Bonfire Scarf - printed with Eucalyptus, Oak, Onion and Madder

My companion, Elinor Gotland, hurried to catch me as I returned indoors from taking the washing off the line.
 "Ooo, that's a very seasonal scarf, Beaut." Sliding it out of the laundry basket, she wrapped the wool round her neck. "Mmm, cosy. These prints look just like a bonfire, it's the perfect thing for me to wear to Firework Night."
I followed as she hoofed it upstairs to look at herself in front of the mirror. 
"Do try not to get ketchup all down it."
"Ketchup? Hardly. As the celebrity guest at a stylish gathering, I'm expecting Pulled Pork and Parkin Cake with my hot buttered rum."
"Well, just watch out for the bangers."
She smirked at her reflection.
"Don't panic, Beaut, I'm more of a sparkler girl, myself."

I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with this design. Most of my plant dye contact prints this autumn have been experiments, trying to work out which effects are given by different types of local leaves, before I can move on to any real attempt at artistry. This scarf was printed with more familiar materials and since it did come out the way I'd hoped, I've made quite a few.

If you would like to make one yourself, here's how I did it. The scarf is a lightweight woven wool fabric, mordanted by soaking for two days in a solution of 10% of its weight in alum crystals (aluminium potassium sulphate). After a rinse, it was wrung out gently, as it seems wool needs to be fairly damp to take prints well. I've also found the eucalyptus leaves from the florists give much more colour on wool than on silk or cotton - see this post for more details. To keep iron from seeping through all the layers, this scarf was smoothed out flat on top of a layer of clingfilm.

The cinerea and parvifolia eucalyptus branches had been dried out, so they needed half an hour's soak in a bowl of hot water to regain flexibilty before the big cinerea leaves could be laid along one edge of the fabric. The thin madder roots had been dug up and dried out last spring and were sprinkled on nearer to the midline of the scarf, to print red lines among the small, pointed and I think, flame-shaped parvifolia eucalyptus leaves. Dried onion skins were scattered over the cinerea to add their bronze-gold colour and texture to the bonfire base and a few oak leaves were dipped in very dilute iron solution and laid here and there to make grey, smokey outlines.

All of these plant materials will print from both sides, so only one edge of the scarf needed to be laid with dye materials, before folding the opposite edge of the fabric over to cover them. The scarf and the layer of clingfilm underneath it were rolled around a section of plastic pipe and tied firmly with string. 


The bundle was then stood on a trivet inside a large pot with a little water in the bottom and heated to steaming point for an hour or so. It was left overnight to cool and unrolled the following morning.

With the fold in the scarf pulled open, you can see how the plants have made mirror prints on its opposite side. The strong orange comes from the eucalyptus, yellow from onion skin, red from madder and grey from the iron dipped oak leaves.

Once the plant material has all been peeled off you can see that the two sides of the scarf are not identical, because where the materials overlapped, they have printed best on the side of the material against which they pressed directly. 
While all these dyes can give strong colour on wool, they will last much longer if you keep the scarf to cure for a week before washing it with a pH neutral wool wash liquid. After that, I've found their wash and lightfastness is pretty good, so I wasn't terribly anxious about Elinor getting her scarf grubby at the bonfire party this evening. Turns out, it's the least of her worries.

My companion had come back downstairs with a face like a boot.
"Problem with the outfit? Maybe you'd prefer a silk scarf for your soiree?"
"Hah." She tossed her phone onto the kitchen table. "That was my agent. She's only just seen fit to let me know that I'm not to be so much a guest at the do as a children's entertainer. Would I tell scarey stories round the campfire?" She looked quite fearsome as she added "I can think of a few I'd like to tell her."
I blenched. Whatever were the organisers thinking? Elinor is a fine raconteuse, but I'm not sure her tales are suitable for those of an impressionable age. Of one thing I am sure - there will be fireworks tonight.