I’m a self taught textile artist, passionate about what I do.
My love of the Australian bush sparked my interest in botanical printing.
Eucalyptus foliage is what I mostly work with. However all eucalypts are not created equal knowing what results I’ll get has taken considerable time to learn ,the smell, colour and the shape of the leaves are my focus when collecting foliage.
Hot dry, or wet conditions can yield different results as the tannin, and other wonderful content in the leaves varies with these conditions.
Natural fibres wool and silk are my favourite fabrics to work with, these fabrics are the protein textiles.I do also work with linen and cotton at times, they are the vegetable or cellular fibres.
Preparing all fabric with a mordant is extremely important, the mordant is what makes the finished item light fast and colour fast. It’s what is referred as the glue that holds the dye in the fabric.
My process is totally natural and safe for our environment, I don’t use any harmful chemicals on my fabric.
There are two processes I use to create my work, one is a steaming method, second is a simmering in a bath of eucalypts leaves, and sometimes the addition of a few rusty pieces of metal.
It’s very necessary to monitor the temperature to achieve the best possible results,even though silk and wool are extremely strong fibres they do need to be constantly nurtured during the heating process.
I enjoy every moment of making… “ Unique Creations From Nature” .
a selection of my work
See my work at The Gallery, Mogo NSW
Address:
52 Sydney Street Mogo, NSW 2536, Australia
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 10am – 4pm
Weekends: 10am – 4pm
Xmas Day: Closed