Saturday 14 November 2015

Deer, Roe deer, Roe deer....

Deer have been much in my mind of late, and then I saw Tammie's invitation to this drawing challenge!  A while ago I was thrilled to find a Roe deer antler on the marshland behind our home, and made a journal entry about it.


These deer are British natives. Unlike most deer species, they are solitary, but form small groups in the cold months.  I though I'd try some wintry sketches of a buck...

 and a doe.....


 
Then this evening,  I got a tweet from the National Trust, who saw this photo I took of the Fallow deer herd at Dyrham Park. They loved it and asked if they could use it in their social media promotional material! So I'm feeling that deer are very dear today!



Sunday 1 November 2015

Natural Dyeing again

More playing in the kitchen, mordant free!


Some lovely pale indigo/grey tones with black beans - I used a lot more this time!



Avocado pits next. I played about with re-wetting, drying and folding the freshly dyed fabrics,  and got some nice textural marks.


I was really pleased with the colours this time, again, I used more stones, and waited overnight before using the dye bath. Apparently the avocado produces its own mordant?


This doily had been tea dyed lightly before, which wasn't doing anything for it, but overdyeing with the avocados produced a gorgeous tone. 

Now to use the fabric!