The photo above is of my Manna Gum before I removed the wrapping a day or so ago. This was initially an old piece of white cotton sheeting, that has shown a varying range of colour since it was all wrapped up six months ago. The next two photos show the cloth immediately after it was removed - as you can see, it is strongly marked in places and is the typical reddish brown that one gets when dyeing with these eucalyptus leaves.
Because I was unsure if the colours would remain after washing, I initially steeped the cloth in water with added alum for a couple of hours. I wish I had not, as it changed the colour significantly as you can see below, so it is now a softer brown colour. This was then washed gently with delicate fabrics type detergent, to give the finished result you can see. There are still lots of markings, both sides are different, with some light bits and some a whole lot darker, unfortunately many of them do not show up well in these photos, but it is an attractive piece of fabric. Not sure what I shall use it for..... it will be added to my stash of naturally dyed pieces andwait for inspiration! An interesting experiment, but probably one I would not bother with again. Thanks Ladies, I look forward to seeing how your bits turn out.
The photo above is of my Manna Gum before I removed the wrapping a day or so ago. This was initially an old piece of white cotton sheeting, that has shown a varying range of colour since it was all wrapped up six months ago. The next two photos show the cloth immediately after it was removed - as you can see, it is strongly marked in places and is the typical reddish brown that one gets when dyeing with these eucalyptus leaves.
Because I was unsure if the colours would remain after washing, I initially steeped the cloth in water with added alum for a couple of hours. I wish I had not, as it changed the colour significantly as you can see below, so it is now a softer brown colour. This was then washed gently with delicate fabrics type detergent, to give the finished result you can see. There are still lots of markings, both sides are different, with some light bits and some a whole lot darker, unfortunately many of them do not show up well in these photos, but it is an attractive piece of fabric. Not sure what I shall use it for..... it will be added to my stash of naturally dyed pieces andwait for inspiration! An interesting experiment, but probably one I would not bother with again. Thanks Ladies, I look forward to seeing how your bits turn out.
5 comments:
Hiya Sue, it's a shame the rich colour washed out. Perhaps if the wraps were premordanted the colour would stay in a bit better.
It's been fun though.
hugs Annette
The initial color was so gorgeous, I lusted after that wrap whenever you posted photos as I don't have eucalyptus here in TN. I would be tempted to rewrap the tree.
maybe some of the initial colour was just simple old dirt, i know mine was. anyway the end result is worth it and you can now overdye it maybe with it's own leaves in a bundle.
it's all good, k.
i agree with Kaite, it has lots of possibilities for overdyeing.
XXXm
I wonder if wool would retain the colour better, might go wrap a tree now with some strips of Op hop blanket.
Thankyou for your interesting project to follow
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