Eco print notebooks

My notebooks are now finished. I have managed to make three in time for my open studio weekends, I am very pleased with them the covers are woven and the paper was bought from TKMaxx so not sure what sort it is, it looks handmade.

 These were my first attempts at eco printing and I think quite successful, they are quite sparsely printed so that they can be written over. Below are birch leaf prints.

 I can't remember what the large leaf in this book is. The smaller ones are Blueberry leaves which were red but have printed in shades of green and brown. It would have been lovely to have been able to transfer the red pigment as well.

 On this one I used rusty nails, this was the first printing I did and goes with the brown cover.

 Also some cards, I was quite surprised at how pale the ginkgo came out and wasn't sure whether to use the prints from these but actually quite like the ghostly look that now that its mounted.

Travels round exhibitions

We've been a bit touristy this week. I was stewarding at the South West Textile Group exhibition at Birdwood House, Totnes on Monday. We travelled down via a bit of Dartmoor and Bovey Tracey, had a good look round Totnes, lots of narrow streets, hills and fantastic individual shops. The exhibition looks great as well we had over a hundred visitors on the first day and lots of great comments.

Forgot to take any photos of the exhibition or Totnes.

 We came back for one night and then were on our way to Stratford-upon-Avon, visiting Tewkesbury on the way. Lots of old buildings and an abbey.

 To Stratford which also has loads of old buildings, below is Shakespeare's house

 More old buildings

We had lunch in the building below. In the evening we went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the RSC. Very funny done in modern dress. The scenery changes were amazing, there must be trapdoors all over the stage.

 Next day we went the see Weaving the Century at Compton Verney. This is work by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. The tapestries were beautiful, amazing and lots of other adjectives. I had a short chat with the curator and even the largest tapestries were all attached to battens using velcro. This the method I use when mine are hung on battens. No photos allowed but I did get this one in the grounds. I love this artists work, especially her willow weavings but have never seen an actual one before.

And travelled back via Stow on the Wold and Bourton on the Water, I love the way Cotswolds villages have such descriptive names.
I think from now on I will live in Sand Bay on the Beach.

Experimenting with eco prints on paper

I have been experimenting with leaves on paper following the brilliant notes of Cassandra Tondro on this site http://tondro.com/green/category/ecoprint/ I have not used many leaves on each page as I am intending to make notebooks our of them that people can use. The paper was bought but I may try making my own again soon.

The rusty prints below were done using the same method except that I sprayed each piece of rust with vinegar first.

They will be going into the notebook cover below when they are fully dry. this is A6 size.

Hoopoe again

I looked out the window and there were all these men standing outside with binoculars and telescopes and giant cameras so I got my binoculars to watch the watchers, they were tracking the hoopoe again and I managed to see it in flight.

Hoopoe

We had a hoopoe on the beach yesterday, unfortunately the only pictures I have of it are copyright as they were taken by a professional photographer. Apparently they stop off on the south coast of England occasionally on their way to warmer climes. Not sure the Bristol channel counts as the south coast but its near enough.

Sunset over Sand Bay

From the back of the house

From the front

Musings

I am having a break from weaving apart from a couple of small pieces I am working on in short spurts. I will have to get dug in soon as I am having two open weekends at the beginning of December.
 We have had some lovely weather this week so I have been out in the garden dividing plants and trying to get on top of the couch grass that is taking over my borders. The golden rod had spread loads and needed an axe to dig up, sounds a bit dramatic I know but it was the only way I could get it out. I was making great progress but now I have a cold which has sapped all my energy so I can only look at the garden and despair that I don't feel up to tackling any more at the moment. Hopefully this lovely autumn weather will last until I am feeling better.
The blueberry leaves are turning beautiful shades of red and I am collecting them as they fall in order to have another go at eco dying. If anybody is reading this and could advise me on what natural mordant would be best I would appreciate it.