I often get ask about eco prints. People sometimes think they are made using a screen print technique or the colour comes from synthetic dyes. I have taken this as an opportunity to give you a short overview what eco print is and why I am so passionate about it.
Eco print, also known as leaf print, is a direct contact method to make prints, drawing out pigments from plant material onto fabric (and paper) with the help of moisture and time. Moisture in form of heated water can be used either through steam or in a simmering bath; both allow the cloth to accept the dye. The lengths of time of the contact between plant material and fabric will influence the result as well.
eco print on merino fabric
Natural dyes bond particularly well with any protein fibres (silk, wool) and cellulose fibres (cotton, linen) although bonding of pigments with cellulose fibres are usually less strong and vibrant.
Eco prints can be produced from a vast variety of plant materials such as leaves, flower petals, barks and vegetable skins, the selection is endless. Applied mordents (a fixer which ensures colour and light fastness) will have an impact on the outcomes. A mix of different mordents will change the colour of the print. Other factors such as the season and location of plant collection and the mineral content of the water will help shifting and changing colours.
eucalyptus cinerea
This is what excites me about the process; experimenting with these endless combinations to achieve sophisticated and unique prints, often unexpected. Although using a two dimensional technique, the natural and unevenly colours of the prints turn them into a work with a three dimensional impression.
Living in New Zealand I am particular interested in testing eco prints from native plants of the New Zealand bush preliminary on wool and silks. This includes research about plants used by Maori as food and dye source and in traditional medicine. Gathering this old knowledge also helps to understand the world around me.
eco print with lichen
Learning about the alchemy of plants is another important aspect of eco print, but is secondary for my artistic and serendipitous explorations.
As a textile artist I am trying to find new ways of mark making onto fabrics and sometimes onto paper. My desire is to make unique eco prints is a sustainable approach to use traditional dye plants in a new way, as an art form, revealing the invisible.


eco print with ake ake and kanuka
Living the Beach Walk Dream
Living in Otaki, a small town on the lower North Island of New Zealand, I feel very lucky being able to go down the beach whenever I like, sometimes for exercise, sometimes to forage and sometimes just to inhale the salty air helping to clear my mind. I often take my camera to capture the amazing scenery and beautiful organic forms, often serving as inspiration for my work.
Kapiti Islands majestic silhouette
shells showing off ephemerality and perfection
Spinifex all over the place

(a empty beach
almost…
lovely organic forms

Just those New Zealand boats still looking very strange for me.
Shibori/Natural Dye Workshops Autumn 2017
These are two new workshops I am happy to offer in my studio, lots of learning, lots of fun!
Harakeke (Flax) Weaving Workshops 2017
Something Indigo
I was always a bit nervous with indigo and had a few failures, trying to make a working vat. Discouraging every time. Not this time. I just gave it another go, using Michel Garcia’s organic vat, using indigo, lime and fructose crystals. And succeeded! I didn’t want to believe it but it really worked and its magic! How the fabric turns from white to green, teal and eventually to blue. The more often the fabric is dipped into the vat, the darker the blue shades that can be achieved.
I also love the idea that the vat can be used over a period of time, but it needs to be a bit looked after, get fed, stirred and if necessary revived!
I used a couple of shibori techniques (folding, clamping and binding) to achieve simple yet very beautiful patterns.
This one is made with black walnuts bound into the silk and resisted with rubber bands.
Over dyeing a silk scarf, rust dyed before.
This scarf is eco dyed with eucalyptus leaves, then twice dipped into the vat.
And my new pair of cotton indigo socks. Who said socks are boring x mas presents…?
Never too many (textile) books
As an artist I am looking for inspirations all the time, often unconscious. There is for sure the internet with millions of websites and images and I can spend hours searching and getting lost before I realise that is has already gone dark outside.
But I also like to read (and own) real books, books that I can touch and feel the pages between my fingers. Books I have owned for years and never got bored with. Sometimes I just run my fingers across the book backs, randomly picking one and be surprised to find new inspirations, more bits of information, that sparks ideas even though I have flicked through them hundreds of times… well maybe not quite hundreds.
These are some of my favourite textile books (till the next one) I would like you to know about.
The Worldwide Colours of felt is a relatively new one, from Ellen Bakker and a collection of felt creations from around the world. It has hundreds of beautiful images and is written in Dutch, English and German. It gives me great inspirations and joy as it is colourful and light (images only).
A few words about eco/leaf print
I often get ask about eco prints. People sometimes think they are made using a screen print technique or the colour comes from synthetic dyes. I have taken this as an opportunity to give you a short overview what eco print is and why I am so passionate about it.
Eco print, also known as leaf print, is a direct contact method to make prints, drawing out pigments from plant material onto fabric (and paper) with the help of moisture and time. Moisture in form of heated water can be used either through steam or in a simmering bath; both allow the cloth to accept the dye. The lengths of time of the contact between plant material and fabric will influence the result as well.
Natural dyes bond particularly well with any protein fibres (silk, wool) and cellulose fibres (cotton, linen) although bonding of pigments with cellulose fibres are usually less strong and vibrant.
Eco prints can be produced from a vast variety of plant materials such as leaves, flower petals, barks and vegetable skins, the selection is endless. Applied mordents (a fixer which ensures colour and light fastness) will have an impact on the outcomes. A mix of different mordents will change the colour of the print. Other factors such as the season and location of plant collection and the mineral content of the water will help shifting and changing colours.
This is what excites me about the process; experimenting with these endless combinations to achieve sophisticated and unique prints, often unexpected. Although using a two dimensional technique, the natural and unevenly colours of the prints turn them into a work with a three dimensional impression.
Living in New Zealand I am particular interested in testing eco prints from native plants of the New Zealand bush preliminary on wool and silks. This includes research about plants used by Maori as food and dye source and in traditional medicine. Gathering this old knowledge also helps to understand the world around me.
Learning about the alchemy of plants is another important aspect of eco print, but is secondary for my artistic and serendipitous explorations.
As a textile artist I am trying to find new ways of mark making onto fabrics and sometimes onto paper. My desire is to make unique eco prints is a sustainable approach to use traditional dye plants in a new way, as an art form, revealing the invisible.
eco print with ake ake and kanuka
New Flax Weaving Workshops
I am happy to offer two more flax weaving workshops in cooperation with Tutere Gallery + Creative Space in Waikanae Beach. A day of learning and fun guaranteed.
flaxweaving-with-birgitm-1I am looking forward to hear from you!
Lichens Beauty
I enjoy photography. Although I dont call myself a photographer, I love to take my camera and go for a walk down the Otaki riverbed, through the nearby bush or even just around the house and garden. There is always something that catches my eyes and sometimes I spend hours to get an image how I like it. I guess it is some form of relaxation.
Over time I have noticed that I am shooting a lot of close ups, so I invested in a macro lens to be able to capture even more details and texture to inspire and inform my art.
This was when I realized that there is a whole new world to discover, well not new but hardly noticed and overlooked before. I was aware that there are lots of lichens growing where I live, able now to get much closer with the lens, revealing lichens beauty.
These two images showing lichens growing on asphalt and concrete and made me thinking how I could combine textiles and concrete… watch this space!
Concrete Inspirations
Using a concrete as a new medium in my arts practice means I have to do some research about techniques and possibilities the new material offers, health and safety issues involved, but also finding inspirations from artists who are already work with concrete. Thanks pinterest & Co. and I found a few artists working with concrete and fibres. Marlies Hoevers is the one whos work has inspired me most; from a creative point of view as well as the visually and aesthetically appearance of her pieces. Interesting also that she identifies herself as a textile artist working with concrete. Here are some examples of her work.
I can wait to get into my studio tomorrow and start exploring.
Moving On. Concrete Engagement!
A couple of month ago I started to experiment with other media within my art. I wanted to bring in another component to my work. My work is usually very soft, tactile, light, fragile and sometimes translucent. I was looking at opposed properties such as hard, solid, heavy and dense. Contextual practise is part of my art studies and the perfect opportunity to experiment, trying out new ways of doing and reflecting on the outcomes.
Here are some first experiments inserting flowers and petals into plaster and beeswax. It is interesting to see the decay and what is remaining of the petals, I especially like the negative space of the plaster, once the petals have been wilted and removed.
I also experimented with cement, making concrete. These samples are fairly rough and I guess not very strong. I inserted all kinds of fabrics, mostly my own left over pieces like felt or silk threads. I like the hard/soft contrast and wonder how the look will change on a bigger scale? These ones are made in ice cube molds.
I just feel most attracted to concrete and it didnt take me long to understand that I have a connection with this hard, urban, strong material . Being raised in the 70s in East Berlin, concrete was part of my every day live. The house I lived in was made out of concrete, so was my school. My playground were building sites in my neighborhood and not to forget, the Berlin Wall always omnipresent.
In the next couple of weeks I will explore more of the material, see where this path is leading to.