Yesterday I went down to Banksia Springs in Dwellingup to the Designing Women retreat. The weather was glorious. Jaslyn has been trying to persuade me to go for quite a few years (I don't belong to many textile groups not because I don't necessarily want to but because I am often away and couldn't do justice as a member. We only went for one night but I really enjoyed it - today everyone was dyeing in eucalyptus leaves - it is a long time since I did any natural dyeing and I am motivated to do some more. I used to dye a lot with lichen when I was spinning my own wool in NZ. So I might try my hand the week after next.
I haven't been to Dwellingup before - it is about one and half hours south of Perth on the middle road - lovely spot and Banksia Springs has a couple of cottage and this sort of conference spot. A great place for a workshop. If I ran a residential workshop this would be an excellent place for it. And great food. I even had a chance to do a little more dry felting, stitching and wet felting my little Okarito book. It should be finished soon.
Grant is down for the weekend so it is good to see him. Tomorrow I expect to be busy packing up more boxes for London.
3 comments:
Banksia Springs sounds and looks like a beautiful place. I seem to remember that you can get different colours from eucalyptus leaves, according to which species you are using. I did a short course on natural dyeing some years ago and got lovely soft yellows from lichen. It made the fabric smell lovely too.
What a beautiful place that looks. Isn't it amazing that somewhere so close is somehow undiscovered for so many years. Enjoy your dyeing. Cheers, Robin
Hi! Dale,
If ever get back to W.A. to vist my grand daughter Dwellington is going to be on my tourist map; a truly lovely place to spend some time.
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