Natural dye: poppy (DIY)

It's poppy time! Last year I made natural ink out of flower petals, thi Summer I wanted to make something different. So if you ever wanted to try natural dye, now it's your turn. It's really easy!




First you need to pick some poppies, only the petals. Put it to a pot and boil with water on low heat (1 volume of poppies per 2 volumes of water) for one hour or longer. In another pot boil a piece of fabric you want to dye in a solution of vinegar 1:4 to water. After that time separate the petals (they should be sheer), rinse the fabric in cold water and put into the pot with poppy dye. Leave it until you're satisfied with the colour you got (remember it will be slightly lighter!).
Here you have it! You need only three ingredients in the whole process!
Note: If your fabric is cotton I reccomend using different fixative.



I also attempted to make an ombre lace. I dipped only the end of folded lace in the liquid and the colour went up with the fibres! Honestly, it turned out even better that the dress.





How do you like the result? Do you plan similar experiments for the summer?

*
Wiem, ze miałam prowadzić bloga też po Polsku, ale szczerze mówiąc nie sądzę, żeby tłumaczenie wszystkiego było konieczne. Staram się używać prostego angielskiego (z resztą taki znam;)). Gdyby coś było niejasne, odpowiem na wszystkie pytania! 
Macie zamiar eksperymentować z naturalnymi barwnikami? A może już coś robiłyście i macie jakieś porady dla mnie?;)

Have a beautiful day,
Julia

Best method of pressing flowers

The summer is almost over. Many of you would probably like it to stay for longer, but unfortunately it's impossible. I'll for sure miss flowers in bloom in winter. The only method to keep them for longer is pressing them. Just in case someone else want to do the same what I do to remember about summer days, I share a few quick tips I use while pressing flowers that have benn kind of my secret.

1. The bigger pressure the better - it's obvious, isn't it. If you don't use at least a few encyclopedias flowers can contract or become wavy. Olny by applying enough pressure will you get good results. I strongly recommend using a press, not encyclopedia - it doesn't take much space and what's more you can regulate the pressure.

2. The longer the better. It takes some time for flowers to get completely dry. For the thinest two weeks might be enough, other need one or two months. The main rule is that it's never too long.

3. Use absorbent paper to separate flowers - they will get dry quicker. If you have some time you can make your own paper using my method, these sheets absorb water like a sponge!

4. Segregate flowers by thickness. Lay thin flowers on one sheet of paper, thicker and the thickest on the other two. Usually thickness is a fearute of every species, so you can easily segregate by species. For example, poppies should get a separate sheet and all kinds of pansies can be pressed together. In the press you can preserve big variety of blossoms by making 'layers' of flowers and paper. 

In the first picture and those below you can see the final result.

You can use the same methods to preserve autumn leaves, but come on - autumn starts in October. We still should enjoy summer in the last days of September.

Have a beautiful day,

Julia

natural ink - made using flower petals

Hello! Today I'd like to share another experiment I carried out, making natural ink!
I've read about natural dyeing in an old book about properties of herbs and wanted to try with poppies, but foud very few. It was after poppy season. As I had only a handful of the most important ingredient I had to do something different and found the solution in the same book!

Instruction: put flower petals into a glass and cover it with warm water. Leave for a few hours (I leaved mine for a night).

After this time separate the liquid. (You can boil it for a while to get stronger colour - optional.) Add strong alcohol in proportions 1 dose of alc:4 dozes of extract.

Ink is ready to use!

I made three inks - out of poppy, kingcup and blue sweet pea. At the beginning all three colours were strong, but after a week blue ink looked like faded. You can see how each colour looks straight after making below. Poppy ink has exactly the poppy colour, lovely!

To sum up, natural inks are worth making. If you like flowers because of their variety of colours you should try this for sure. 

Have a beautiful day,

Julia 

EDIT: A lot of people visit this post and I got asked in the comments about flowers that can be used etc. HERE is a long list you can use for natural dye or making this ink. These flowers are used in dying fabrics, so the colour shouldn't fade or so on. Now, almost a year after making my inks, I still have one of them (yellow), and the colour is as strong as it was at the beginning.

Textile letters

Hello! Recently I made a very inspiring swap with Karina. You should check her amazing textile letters project!
That's what I sent her:

And that's what she sent me:

have a nice day,

Julia

Flowers from the past

Hello, today I'll show you my collection of old, truely vintage things. All these things are connected with flowers in some ways: are adorned with flowers on even consist of flowers.

I found this gift book in a thrift store last summer and I totally love it! It has special pages for recipes, vintage wine charts, a journal and a calendar, but it's so pretty that I haven't written anything in it for a year. I'm scared that I can destroy its beauty. I should take pictures of the designs inside one day, it's really amazing. 

My grandma gave me these beauties about a week ago. She made the collages by herself, they were hanging in her very first house! They are about 40 years old!

The backs of frames changed their colour because of the long exposition to sunlight. You can see exactly where the pressed plants were for years! 

I found this pendant on a flea market and probably got it for free, don't remember. It has real flowers inside!

I hope you like my little collection. Wish me luck in finding more. And I'll wish you a beautiful day!

Julia

The rose

He gave me this rose when I was still in my pajamas.

(Smells fantastically)

Today in pictures

Cookie Monster cookies with chocolate in the morning - best thing in the world.

Room redecoration in progress - this wall is not painted yet, but I already adore it! 

Wearing white and sheer tunic was the only right solution to survive today. Lace and the little frame are my recent flea market finds. Deer and pansy (sketched on the rubber) will be stamps soon:) 

Favourite small pansies in full bloom (seeded this year).

How about your day?

Julia

Self-portrait (forget-me-not blue)

A self-portrait I painted a few weeks ago. I used to draw myself when I was about five, always in beautiful dress and crown (yes, me as a princess of course)! This time I don't wear even a diadem, but now I prefer flowers to gold. Generally this pieces shows more how I feel than how I look.

I'd love to have a blouse like this. I really really love it, but it's only in the world of my imagination and on this sheet of paper. The idea of the pattern came to my mind a long time before I paited it, but sometimes ideas have to mature inside the head.

Currently I'm painting clothes and am sure that will show some pieces in the near future. I've tried it before, but now create a few projects in one time. It brings a lot of fun, but unfortunately it's impossible to correct any mistakes. I have to be very careful. Wish me luck!

Have a beautiful day,

Julia

Collecting flowers: forest and meadow

Yesterday I brought new flowers to dry. Those ones that I collected recently are already dry! I'm going to make my room redecoration soon (finally!) and they're all to hang on my wall. I decorated them with ribbon and twine. As I said before I want to make a kind of herbarium on my wall!

Favourite flowers I collected yesterday. They are dark pink when young and then become lighter until they're totally white.Just beautiful. These and those below have strong honey-sweet smell.

Can't wait to make my idea come true.

 Have a nice day, 

Julia

NOTE: As you can see some small changes  in the blog layout are in progress. You'll see a little bit different face of this blog soon!

Plant love - recent works

Watercolour and just a touch of pencil hadwriting that does not distract (I hope). You must look for some time to see well and read it and that was my aim, I wanted to focus attention on painting. I think I could never use black pen to wrine on my works.

Hope you like it!

Have a beautiful day,

Julia

Sketchbook floral cover DIY

Remember the fern sketchbook I posted some time ago? Today I want to show how I made it! It's very easy and quick DIY, so if you have a plain sketchbook/joural/photo album - try this!
(I still don't have properly working camera and that's why I share this a bit archival DIY). 

You'll need a plain sketchbook, flat brushes, vicol (or another decoupage glue), pressed flowers or leaves. 

Paint the first layer of glue and put your design on it. Paint the second layer and let it dry. When it's transparent, put another layer. Repeat this step as many times as it's possible - until your cover is even. That's all!