting on the stove as I write this post in fact!

If you’ve been nosing around the shop lately you’ll see that I have a few silk scarves on sale. These will be available at the sale prices at the market, as well as a few others that haven’t been listed in the shop yet, and some eco prints. Ooh! And I also have some home wares that are yet to make a website appearance! Gees I really should get cracking and put all this stuff in the shop!

I also did a little interview a few months back with the organisers of Bend and Snap. Click here to have a read of it. 

I started dyeing yarn because I wanted great coloured yarn for all the knits I make for my son. He wears a lot of vests, and he looks cute as a button in them!

Anyway, with my conquering of the Indigo vat I decided to start sticking yarn into it, and then also thought about other natural dyes that I’ve been itching to try. With the help of a fantastic customer who basically said to me “have at it, I’m sure it will be great!” I have, in the past week also tried my hand at dyeing with Madder and Cochineal.

Ah yarn. Yarn love! Such glorious colours from such wonderful natural dye sources. I also dyed some yarn with Eucalyptus, continuing my experiments with that as a dye source.

I’m pleased to announce that you can now purchase yarn via the shop, dyed to order.

On another note, if you’re not a follower of my facebook page, (then why not??) but you will have missed that Bend and Snap has been cancelled for this Sunday the 30th of June. I will now be at Bend and Snap market on July 28th 2013. So if you were thinking to yourself “I’m going to go and buy some shibori from Vic this weekend” then you’ll have to do it via the website!

The second thing I am loving about this market is the venue. It’s at one of my all time favourite venues the Northcote Social Club! Which as most people would know is an awesome band venue. I have seen many many awesome bands there, and have also enjoyed many (not toooooo many) beverages there too.

I’ll be bringing along my Indigo and my Eco and perhaps some other things too. I am also thinking of bringing a mini vat with me, so if you want to ogle a vat, then please come on down and have a chat with me. I’m always happy to talk about vats with people.

Here’s another little eco teaser for everyone. This beauty has been sold, but I’ll get another ready before Saturday!

I started out trying to do some eco printing on silk with eucalyptus. I steamed my bundled leaves and then after an hour happily unravelled them to find…not much. I got some very pale yellow leaf prints, not the glorious reds and pale greens I was expecting.

So I did some overdyeing. My favorite has been overdyed with logwood (above) and has an iron mordant (improving the lightfastness of the logwood as an added bonus). It’s very earthy and rustic.

Then I overdyed some others with purple carrot (above) and also red cabbage (not shown). Interesting results! I created twist resists on these to preserve the original colour so there would be some patterning. I quite like these too, they are pale but also quite pretty.

I also solar dyed 2 scarves (below, shown together), one with a mix of berries and a bit of callistemon, and the other just with calistemon. The darker one is the berries. I actually prefer the paler on in this instance, the callistemon gave a nice earthy dusky pink.

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at eco printing again, being a long weekend I had a little more “me” time. (Thanks husband!!)

Well, yesterday’s efforts paid off, I got some stunning results!

These will all be up for sale at the Rose St Market this coming Sunday!! I’ve also just bundled up some of the Merino so fingers crossed it does as i intend. If so, it will also be available on Sunday.  If you see anything you like and wish to purchase, drop me an email! vic@bindandfold.com

PS, I’ll take some snazzier photos when the weather improves. It’s been yucky and grey all day! Just when I need some sunshine for my camera, poo poo.

This past weekend I had a stall at Craft Hatch, which was pretty amazing, I met some wonderful designers as well as some of the Craft (Victoria) people which was really great.

2 designers I would love to share from Craft Hatch are Shiko and Mara Kapsis. Shiko creates beautiful hand thrown pottery (I picked up a tea cup, and it is divine) and Mara Kapsis creates gorgeous hand screen printed home wares and gift wrapping. If you take a peek on her website though, she has also done some work with natural dyes, which I absolutely would have quizzed her on had I realised!

I did launch my new 100% NZ Merino range of scarves at Craft Hatch, which were received rather well, (yay!) and I have also now begun listing them on the website and etsy. I will have more colours listed by the end of today. These scarves are generously sized at approx. 50cm x 165cm, They’re a really great width and length, yet each scarf weighs approx 150g, making them super lightweight! Merino is really a fantastic fibre to work with, its light yet warm, it wicks moisture, its super soft and is just all round amazing.  They are also perfect for both men and women, they’re all round just great.

Coming up on June 16 I will be at Rose St market in Fitzroy, along with some other fabulous stalls. Rose St market also has a cafe and has a really cruisey vibe. I saw some great work last time I visited, I was really blown away by the talent displayed there! After tackling my first ever market, I’m looking forward to doing another so quickly.

Lastly, on the 30th of June I will be at 1000 Pound Bend once again for Bend and Snap! Bend and Snap has some really cool stalls at it, and they always have little craft projects going on that everyone can take part in, so if you want to get your craft on, then it’s a great market to visit.