I was delighted to be asked to do a  half day introduction to eco-printing for the Western Australian Fibre and Textile Association (WAFTA) three weeks ago.  WAFTA wanted to expose its members to a whole range of skills that they might need in order to enjoy their participation in the WAFTA 2017 challenge called Altered States (http://wafta.com.au/altered-states-2017/).

This is my first blog for ages (extending the house; damage to the internet cables….broke leg on holiday…nightmare!) and even so it has taken me this long since the mini workshop to record how much I enjoyed it. I have never taught before and the limited time was a a real challenge in terms of ensuring safe and enjoyable results for everyone. Thanks to some really great helpers (Madge Smith in particular!) we got some good pots going .

From top to bottom: steamer; avocado pip bath; and eucalyptus and iron bath.

Close up of the avocado pip bath with everyone’s tied “doughnuts” in it.

Wrapped bundles in the steamer…

We designed patterns and wrapped tightly…the smorgasbord had several eucalyptus species, including some that a participant identified for me as Tuart (thanks Jan Cornish!). There were onion skins, casuarina leaves, agonis flexuosa, geranium leaves, purple carrot, turmeric tuber, kangaroo paw roots and tubers, murraya paniculate leaves and some that I have already forgotten.

Fortunately participants seemed pleased with their results:

I was too.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Photos courtesy of Madge Smith and Jan Holland.