Experimental reds steam bundle dyeing for background texture
1. Red onions - red antirrhinum - red ivy dried - red ragged robin leaves - red new St. John Word bush leaves - purple marjoram dried flower heads sprinkled
2. Ferns added - made it browner
Making steaming parcel
Carefully folding silk over from edge and corners to enclose dye stuff. Folding method: 'Side over', 'Corners over to centre', : repeatedly.
Otherwise spread only on half of fabric, to fold over easily.
Parcel preparation
Spraying with vinegar and using baking roller to flatten.
Experimental parcel other than rolling around a stick.
Ferns added
Although a few textured results were acceptable, I wanted to change the brown/white contrast.
Extra steaming with ferns produced browner overall dyed. The brown fuzzy seeds on reverse of ferns I believe cause this.
The bundle can be flat, and not always tied around a stick.
A bit too brown for me...
One piece can be continually experimented on. Maybe lemon juice will bleach lighter some of the background, as painted shapes? Maybe blackberry, or woad blue, or logwood pigment dyes can be used as design shapes over the brown?
Adaptations to be continued...