Tuesday 16 June 2009

Preparations for felt - step 1







So tomorrow I go to Wales to visit my grandparents. I've really been looking forward to it and have decided to do my feet felt kit there with my fiance and our daughter.

In preparation we went shopping for all the unusual vegetables we could find. I live in an ethnically diverse area where shopping for chilli, doodies (long or round), Arvee, ginger, methi, corriander, yam, coconut, okra, tivdi and many other culinary delights is not only easy but cheap too. My grandad is vegetarian and makes he most delightful root vegetable pies.

I also had another motive. I wanted to have ago at dying some of the felt in preparation for making the feet felt kit. So after a morning of market shopping with the help of my 3 year old daughter, who helps me choose the most interesting shapes from the vegetables on display, I had an afternoon of trying my hand at making natural vegetable dyes.

We chose turmeric, spinach and beetroot to make the dyes for the red, yellow and green . We are going to leave them to soak overnight and hang them to dry in the morning.

I have an idea for a few arty photo's and an installation I can make with the feet felt when they are complete.

Hopefully the end results will give me something to offer to Mother Henna for her Blog Festival: Solstice Hero Dance, Light on Shadow.

To find out more bout how you can participate please click on the following link:
http://motherhenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-festival-solstice-hero-dance-light.html

8 comments:

ArtSparker said...

Oh my goodness, the colors are wonderful. I love that your daughter helped with the shapes of vegetables. I found out yesterday that the indigo plant, in a traditional Chinese herbal ointment, has proven effective in the treatment of psoriasis.

Wales...Makes me think of the Spider's Palace, in which a little girl who had heard of people talking of "living in Wales" finds an amiable Whale to swallow her and maintain her in cosy comfort.

Jasmine said...

I love the healing power of plants, its something I'm really interested in.

I have not heard of Spider's Palace before, is that a children's book? I'm always looking out for new titles for my daughter, she loves books so much :)

jude said...

those dyebaths look delicious....

SquirrelQueen said...

Those colors are beautiful and as jude said, delicious. I am looking forward to seeing more photos of the results.

Yvette said...

curious and off to the link....

Ruthie Redden said...

i so love your photo montage! beautiful colours. Dying with natural ingredients is something i have wanted to do for soooo long, time is such a pest!!! (thank u for following my faerietale's) x

Anne said...

those pictures are delightful.
after summer i probably have a couple of angora goats.
i love working with wool.i love animals
filting will be a new advantage

Tammie Lee said...

How wonderful that you did this. The colors are wonderful and vibrant!