ICE Time! Collages 1,2,3,4,5,6,and 7!

It's been a long time coming but here it is! My ICE update starting with the 2 I've already posted as it was so long ago now. It's also handy for me to have the first 7 all on one link to refer back to later:) The mounting card for all these collages is a warm white not the shade you see here. All the other colours are true though so I am not sure what's up with that! They look better in the 'real' and I am having trouble translating that to a photograph!

ICE 2011 #1

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: Seeds of Knowledge

ICE 2011#2

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: Bent not broken

This collage is a tribute to foster parents.

ICE 2011 #3

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: Every day

Recycled paper from books, envelopes and gifted paper. Coffee Dye.Thread.

ICE 2011 #4

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: Genetics.

The text says 'Genetics is only part of it.'

Recycled paper from books and envelopes. Painted paper scrap, coffee dyed paper, lino cut seed print, thread.

ICE 2011 #5

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: What goes around...

Recycled envelope, cardboard book cover, paper scrap, thread

ICE 2011 #6

'Fragile' Society is a Nest series II

Title: Synergy

The title for this one eluded me for several days. Often a name or a particular word suggests itself to me but not this time. It wasn't until I'd made 7 and 8 that the name came to me- Synergy. When I googled to define the meaning of the word I realised it was perfect!

Recycled paper from books, paper scrap, fennel dyed paper,thread.

ICE 2011 #7

"Fragile" Society is a Nest series II

Title: Truth

The text says "In the silence screams the truth" (which is a line from one of PINKS songs.) I heared it months ago and wrote the words down knowing that it belonged to the "Fragile" series. I have to say that I adore this collage. I love everything about it and I will find this one hard to part with! That said, I feel that this collage is a starting point for something else, a new stage of growth for both myself and my collage...and that is exciting!

Close up of "Truth." I was intially dissapointed to get lime from my fennel dye but there is is sitting perfectly on this page. I never knew I needed or even liked that colour but I do! 

Recycled book pages, painted paper scrap, fennel dyed paper, thread..

The papers I created seeking something new to use and a new path to follow.

ICE # 8 is made but not photographed yet and I'm feeling confident I can complete this series by early Feb so watch this space!

If your new to my blog then WELCOME! You can find out what my FRAGILE works are about by clicking on the International Collage Exchange page which will take you to the information glued to back of each collage.

Coming soon:>>> One World One Heart giveaway (Jan 30-Feb 17 so still time for you too play if you want too!) See my 'projects' page for details.

>>>Eucalyptus Dye. The bark is soaking as I type! Thanks for the tips and advice shared with me!

Fennel Dye Experiment

Fennel flower heads.

Fennel stalks, chopped and ready.

The resulting fennel dye.

The left of the photo shows paper dyed with fennel. Both are green although that didn't photograph too well! The fabric in the middle is the original colour and the brown is the dye results. There is a lot I don't know about fennel dye! Why does paper come out green and fabric brown? I researched fennel dye on the Internet and came up with several variations of the same things so I 'mixed and matched' to suit myself.

If you're interested here's what I did...

Chop the fennel into small pieces

Boil for 20 Min's until nice and mushy

Strain the chunky bits and measure the resulting fluid (that beautiful purple stuff!)

Using a ration of 1 part white vinegar to 4 parts fennel liquid I added vinegar and then a tablespoon of table salt. I think the salt helps to 'fix' the colour and the vinegar to ward off mould growth. Correct me if I'm wrong!

For the fabric I used an old cotton napkin that I had pre-soaked cold tap water. I boiled it in the fennel dye water for 20 Min's and then allowed it to dry. I am not sure how purple plus white resulted in brown but I like it!

For the paper I did a straight wash and resulted in...nothing! Hmmmm. It dried clear like my nest and kowhai dyes did. I figured I did something wrong and found nothing on the Internet that was helpful for dying paper. (Plenty for colouring paper pulp and fabric but not for using the dye as a wash.)

Anyway... I came to the conclusion that salt alone wasn't enough to fix the colour and that heat was required to set it. All the material dyes I read used heat in some way so I got out my trusty old iron and tried again. Wa-lah! Green paper. Lime green at that! I am not too fond of lime/pastel green and thought that if I dyed, dried, dyed again, dried again...I would achieve a darker green but I just ended up with an even 'limer' shade of lime!  At least I figured out how to set the colour on paper without having to boil paper, I am sure that information will be useful for the next experiment...

PS: I used a stainless steel pot.

Coming soon:

Green/Greener post. Some link love for some of the great sites I discovered while learning about natural dyes. Inspiration abounds!

ICE 2011. This avo work starts on ICE #6 and as soon as my collages are mounted properly I will post collages 3-6. Anyone else doing this years exchange?