color palettes

I guess I'm into color palettes these days ... after making the zine, they are most definitely into my mind right now.

I grabbed the most successfully dyed silk yarns I've had, and tried to mix & match to make nice color combinations.

ginkgo biloba - immortelle - Italian buckthorn - onion - onion


immortelle - Italian buckthorn - onion - onion


eucalyptus - bilberry - blackberry


laurestine - sage - fennel


sage - onion - oakmoss


blackberry - eucalyptus


Italian buckthorn - eucalyptus


fennel - immortelle - bilberry


blackberry - immortelle - bilberry


immortelle - bilberry

to close this colorful post, I'd love to invite you to read this post on Whip Up : the most wonderful Margie Oomen is the guest blog today, and she also very kindly interviewed me, which is a real honor ! Thank you Margie & thank you Whip Up !

You can read the post HERE.

now please have the most wonderful & colorful day ! Thanks a lot for stopping by !

EARTH PALETTE #1

(sorry if you've already read this post on my regular blog, but I cut & pasted over here)

exciting morning for me, girls ! Please let me share with you my very first zine

EARTH PALETTE (#1)

EARTH PALETTE is a 26 pages, full color, collection of photos of (some of the) dyeing experiments (hot & solar) I have made between November 2009 & August 2010.

I have illustrated the pages with drawings of the part of the plant I have used for dyeing.

it does NOT contain any instruction about how to dye with plants. It must be considered as a record book of my own experiments, something that may inspire you to start your own experiments, or simply something to enjoy for its simple beauty.

there is a small envelope in the last page containing a little extra ...

it will be wrapped with a green twine & a handmade gift tag (illustrated by me, and that you may reuse)

it has been printed in a limited edition of 25 copies. I will consider making a second batch only if they all sell out.

thank you so much for bearing all my zine talking these past weeks. I will do my best to make a new Earth Palette zine each year, and if I end making many experiments, maybe more often. Thank you for your kindness, everyone, you have been amazingly supportive ! It really means the world to me !

solar dyeing // r u b u s * f r u t i c o s u s

the day my parents visited & brought me the hollyhocks (see previous post), they also brought me blackberries (growing wild, of course) (rubus fruticosus). They had frozen these as well, in order to keep them at their best.

I had mordanted (with alum) enough fibers for two different dyes. But I thought " what the heck, let's make an experiment inside the experiment, and you'll rince half soon, and the other half later". And that's exactly what I did.

I rinced a first half the same day I rinced the alcea rosea solar dyeing, which is to say, after four days in the jar only. So this is the result of the first batch.

and so, I rinced the other half two days ago, which makes ... er, after 11 days in the jar. Not that much neither, I agree. This is the result after 11 days :

and for the comparison now ... (first batch at the bottom, second batch on top)

what I note ? that the silk got a bit darker & pinker after an extra week in the jar, but on the contrary, the linen got lighter. The linen was more purple after 4 days only.

interesting, right ? worth the little experiment, for sure.

solar dyeing // a l c e a * r o s e a

my parents brought me a small handful of dark hollyhocks (alcea rosea). They had to freeze them in order for me to use them, as they had been travelling with them (fresh) & then they froze them at home. I used the flowers (

I must say that I kept this solar dyeing only four small days. I know, it's very short, but I live in an appartment (no balcony, no garage etc) and it was beginning to stink too much. With a garden, I would have dared to keep it way much longer, but no such luck here, so I had to rince it & dry.

I must say that I'm quite impressed with the result after such a short amount of time ! Something I would like to try again, most probably next summer, I suppose. As usual, all fibers were mordanted with alum, beforehand.

linen & cotton crochet lace & cotton crochet doily (handmade & vintage)







silk & silk yarn

the patterns on the silk was made because I had wrapped the flowers in the silk, and then tied with the silk yarn.

so, yes, something to try again.

Naturally Dyeing Shop

I have created a set of cards with three of the photos I've been taking along the dyeings I've been making. More sets will follow, I suppose.

for the time being, you can find all the sets (new things will come as soon as possible, next week if everything goes right !) in the Naturally Dyeing Shop !

thank you for stopping by !