Sålunda

30 January 2011

Oats

A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

(Samuel Johnson: A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755)

To which may be added:

A useful material for dyeing fabric.

I’m really pleased with the results of my oatmeal-resist experiment. The cloth was a bit flat and boring after the first layer, but now it’s much more interesting. I’ll have to buy another type of oatmeal, though, with thicker flakes. I discovered that the pumpkin seeds that I used to create more texture stained the fabric in places, so I’m going to use them with caution in the future. However, perhaps this effect can be used to some advantage, e.g. for eco dyeing. I’ll just have to experiment. Another thing that I need to try is simply to give my current oatmeal brand a chance to shine on its own. Just because it looked too smooth doesn’t mean that it won’t create texture as it dries. I noticed that the porridge cracked and split in interesting ways as it was drying, so it’s possible that it was unnecessary to add the seeds in the first place.

From one thing to the next: do you remember that I sent off a little quilt to Scotland before Christmas and gave you a sneak peek of it? I recently got a letter that told me the quilt had arrived safely, so now I can post a couple of proper images of it. I chose cherry blossoms, because my friend lives near The Meadows in Edinburgh, where the ground is pink with cherry petals in spring. The image of the blossoms is ink-jet printed onto cotton and silk organza, and machine quilted and hand stippled. The background canvas is green because that’s my friend’s favourite colour and the predominant colour of The Meadows. It’s one of the greenest places that I know of.

Resultatet av experimentet med havregryn

Jag är jättenöjd med resultatet av mitt experiment med havregrynsreservage. Tyget var lite platt och tråkigt efter första färglagret, men nu är det mycket intressantare. Det här kommer jag att göra flera gånger. Jag måste bara experimentera vidare med olika typer av havregryn. Fröna kommer jag dock att vara försiktig med, eftersom de fläckade ner tyget på vissa ställen.

Häromdagen fick jag ett meddelande om att tavlan jag skickade till Skottland före jul hade kommit fram, så nu kan jag sätta in ett par bilder av den. Den är baserad på ett fotografi som jag har skrivit ut på tyg (bomullstyg och silkesorganza) med en bläckstråleskrivare och sedan maskinkviltat och handbroderat.