I decided to finally use the dried leaves of carajuru that I brought back from Rio de Janeiro, to make watercolour (more on that separately) and also dye some skeins of cotton. I made some small tests in summer last year so worked on a larger batch in December. To prepare the cloth I used soy beans as a mordant. A rather laborious process of soaking the beans, making milk, double soaking the skeins in the milk and then letting them dry for a minimum of a week. I used to share a studio with an artist, Narelle Dore who worked with a lot of natural plant pigments, and so I trusted this painstaking process of using plant-based elements rather than metallic salts in the dying process.
I used almost all the dried leaves I had left to make a dye bath. Again I left it some days for the colour to develop, and once the cotton was submerged left it again. The resulting colour is delicate, but very underwhelming. I’m not surprised at all, as the tests I started in Rio showed me that the leaves need other elements added to obtain the brightest colours. I was able to make a lake pigment previously (separating pigment inside the dye bath) but now I needed a dye which would adhere to cotton, and though the colour looked strong in the dye bath it seemed to wash away each time.
I’m not overly concerned with this – the dyeing process doesn’t fascinate me or rather I’m not committed to reaching a specific colour for aesthetic reasons. I’ve gone far enough and for now I will keep overdyeing the fabric and try and build up some strength of hue.
The thing I am compelled by is an object I want to make. Some time ago I collected old, decaying pieces of Opuntia (prickly pear). They have an amazing lattice network inside that remains when the flesh has gone. This lattice structure apparently allows for greater water retention by the plant.[1] These grey/brown cactus skeletons are arranged in layers that can be peeled apart and they look entirely aquatic, like some kind of coral. This holding of space fascinates me, and I have been thinking of ways to articulate the passing of substance (air, water, juices, energy) through the various tubes, sieves and baskets in Northwest Amazonia. I like the combination of the watery red carajuru (associated with first baths after childbirth, first menstruation, and first ancestral voyage from the Milk River) and I want to peel apart these layers and then sew in tufts of the cotton dyed with the carajuru.
Like all of these intentions in making I set out to do one thing and another often comes out instead, so I will hold it as a light idea in my head and keep working with that of dripping, bubbling, patient waiting cotton until I find the colour that feels ready to sew and weave with.
[1] Ortega, Arturo & Victoria Uribe, Ricardo & Delgado-Hernandez, David & Cobos, Sandra & Rubio Toledo, Miguel & Rivera Gutiérrez, Erika & Higuera Zimbrón, Alejandro. (2013). Biomimicry: Natural Systems In Situ Analysis, Aimed to Rain Water Harvesting. Key Engineering Materials.