ecodye - pine!~

     perhaps this post is a bit premature.. i am not super impressed with my photos & i have not quite identified the tree i used, all i know is that it is some kind of pine.. but i felt like making it anyway! ..this was my first ecodye experiment with evergreens!~
    i picked the branches on a walk down to the river.. it was a tree along ada blvd.

    the sun was actually pretty much down at this point, so the pictures are not as clear as i would have liked.. ugh.  see.. the photo below, was taken even before and is actually of the tree next to it.. and i think it as actually of a different type of pine altogether because as i was picking the branches, i just happened to feel the branches of this other tree and well, they were different.

    i um.. steeped? ..maybe processed is the word? the branches in steaming hot water for 10min.  these are them when i put them in..

    after doing that they had significantly lost their green.. they were more of a ..well.. i dont know.. but less green & yeah.. that stove top is really dirty, i see.. but i dont use it to cook & well.. i havent washed it in awhile & i dont care.  next i soaked them in a homemade iron solution for 30min or so..  then i laid them out on my fabric... this fabric, well, it was a remnant that i got at the reuse center.. so it is 'fabric unknown' ..but from burning a little bit i am guessing that it is some sort of blend.. i am guessing that there is a bit of poly in there somewhere?  ..it didnt totally curl up or anything.. but it didnt burn nice and clean either..

    so.. after laying them out, i just rolled it up and tied it up tight.  then i steamed it in my makeshift steamer for an hour, flipping it partway through.. which is good, because when i opened it up to check i  noticed that it had fallen and part of it was submerged in the water.. oops.  after an hour i turned off the heat and just left it in there to cool.  and then about 3 days later i opened it up.

     and it looked like this:

     i took some pictures in more detail.. but well.. the lighting in my house is rotten.. so ugh.  but here goes..

     the fabric had really bunched up in the process, so i attempted to pull it straight and take some pictures.. not too easy mind you.

    and then.. some details.. hopefully...

     i think that it looks pretty neat.  & i also think that if it was pure cotton then it would show up better, cause this fabric was a little strange.. or also that if i soaked the branches in the iron longer that would work better too!  but i will experiment again!