I’m constantly amazed at how Natural Dyes all work so well together! Here is a combination of Logwood, Madder, Lac, Cochineal, Weld and Marigold natural dyes. Japanese Shibori resist techniques.
Author Archives: mary
Indigo & Persimmon
Cotton and Silk dyed with Persimmon and Indigo Natural dyes.
Bouquets
Two paintings from a series of paintings of Bouquets I’ve begun.
Linen
Linen Scarves. Indigo. Weld/Madder/Brazilwood. Logwood
Dresses
Silk Gauze and Silk Organza, dyed with Persimmon and Iron Natural dyes, Copper wire, dried plant material. They are an attempt to express the fragility of the female body, a homage to all the many, many women who have been victims of war and abuse.
Cochineal Dye
These scarves have both been dyed with Cochineal natural dye, which comes from tiny insects found on cactus plants. I’ve only used a bit of dye to give this soft pink colour. One scarf is Merino wool, the other is silk. Printed using Japanese Shibori resist technique.
Some dye experiments
Linen dyed with iron, weld and logwood 
Merino wool dyed with iron, weld and osage 
Silk dyed with iron, weld and logwood
Some experiments with natural dyes. Looking for interesting colours in the grey, brown neutral range. Using a bit of iron with weld and several other natural dyes. I’m happy with the complexity of the colours of the various combinations.
Hydrangea Aspera
Two paintings of the leaves of my Hydrangea Aspera, summer and autumn.
Oil on canvas with silver and gold leaf
Indian Cotton
Very soft Indian cotton with a tiny gold flower pattern.
Dyed with Indigo, Logwood, Madder, Cutch and Myrobalan natural dyes.
Japanese Silk
I brought home some wonderful silk from my recent trip to Japan. The silk is so fine- Gossamer- lovely to work with. I’ve been dyeing it with natural dyes, Indigo, Madder, Logwood, Cutch, Marigold, Weld and Iron
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Midsummer Night Dress
My latest creation! The silk is from saris that I found several years ago in Calcutta, deconstructed, and then dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. The Magnolia leaves are painted with fabric paint.
On display at Circle Craft on Granville Island, Vancouver, until the end of August 2017, as part of their 45th Anniversary Exhibition.
Indigo and Logwood
I have been dyeing more scarves, a silk/cotton blend from India, using natural dyes.
A lot of Indigo and some Logwood.
Midwinter/Midsummer
These paintings “Midwinter Frost” and “Midsummer Night” represent two very opposite seasons in my garden. The paintings are about absence as much as presence.
Sitting in the garden on a dark, hot summer night the plant forms seem to grow larger, darker, more mysterious, sometimes even a bit menacing.
On a cold winter day there is a stark beauty and emptiness, expressed so well by Wallace Stevens in the last stanza of his poem “The Snow Man”.
“For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
Seasons of My Garden
My garden is a constant source of inspiration, both visually and metaphorically. I am fascinated at observing the seasonal changes, from the soft, hopeful greens of tender shoots emerging in spring, through the vivid colours and overgrown exuberance of summer and early fall, to the stillness and melancholy of muted browns and purples in the late fall and winter garden. As I experience the aging process of my own body and am confronted with the death and loss of family and friends, the natural cycle of death and rebirth that I witness in my garden seems a surprising source of solace and comfort.
This series of dresses is my attempt to evoke the various moods and emotions of the changing seasons of my garden.
Alstroemeria
I’ve been drawing and painting Alstroemeria. There is a wonderful loose softness, messiness, blowsiness to them that I love! Used some silver leaf on the second painting.
Transparent Silks
I love the ethereal, transparent qualities of these Indian silks.
I’ve used Indigo, Persimmon and Logwood natural dyes, followed by machine embroidery.
More Scarves with Natural Dyes and Shibori
I’ve been working with silk from India, experimenting with combinations of Indigo, Persimmon, Rust, Logwood and Pomegranate natural dyes and various Shibori techniques.
Indigo/Shibori/Silk
This Indigo/Shibori/Silk Scarf is a good example of a few of the reasons why I fell madly in love with “Textile Arts”.
Silk is definitely my fabric of choice. The transformation by silk worms of mulberry leaves into the delicate gossamer yet amazingly strong threads of silk is magical.
Indigo is most certainly the queen of natural dyes. How can you not be in awe at watching the change in colours of fabric that has just been removed from an indigo vat change slowly from greens to those gorgeous blues? Pure alchemy!
Hollyhocks
Hollyhocks, in bud, before they have bloomed.
Last year in early August I spent some time in the village of Caseneuve in the Luberon in southern France. Hollyhocks were growing everywhere, a riot, an exuberance of Hollyhocks (Rose Tremiere in french). They seem to have the ability to grow anywhere that there is the smallest bit of soil, amongst paving stones, beside houses, between broken bits of pavement.
Silk gauze
I’ve started working with silk gauze. Dyeing it. Sewing it. Learning how to manipulate it. The silk gauze is so fragile it feels like working with air. The transparency and luminosity is wonderful.
In October I took a course at Maiwa from Kyoko Ueda from Japan who taught me how to begin to work with this amazing fabric.
