Natural dye silk, eco printing flowes & other things
Two weekends ago, I finally did the project that had been sitting in the back of my mind for about two years. It started, as these things sometimes do, with an extremely specific and completely unnecessary urge to buy organic mulberry silk from an Etsy shop. I suddenly really wanted a silk scrunchie. And not just any silk scrunchie. One I could dye and sew myself. Which is a rather tedious and expensive way of acquiring a silk scrunchie.
It was very spur of the moment. And then it sat dormant in our basement for two years.
Lately, somewhere between wanting to play more and trying to settle some loneliness, I’ve found myself materialising little projects like this. Things to make, figure out, get my hands into.
I had saved avocado skins and pits from two avocados, which I wasn't convinced would be enough. Back in 2024 I had bought alum for mordanting, but naturally couldn't find it anywhere when the moment finally arrived.
So I used vinegar instead. Was vinegar actually a legitimate mordant substitute for this? No idea. I chatgpt’ed a replacement and instructions, gave the silk 30 minutes in vinegar, because when the moment strikes, we roll with what’s on hand. And somehow, it worked. The skins and pits from two avocados, plus my questionable vinegar mordant, turned the silk into the dreamiest soft salmon pink.
Then me and the kids went into the garden and picked what was left of the flowers in late September: roses, hollyhocks, wild rocket, borage, snapdragons, verbena, calendula. We laid them onto the silk and made little botanical prints from whatever was still hanging on at the end of the season.
Natural dyeing and eco-printing. A tiny bit of alchemy. A Sunday spent making something for no particular reason other than I really, really wanted to. Messy and really beautiful. I think that’s how I prefer most things.
There is nothing organized about this happenstance of dying silk fabric with avocado.
Yum! Look at the soft sloppy peachy pink.
Frida and the starflower. Such a potent blue. Sadly, did not make any blue in the eco print with flowers.
Collecting flower for printing. Whatever was blooming in late September would do.
This looks like a floral aura reading. I’m an absolute sucker for beauty.
Flowers and silk fabric. If you ask med what flowers to use for printing fabric, the answers is two-parted: I don’t know but whatever’s on hand :)
Like the decent DIYer I am, I have no idea what I’m doing. Cut up some wooden BBQ skewers I found at the very, very bottom of a kitchen drawer. Regular string.
Sprinkle flowers, roll and tie.
Rolled.
Steamed.
Kiddos rolled and un-rolled too.
Yes. Since I’m not a professional blogger, I forgot to take a photo of the printed flowers on the silk.
Bottom fabric is the silk dyed with avocado and flowers. Top is the test scrunchie, dyed but not printed, that I cut and sewed a month ago to find the right size and volume of fabric, and the right length of elastic for it to sit nicely in the hair and also around the wrist.
How many projects can a woman set to life on a random Sunday? This was too many. But I’ve been feeling under-stimulated and lonely lately, so I needed to do things with my hands. That paper pulp had been sitting around for a week before it got made into a really ugly wall piece, otherwise the paper pulp would have gone sour. Haha.
Now I just need to sew nine silk scrunchies. Might be a project for 2028. Who knows.
