Bush Dye.
 Kirsten Smith who regularly travels to the Kimberly of Western Australia runs workshops with the Indigenous Women of the Fitzroy Crossing
region in dying fabric using natural materials. Luckily she was in NSW this weekend and I had the opportunity to learn from her. She was given permission from the Indigenous women to teach us some of their print making techniques and to learn their busy dyes. Kirsten brought along native plants from the Kimberley so that we could use their colours and receive the bush medicine from wearing these dyed pieces.
 We used eucalyptus leaf, silver coin eucalyptus, mangrove roots, flaky bark and black wattle.
The colours they gave were: greyish yellow, orange, grey and yellow.
The fire was set on low and the pots were filled half way and set aside to steam the colours out of the plants. The water should not boil or even simmer, as it can change the colour of the dye. If plants are over-boiled, eventually they all turn into black dye, which is not what we were aiming for yesterday. Of course, this is good to keep in mind for when the time comes to experiment with temperatures to influence the colour in a particular way that may suit you.
  As the water evaporates slowly top it up, but not too much because it will dilute the colour. Every dye needs a mordant. Mordant is what makes colour stick to fabric fibres. This means that you can wash your fabric and it won’t run. We used a piece of metal. But you can also use vinegar.
 Some techniques included:
 Black belly/white belly snake print
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â making a scrunchie and tying a knot at the end
 Spirit man print
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â folding it up in a cheese triangle kind of shape and securing it between two sticks tied together
 And the last one I did was a free-form on which I wrapped around a rusty horse shoe. Rust creates a chemical change with the dye and changes the colour on the dye directly where the fabric touches the dye. Or if you want the entire pot to change colour, drop something rusty in the pot while its’ on the heat.
