Last of the Leisurely Long Walks at Nubes

Such a beautiful twilight walk over the mudflats of the bay last night that I just had to share.....
Back to the reality of bustling airports and peak hour traffic today :(

Nubeena Treasures

My time here has come to an end and what a wonderful time it's been. Heading home to WA tomorrow to be reunited with my wonderful patient husband, family and furry children. Can't wait to see everyone again and share all the things I've discovered down here 'on the peninsula' (in other words bore them witless ha ha).
I shall be endeavouring to keep in touch with the local Tasmanian natural dyers as their work just blew my mind, so inspirational. Anyway here are a few more pics of my last minute dye projects and a beanie made for my uncle from wool dyed with the plants in his garden. The white undyed band is to represent his 'halo' lol!
Also a wall hanging for my aunt who loves the kangaroo paw and the birds it attracts to the front deck. Nothing fancy I'm afraid as I ran out of time.
I like the old Dr Flannel wool shirt dyed with coffee and seaweed. The coffee colour on the wool reminds me of the Bull Kelp we saw out near the seal hauls round the southern ocean coastline :)

Nervous Nelly

I've never been so nervous about doing an Eco-print before! My Nubeena dress is to be a keepsake of my time here in Nubes (as the locals call it) and I really didn't want to mess it up. It took all morning yesterday to wrap and then I literally had to stand on the fire-breathing dragon (pressure cooker) to get the lid on. I had used some old towels as cover sheets in the wrap and the bundle was quite large.
I cooked it up last night and left it to cool until this morning.
I shouldn't have worried... Check out the pics below. I am rather chuffed with the results. Yay! :)
Can't wait to see how it looks ironed.

Dyeing Dervish!

Oh my goodness I can almost hear the sound of the clock ticking down! Only a few days left of The Great Tassie Experiment so have gone crazy with the dye pots and bundling like some demented dyeing dervish.
Every time I think ok that's enough now I see something new I want to try ha ha. It's like being a kid in a candy store here :)
Found some fabulous funky seaweed that just begged to be experimented with. Purples and reds that looked promising but when squished bright orange goop comes out??? Smells pretty funky too! I'm trying not to open the bundles until Sunday to give them a good go at absorbing any colour. Can't wait to see the results :)
When the blue wren and his wife came calling for morning tea I had a short break in my favorite little sun-trap on the deck. But not for long... The colours are calling....

Eeeeeek!

Oh my gosh, nearly time to pack up and go back to the 'real world'......
I have so many projects to try and finish before leaving I'm starting to panic a bit.
It's illegal I think to take plant material interstate, well at least to WA so madly trying to use all the leaves, berries and flowers etc that I've collected on my rambles. Today's main aims are to chop/grate a batch of Anigozanthos rhizomes for a big dye pot. Finish tidying up seams and facings of silk dress so it's ready for bundling. Complete a wall hanging as a gift for my aunt. Rinse and dry the coffee dyed skein of merino wool I did last night. I needed a darker color for the beanie crocheted for my uncle. Full/felt/shrink (whatever the correct term is) same beanie. Collect some kelp for the dyeing of my old Dr Flannel wool shirt.. Blah blah blah ha ha ha
Sooooooo apologies for not posting a bit more regularly to the few who might be reading this :)
Oh then I gotta pack..... Eeeeeek!

Kangaroo Kapow!

Wowsers! What ever my aunt feeds her clumps of kangaroo paw with certainly gives it some dyeing oomph :)
Take a peek at the prints unwrapped this morning. Wool and silk was used but even the old bit of cotton sheeting I wrapped the bundles with has taken on color :)
I'm sure I can get a darker color on the wool skeins too as the dye bath was near exhausted when I threw em in this time.

The Possumbilities of Kangaroo Paw

Today has been spent experimenting with Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos flavidus).
From experiments in the past I know the flowers, leaves and stalks make excellent ecoprints but I wanted to try making a dyepot of the roots/rhizomes as their common name is some areas is 'bloodroot'. I'm hoping for reds and purples....
See pics below of preliminary results. More unwrappings and dyepot surprises tomorrow when things have cooled then dried :)