We had a wonderful evening in the garden in conjunction with the VandA Dundee learning all about Hapa Zome. This is the Japanese art of dyeing with plants where plant pigments are transferred onto fabric or paper by pounding fresh leaves and flowers with a hammer. Jek has been working with the V&A Dundee on their plant dyeing project and came along to share her knowledge. She has also been experimenting with using plants to dye wool and cotton.
It was great fun and a good way to release tension after a hard day!!
We used clean white cotton squares and laid out the leaves and flowers as flat as possible. We then folded the cotton over with the flowers inside and hammered them....a lot! Sorry neighbours! After a few minutes you can see the flower and leaf prints coming through. It's best to try a few samples to see how it works then you can move on to something a bit more permanent. Carefully ironing the cloth afterwards helps to fix the colours.
