Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: inspiration

Natural Dyeing Books

My recent obsession for natural dyeing has extended to buying natural dyeing books. I'm still leaving a lot to experimentation, chance and discovery but these books are the ones that taught me the basics.

India Flint is an Australian sheep farmer and artist who developed the eco-dyeing technique. She was inspired by the Easter eggs she dyed with onion skins every year with her Latvian grandmother. Eco-Dyeing: Botanical Dyes For Beautiful Textiles is a book filled with gorgeous pictures and many natural dyeing techniques including solar dyeing, shibori techniques, hapa-zome printing and cold bundling as well as eco-dyeing. The book also has a table listing the colours you can get from various plant parts – e.g. birch bark makes purples.

Wild Colour: The Complete Guide to Making And Using Natural Dyes by Jenny Dean is a great book detailing all the different colours you can get from one dye simply by adding different mordants. The pictures in the book show the colour range you can get for each plant.

I adore Rebecca Desnos' beautiful pictures of her gorgeous naturally dyed fabrics. I was also curious to learn her soy mordant technique for cotton so I bought her book, Botanical Colour At Your Fingertips. Rebbeca is a vegan and only works with vegetable fibres such as cotton, banana and linen. She manages to dye these fibres in a range of beautiful colours simply by pre mordanting the fabric with soy milk.

If you're keen to know more about eco-dyeing I highly recommend these books. Have you got any great natural dyeing books I should read?

November 13, 2017
What’s Your Excuse?

I've been busy writing an e-book and I wanted you lovely readers to be the very first to have a sneak peek!

I've created it to help people who want to live a more creative life but just don't know how to start. It's about overcoming the excuses holding you back from making the things you need, expressing your creativity and following your dreams. I've included some of the tips and exercises I use to live a creative life and make the things I need. Doing something new can be scary; this book is a friend to help you on your way!

I have a favour to ask – I've designed two covers for the book and I'm not sure which one to go with. Which one do you like better – the cover with the picture of a watch or the minimalist black and white cover? Reply to this email or vote for your favourite in the comments.

You can download the first chapter and share the link with anyone you think can use it. And if you have any feedback or ideas about how I can improve the book, please let me know!

I'm not sure how the final book will be published, whether it will be a free download or a paid book, but for now you can have the first chapter – free! (I lurve free!).

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August 8, 2017
Natural Inspiration

In order to find inspiration and the creative spark, I used to spend a lot of time exploring lane ways in the city, visiting funky handmade shops and checking out exhibitions at galleries. I still do those things but more and more I'm drawing my inspiration from the natural world.

The inspiration I draw from nature feeds my soul in a different way to the inspiration I get from the city. When I'm in the city seeing amazing things, I think about how I can make something similar myself. The excitement of making something new is what fires my imagination. When I'm in nature and see an amazing mushroom I'm inspired to learn more about that mushroom (what it's called, if it's edible or poisonous) and draw it in my nature journal.

Right now I'm inspired by all the different mushrooms that are sprouting up all over the place and the amazing lichen growing on trees. The lichen is just so beautiful and the colours are incredible. In nature there is so much beauty and an infinite variety of colours, textures and shapes. Drawing what I see each week in my nature journal has become a real highlight for me.

I've been passionate about using natural materials for years. I've always liked tracing things and ideas back to their origins and knowing where they are coming from. It's so exciting to be finally stepping into the natural world to connect with my materials at their source. Finding a fallen branch and then sitting under the tree that gifted it to the earth is pretty special.

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June 17, 2017
Autumn Break

I was starting to feel hemmed in by my weekly routine. Every day except Sunday was accounted for with something that had to be done. Truth be told Sunday was accounted for too – clothes washing and house cleaning. No room left for spontaneity and adventure? Eek!

I'd been mentally counting the days till the school holidays when all the activities go on hold and we have a chance to be spontaneous and have fun. It's sunny today, let's go for a walk on the beach. Oh look, it's raining, how about a trip to the museum? Or my favourite, let's spend the day pottering around the house in our pjs doing whatever we want to at home.

Well there's still over a month to go until school holidays start but I got my little fix of spontaneity yesterday when we threw the routine out the window. Instead of our weekly visit to the market for fruit and veg we drove to the Dandenongs to see friends on a gorgeous sunny autumn day.

On the way we stopped at the most gorgeous shop ever, Epoche in Kallista. Four rooms filled with the most delightful handmade toys, clothes, jewellery, shoes, books, craft supplies and more. How gorgeous is the needle felted banner with all the leaves, flowers and birds? I love that kookaburra! My inner craft queen was in craft heaven. So much inspiration and goodness all around me. The perfect antidote to mundanity!

May 27, 2017
Open Studios

I headed for the hills at the end of last month for the Dandenong Ranges Open Studio weekend. Artists across the ranges opened their studios and homes to the public. It was so exiting to meet the different artists and get a tiny peek into their world. Jewellers, bookbinders, sculptors, painters, dyers and more had opened their studios and their hearts.

Each artist participating in the Open Studios weekend submitted an artwork for an exhibition at Burrinja Cultural Centre in Upwey. The quality of all the work was incredible and there was a wide range of styles on display. Next year I'll definitely be visiting the exhibition before the weekend to check out the works on offer and then plan which studios to visit.

It was delightful to catch up with artist Jacqui Grace of Beautiful Wasteland Create. She makes stunning eco-dyed silk and merino clothing. I fell completely love with her dedicated studio space at Burrinja. A studio of my own is now on my wish list! I also visited Nadia Turner, an artist who I have been following on Instagram. I love her pictures of fey folk. They look like they've just stepped out of a wonderful world filled with fantasy and adventure. I wish I could step into one of her pictures and join them on their adventures.

A highlight of the day was spending a couple of hours in the beautiful home of artist Susie Parry as she gave a demonstration in botanical watercolours. Spending so much time in nature lately has made me curious about capturing it on paper, not just on my camera. Botanical illustrations are so beautiful, it would be wonderful to be able to do them myself. Suzy made it look all too easy with her simple explanations and great skill. However, when I had a go at it myself the following week, I found just how hard it really is!

It was a lovely day, meeting artists and getting inspired by their studio spaces and processes. A big thank you to all of them for being so kind and generous and opening their studio doors.

May 18, 2017