Broadcloth Exploration Continues

In progress...Running Figure

Last week I posted about my process of staining a new silk and wool broadcloth which is available from Hank and Spool.  The process involved applying wet finely ground coffee to the fabric and grinding it into the surface with a pestle.

After approximately 24 hours the coffee had dried on the surface of the fabric and I was able to brush it away to check on the color.  At that point I felt the color could be deeper so I reapplied the alum mordant described previously and allowed it to dry.  I prepared new coffee grounds and actually made coffee liquid which was poured over the fabric.  I did this both on the broadcloth and a piece of cotton muslin.  The most interesting thing about this was seeing that the cotton absorbed the liquid while the broadcloth repelled the liquid.  The liquid sat on the surface and soaked in over a period of a few minutes.  I shouldn't have been surprised as wool is known for it's ability to repel liquid.  At the same time, when it begins to absorb liquid it can hold much more than it's own weight.  (Wool was once used to make diapers due to this property. ;-)

Watching this slow absorption  I expected I would get lots of texture on the broadcloth but in fact it stained/dyed very nicely leaving only beautiful markings from later being crumpled when washed.  The color from the second application is very rich but not as red as it appears in my photograph.  The next application I want to try with this fabric is full emersion rather than applying to one side.  The back of the fabric is many shades lighter than the "front".

Using silk thread also from Hank and Spool, I began stitching by creating a random set of points which I then connected by stitching lines between them.  As I stitched I saw a abstract running figure and I then focused on filling this figure in with lines both descriptive and decorative.  I haven't completed the work as yet but I plan to work on the background with cotton embroidery floss in a color similar to the background itself.

Cotton Muslin

This photo shows the results of the coffee staining on the muslin.  The color is actually darker than the photo but not nearly as rich as the broadcloth.  This is the type of markings I had expected on the broadcloth.  I think because the cotton fabric is thinner it allows the liquid to spread quickly in rings but then stops and slightly puddles at the edges which creates the darker markings. The wool/silk fabric distributes the liquid more slowly and evenly which results in a more softly modeled pattern.  

I plan to continue the stitching and will post the final piece when completed but that may not be next week.  We'll see.

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Broadcloth, Coffee and Elbow Grease

A few weeks ago Christine Mauersberger opened an online shop, Hank and Spool and is offering luxurious silk sewing thread and a heavy wool and silk broadcloth from Beautiful Silks Australia.  I believe she has a discount coupon for the holiday weekend so if you're interested you might check it out today.

The broadcloth is 85% wool and 15% silk and has a beautiful weave structure which you can see in the following photograph.

Other than dying a few scarves I have never worked with silk but I have dyed many skeins of wool yarn and know how beautifully it takes color.  The fabric itself has a nice hand, very dense with a bit of shine due to the weave structure.  I toyed with several ideas using MX-procion dyes but decided to stay with my current interest in staining fabric with coffee, tea or ink.

I began by consulting India Flint's fabulous book on natural dye, Eco Color, but in all honesty I wanted to get the ball rolling quickly and opted to try something I had read about on the web but never tried.

I began with about a cup of very high quality coffee beans.  These beans were roasted for espresso and had a high oil content.  I have a nice bean grinder so I ground them very fine and mixed in enough  tap- water to make a slurry.

Due to the way coffee behaves, I opted to soak the fabric in a mordant made of water and alum.  I mixed 4 cups of water with 2 1/2 tsp. of alum and then pressed the broadcloth into the bowl along with 2 fat quarter of my regular cotton muslin and allowed to soak for about 45 minutes.  The fabric was then removed from the mordant solution and hung outside to drip dry.

After pinning the fabric to my print boards I spooned the coffee mixture onto the fabric and used a large glass pestle to grind the coffee into the fabric.  This process spreads the grinds and also distresses the fabric.

Once the mixture was spread out I allowed it to dry a little, removed the major part of the grinds and made marks on the surface with a plastic spreader.  I repeated this process with the muslin  and then sprinkled just a few drops of water over all three processing fabrics.  I'm thinking these droplets will create marks.

I'll post the results in a couple of days as my plan is to allow the coffee to completely dry before removing the fabric to wash.  Keep you fingers crossed.  I'm hoping for a beautiful deep brown color.

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Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you for spending time

at Studio 24-7 where

waking up and smelling the coffee

has a fun new meaning.