flax/harakeke earrings made by Birgit MoffattMy gorgeous colorful harakeke earrings are now available at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae and Expressions Gallery in Upper Hut.  The perfect original gift from Aotearoa/New Zealand.

I love colour! And I got this white cotton blouse from the second hand shop, and I had this indigo project in mind (one of the 192 projects I plan to do).

indigo vat

Summer and high temperatures, the perfect weather to start an Indigo Vat. I used the fruit vat method (over ripe bananas, indigo powder and calcium hydroxide/lime) from Maiwa. Easy to follow.

Indigo

I folded and bound the back of the blouse into a spider web pattern (kumo shibori) and for the sleeves I bound kowhai seeds to achieve a nice delicate pattern (ne maki shibori). After several dips into the indigo vat, my blouse made this beautiful transformation.

Indigo play by Birgit Moffatt

I also disscovered that the rusty looking colour on the sleeves comes from the kowhai  seeds I drilled holes in before…

Indigo play by Birgit Moffatt

Summertime and our 5 sheep needed a haircut. Susi is the boss of  a group of 5 sheep and a very gorgeous Gotland mix.
Said, done.

shearing Gotland Susi

shearing Gotland Susi shearing Gotland Susi  shearing Gotland Susi

This is the very nice fleece of Susi:

shearing Gotland Susi

After washing and carding, this is the result. The wool is coarser than merino wool but it works really well for sculptural felt.

felted vase from Susi by Birgit Moffatt

 

 

 

For a quite a while I’ve known that Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) has bright yellow bark and I’ve been keen to test their dye properties. Luckily enough, a few days ago I heard that my neighbours were cutting down their barberry bushes, so I used the opportunity to harvest some bark.

The bright yellow of Barberry Barberry wood

After soaking some bark in water (just enough to cover the bark) overnight.
Extracting the dye from barberry bark

I let the pot simmer for about an hour before I removed the bark to avoid uneven dyeing and plant matters in the fabrics. Fabrics soaked in water and then immersed. For each test I dissolved less than half a teaspoon alum and iron, and for the copper mordants I used a copper plate (any piece of copper will do, or even a copper pot if available – the old New Zealand 10 cent coin contains copper as well). These mordents help to fix the colour into the fabric.

CLoth added to the barberry to dye

I left the fabrics in the pot till the next morning and here are the results:

Image5  Barberry dyed fibres

Colour swatches from the barberry dying experiment

I did some shibori resist dye (ne-maki shibori) on the merino fabric, using kowhai seeds. The yellow of the inner circle seems to be stronger, so I assume that the kowhai seeds released some dye as well, love the delicate pattern.

shibori resist dye (ne-maki shibori) on the merino fabric, using barberry and kowhai seeds  barberry and kowhai shibori

Through my research I found out that the berries are also edible (a sour taste) and also can be used to dye fibres. I will have to wait till autumn to harvest some of those berries. You will hear from me!
I am really pleased with the depth of tone and will certainly use it for coming projects.

Haere mai ki taku ao!

My name is Birgit Moffatt and I am a visual art student now in my third year. I live on the foothills of the Tararua Ranges close to native bush and the Ōtaki River in the lower North Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand. I would love to share my experiences and discoveries relating to fibre and textile with you.

Feedback is very welcomed.

A new day

A new day

Come and join me on my journey through the world of fibres!

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Postformat Gallery: Multiple images with different sizes

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Image aligned left & right

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