hapazome obsession

Some more experiments today, I am slowly learning which plants are good for this and which are not. I found that the colours don't always come out the way you expect. The best result so far are with leaves. Geranium petals have come out quite well. The little blue flowers are lilac and pink phlox. Dark hellebores flowers have also made an interesting picture. I wonder about poppy petals, but it will a while yet before they come out. I am looking forward to trying this with more flowers and leaves, as they come out. I have tried to wash one of the less successful samples and found that the colour is holding quite well, so at the moment I don't see a need for any other fixative.
But I better leave this for now and get on with something else.

hapazome experiment-result

This is the final result of my hapazome experiment today. Considering that this was my first attempt and I was doing it while my grandson was asleep and I was aware of the fact that I would have to pack it all up if he woke, the result is not bad at all. Actually, I am very pleased with it.
The best pictures came from leaves or flowers with thin petals, so I will keep experimenting with various plants. I will definitely try to do some embroidery on one of the samples.

hapazome experiment

I watched this technique on BBC2 last night, programme called The Edible Garden. I have since downloaded it onto iPlayer, so I can watch it again, in case this goes horribly wrong.
Basically the idea is to transfer images of leaves or flowers onto a natural fabric, in this case I have used calico. They have to be fresh, not dried. You lay the object between two sheets of fabric and beat the hell out of it (they called it pummeling), I used the smooth end of a meat tenderizer. When you peel of the mess left behind, you should be left with a print.
Use a hot iron to set the picture.
So, this is me having a go at hapazome printing.
I started with a lot of ambition as you can see. As it was rather wet in the garden, I started with what I could find indoors.
This didn't go well....










So I did start bringing stuff from the garden...











Some thing worked better the others, I realized that it is no good using anything too fleshy, the thin leaves worked best.

hapazome

Our son is back in UK, hurrah.


And so are our house martins, after a long winter away in South Africa. It is just so incredible, that such a small bird can make a just a long journey. At the moment there are 4 pairs, busily repairing their nests below our roof.



Watching the television last night I learned about hapazome, a Japanese technique of transferring flowers and leaves directly into a fabric, amazing and so simple. I can't wait to try it out. So much inspiration for embroidery.
At the moment I can't find any reference to a book on the subject.

quiet day

It has been a hectic week, so it is nice to have a quiet Sunday at home. It is raining now, first time since Easter, very welcome for the garden. They promised us a sunny weather back as from Monday.
Text from our son, all well, but still waiting.