Las Pozas

Last weekend we went to 'Las Pozas', a river 2 hours drive from Madrid. It was the first time this summer and it felt so good to be out in the country side, sleeping under the stars and swimming in the cool, crystal clear water.
While we were there I collected some oak leaves and some bracken (from the sea of ferns above).
I'm in the process of trying to make some dyes and prints with them ... I'll show you how I go.

Teresa

Aktil

This is Aktil looking so cute, sitting on his new crochet rug from Madrid, in Fremantle.
I find it amazing that in one week this little rug can travel from me to be in here in this photo with this gorgeous little guy on a winter's day by the beach.
Gil and John, he's so lovely! I can't wait to meet him.

Green

Colour

The eucalyptus leaves after soaking overnight had already started to colour the water and the house was full of the smell of eucalyptus oil.
After simmering them for almost an hour I removed the hot leaves and added the cotton with soy mordent.
The photo below is a little bit deceiving as the end result is less orange, quite a dull brown, but still beautiful and with the strong scent of eucalyptus.

Australian Flora Seeds

Last week I finally planted some of these seeds. Desert Pea, Kangaroo Paw, Banksia, Wattle and Waratah.

y con cobre

Gum Leaves

I've left the leaves soaking in water for them to rehydrate a little and then tomorrow I'm going to simmer them to extract the colour.

He puesto las hojas en agua a remojar por la noche para que se rehidraten un poco. Mañana voy a ponerlas a fuego lento para extraer el color.

Eucalyptus Dyes - Mordent

We were down in Almería again for the long weekend where I collected the eucalyptus leaves (one month ago), which are still hanging in our window. Long over due, today I pulled out some cotton and put it in some soy milk as a mordant. I half filled a bucket with water and added one litre (one carton) of soy milk, as suggested in 'Eco Colour’ as a good starting point.
Tomorrow I'll take out the fabric out and let it dry and then it will be ready to start experimenting with. The leaves by now are very dry, but we'll see how it goes ...


Hemos estado en Almería otra vez este fin de semana donde cogí las hojas de eucalypto hace un mes. Todavia están colgando en nuestra ventana. (más tiempo del que deberían). Hoy he puesto una tela de algodón en un cubo con leche de soja como mordiente. He llenado un cubo con agua y he añadido un litro de leche de soja (un carton), como se sugiere en el libro ‘eco colour’.
Mañana voy a sacar la tela y la dejaré secar y después estará lista para empezar a experimentar con ella. Las hojas ahora estan muy secas, pero vamos a ver como va ...

Hammam

Our last trip to Morocco we didn't get to have a Hammam. I love them! Firstly, as you enter it feels like your going into an underground cave, the domed ceiling with small circles of light layed out in patterns linking you to the world above. Next the steaming while laying on warm tiles and then being scrubed by someone is always so luxuroious. Watching roles of dead skin being washed of your body, it always feels like it's doing you wonders.

Instead, this time I bought some black scratchy scrubbing gloves and last weekend we created a hammam in our bathroom. With pots and towels full of hot water to create the steaming and then a good scrub. So good!