Class pres/framing

Had class presentations yesterday. I seemed to get positive feedback I think. But the issue of how to display was brought up. Also I checked the anthotypes to see if they were working after class and they are. So display... I could frame, not frame, on the wall, on a table, in a book like Anna Atkins?, box frames, Ben suggested that I could display them on a table, laying down behind glass,  kinda like a museum display... I am liking the idea of frames at the moment, so I'm having a look at factoryframes...

White box frames $27, Black box $22, plain white 8x10 frames are around $20, A3 are around $30

I think I like the look of the thicker frames best... And the white ones. They seem more professional.

I might have a look at frames at the Wharehouse to see if they are cheaper, and I can get then right away instead of waiting for postage....

Or I could get 2nd hand ones. That would go well with my sustainability theme/ideas. Sweet. And I will spray paint them all white I think, so there a bit of uniformity. Spray paints not exactly good for the environment, but I want my work to look good aesthetically as well...

Eco colour

I found this awesome book in the Dargaville town library!! its called Eco colour; botanical dyes for beautiful textiles by India Flint.

Interesting useful stuff from this book;


Back in the day (it has been traced back to the 4th century BC), people from the mediterranean region used a substance found in a range of molluscs ( a large phylum of invertebrate animals found in the sea) a yellowish substance, that in sunlight changed to a rich violet colour. This colour became the colour of royalty and wealth. But the sea creatures population diminished.
pg 20


The tea test method - crumble the material you want to use to dye (petals berries leaves etc) and leave in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. If the water goes coloured then the material should be good for dyeing.pg 39


Flint talks about how some plants are poisionuos, which is handy to know! pg 66


I am going to try some "eco prints". there are two methods; the hot method and the cold method.


The hot method involves steaming the fabric and plants for an hour. I don't want to use up heaps of gas in our flat, so I'm going to use the cold method, which basically involves wrapping the plants and fabric up tightly and leaving them for a month.


So here is all the plants I am using (from home)

 Rose

 eucalyptus

 hydrangea

  Dahlia flower

 red sliverbeet

  eggplant leaves


Heres all the plants I picked...

So 1st I soaked the plants in boiled water, which would dampen the fabric and plant and soften things up. 

Then I pulled the plant apart and laid it on one side of the fabric.

The I folded it and rolled it up

Then I used rubber bands to hold it all together.

And there you have it! Now I just have to leave it for a month.

Putting up Anthotypes

In keeping with the whole environmental and sustainability theme, I tried to buy as much organic and NZ grown ingredients as I could find... 

My Marigolds

The blue flowers that didn't flower. Must be because of winter I think.

Black current juice. made in NZ and grown in NZ.

Calendula flowers. These looked interesting and I thought they might colour so I bought them. Organic.

Organic rasberries.

Organic tumeric.

Organic sliver beet.

Organic blueberries

Organic beetroot.

This is the process I used for all of the juice making. (appart from I grated the beetroot 1st etc)

So first I used a sieve and spoon to get the juice.

Then I used a tea towel to make the juice finer and get rif of any little seeds.

Withe the Sliver beet and the calendula flowers, I soaked them in hot water first, to soften them up.

Then you have juice!

I had more juice from somethings and not much from others, so as I put the juice in a cup, I added a cap full of vodka (just the cheap $10 stuff), so that there would be the same amount of vodka in each juice. Then I used a roller to put it on the paper.

Then a sponge brush to smooth it out. (the blackcurrant emulsion is seen here)

The blueberry juice didn't bring up much colour at all, the juice was redy purple. So it ill be interesting to see how it turns out. 

Once the raspberry dried it went a pale purple. You can see the difference here with the wet 2nd coat on the left and the dired pale purple coat on the right.

3rd coat.

And on and on. I did 2 or 3 coats per page.

And then I put them on my window.

So heres what I did in the video...

Put up OHP neg

Put up paper

Put hard cardboard behind them to help make the OHP and paper flush

Ran out of tape and realized I needed black paper as black fabric I had had light coming through

Got black paper and put it up to stop light coming in from behind.

Anthotype artists

The Anthotype book has a list of Anthotype artists in the back...


Hans de Bruijn

tulip petals

Weigelia

Bev Conway

onion skin

Carol Golemboski

 Blueberry

 Raspberry

You can see how she's put multiple layers on this one especially, and how she hasn't done them all to the edges, creating a dark blue, then purple, then creamy layers of colour.

Strawberry

These are cool. I like how shes used berries for all of them, and how you can see the double layers shes put on. The rough edges are effective as well, gives it a grungy look. but also a very handmade feel.

Silvino Gonzalez

This guy has used beetroot and achiote juice for this, then he scans then and then inverts them and makes then black and white on photoshop. He probably ups the contrast and clarity etc on them too. I like how he gets the spotty look in his work. must be from seeds or bits of vege etc. Gives his work a mystical spacey feel.

I really like this inverted one. I wish he would go into more detail of his method! how does he get it so sharp? Probably puts his work under a sheet of glass on a flat ground to make it flush?

Rosemary Horn

 Sliverbeet

Red Cabbage

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  Spirulina - has a very interesting effect. I went to buy some spirulina, but it was really expensive, and I had already brought heaps of fruit and vege at common sense organics...