It seems like an age since I wrote a post! I have been so engrossed in my creations I have been very remiss with my writings. I only have to scroll through photos on my phone to see how much time I have spent eco printing and dyeing fabrics, experimenting and evolving my adventures with seaweed. There has been quite a bit of interest in what I am doing with seaweed and my plan is to get involved with heritage festivals here in Ireland to further my interest. There is one called the Ellen Hutchings festival dedicated to a young woman who painted intricate and incredible botanical art of seaweeds, lichens, liverworts and mosses along the coast and woodlands of Bantry and Glengarriff here in West Cork, Ireland. She was the first female botanist to research and create a huge body of work on seaweeds. I hope to get involved at that festival next August.
I have learnt more about how to treat my natural fabrics before they are printed and this has helped to strengthen the depth of colours I am getting from my prints. Also I have experimented with quite a number of varieties and colours of seaweeds washed up on our beaches after storms. I would never advocate for picking it off the rocks especially when so much gets ripped from their holdfast and tossed on the beaches. Animal fibres and plant fibres are treated quite differently when using chemical free printing and dyeing and for a detailed how to, I would highly recommend checking out Nicola Brown who also lives here in Ireland. Her wealth of knowledge through her own experiments and experiences has been of invaluable help on my journey.
Initially I shied away from linens as they are expensive and bulky, but I managed to pick up some bargain pieces locally and played around with some ideas. Some have been super successful and others a bit weak. I know that’s down to fabric preparation and time in the pot. Don’t skip the small stuff, it matters!
So I now have a sustainably created system where I source my fabrics locally, my seaweed just down the road, my rusty metal from local farmers and sell in local markets. That’s a winning combination I think. Also a store across the road saves me onion skins. I plunder charity shops for cotton sheets, tablecloths and occasional clothing in natural fibres too. I also now use polycotton sheets to lay on my silks so the prints are clean and not printing back on themselves. This has given me some very interesting prints too. So now I can choose to sell the pieces as fabrics or create a garment from them. Needless to say I now have a very interesting wardrobe of gorgeous naturally dyed and printed clothing from natures gifts.
I love that all the treasures I collect from the beaches and woodlands are immortalised into and onto fabrics, their lives and life cycles may be over but they are forever celebrated.
check out my Instagram feed where you can see more of the pieces I have printed and made into garments.
Any questions… do please ask! I have had several emails from textile students so I am happy to talk about what I am working on.
Always forage sensibly and sensitively. Only take what you are going to use, always leave more than one third so it can regrow. Even collecting leaves and botanicals, they are possible home to many creatures so be thoughtful and remember we share these ecosystems with a myriad of other life forms.
Thanks for stopping by, seasons greetings to those who celebrate and best wishes for 2025.
Karima Rebecca Powell Artist 