Pinked to Gray

Fireberry tea - great to drink, dye wooden spoons...

but not so much paper.

?!?!

Well...It's a pretty dove gray, a nice neutral background.

For starters, don't add the alum to cold water until after you have boiled and added the dye/tea.  It reacted to the stainless steel.

It's a gorgeous pot of pink!

While the paper was still damp, I added drops of purple watercolor above.

And then I tried sprinkling some tea to the damp paper - I liked that effect!

The dyed paper started out as a beautiful shade of pink and then turned into gray before my eyes as it dried --  albeit a pretty shades of gray which made a great backdrop to purple and pink painted and leaf stamped back in. . .

(Click to see an earlier art post here from this adventure)

Booked

In class yesterday we made a soft cover long stitch bound book.  Mine had two "signatures" - sections of dyed and folded pages.  I liked how it turned out!  The pink-purple cover is cochineal, the blue is indigo.  We remarked in class how nice it felt to hold them, the weight and the softness/organic feel.

Side view with the Japanese Stab Binding

Here's the inside --

Today I dyed extra fabric with Madder root and hibiscus.  Not as vibrant but still a subtle visual effect.  The paper pages were also more diffused and more suitable for showcasing writing or ink sketching.   (I will post those photos later)

Madder gave it the reddish brown color -
and grabbed on to the raw edges
This hibiscus dye bath stayed more purple-blue-pink

Pressed for Purple

"Lori's Purple Oxalis"
5 1/2" x 4"

"Lori's Purple Oxalis" - watercolor on hand dyed watercolor paper, impressioned while still wet with the top of a plastic to-go drink lid.

‪#‎WorldWatercolorMonth‬