Back At It

7. February 2011 by Eve Peach.

 

Yawn….Stretch.

Oh! Hello All!

I am back after a long winter’s nap. Well…not really. Part of me wishes that was the case, but I took an extra long break from posting on my blog because I was wrapping up my second grandest creation of my time. I finished incubating my second daughter and delivered her in late December.

So now as I make room for her in our home I am clearing out clutter,  donating maternity clothes and re-assessing my wardrobe.  Which has left me with old clothes that NO one wants to wear.  And I can’t ever bring myself to throw any type of textile away in the trash.  So I am feeling the creative itch again and have come up with a little project.

Baby Elephant Stuffies made from a vintage elephant print tank top.

Oh it feels good to make something with my hands again!

As soon as the sun comes out and I can take some good images of these cuties they will be available here on my etsy shop Eve’s Eden.

Posted in vintage, handmade | 1 Comment »

Kudzu and Japanese Indigo Natural Fiber and Dying Workshop

14. October 2010 by Eve Peach.

Good day! Today I am sharing an experience I had at a natural fiber and dying workshop over the past weekend.  This workshop was lead by the Bellos sisters, Sarah and Ali.  Together they have formed their business ASK Apparel, which provides natural and sustainable dyes for businesses and for their personal use creating naturally-dyed organic apparel.

The workshop was held just northwest of downtown Nashville at Sulphur Creek Farms located at 5188 Old Hickory Blvd. in Nashville.  Here the Bellos sisters grow their dye plots of marigold, Japanese indigo and other plants.

Sarah and Ali taught us so much about harvesting indigo plants and processing those plants in order to dye with. The second part of the workshop was lead by two students from Philadelphia, Elissa Myers and Kiki  Brown. Together they are exploring and studying the many uses of the Kudzu vine and the fiber harvested from it.  Elissa has also founded a new naturally-dyed clothing line out of Philly called BLUEREDYELLOW. 

So here are some photos of the different processes and hands-on experiments we learned about.

The image above is of one of the large tubs of Japanese indigo plants harvested at the farm, which had been soaking and fermenting in warm water for a few days. You can see the blue green pigment of the water coming out already.  This large vat is being prepared in order to store indigo pigment.

After removing the indigo plants, lime is added to the liquid producing a chemical change in the color of the water from blue green to red brown.  Next oxygen is added by disturbing the water.  After this the indigo pigment then settles to the bottom.  The next step, after letting the water sit, is to extract the top layer of liquid in order to retrieve the indigo dye that has settled to the bottom. 

Indigo pigment!

After preparing the large vats for storage.   We then learned how to prepare a fresh vat to dye with.  This process involved adding soda ash to the dye bath so that fabric will accept the pigment. And then we took oxygen out of the liquid instead of putting oxygen in.  Finally we experimented dying white cotton linen, thread, and other materials.

Fresh dye vat with various linen pieces soaking in it shown above.

Various dye experiments shown above.

Below are two images of my experiment.  I decided to create and Indigo Skyscape. Using thin wooden star shapes to create a resist, I clamped them to the front and back of the linen using thread.  Then I used a wax resist technique and created small wax droplets over the linen creating smaller stars. I also experimenting dipping the linen in partially to create a gradient effect of darker to lighter indigo color. Here is the finished look!

After having so much fun dying we learned how to boil, soak and extract the thread-like fibers from the Kudzu vine.

Of course if you live in TN we all know what the above image is, KUDZU VINES!

Images above are bare boiled vine and soaking vine.

And images below are of us extracting the inner thread-like fibers of the Kudzu vine.

Thread-like fibers extracted from the Kudzu vine that you can now sew or weave with!

Well I hope you have enjoyed learning a little about these two processes.  I had a wonderful weekend full of great women, great energy, and great knowledge!  We had gloriously beautiful weather and it was a much needed weekend filled with creativity and nature that was a long overdue experience I needed to live!

Thanks for stopping by and reading.

Love,

Eve

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Laurel Leaf Gallery

16. September 2010 by Eve Peach.

 

Yesterday I made another trip out to Historic Leipers Fork to Laurel Leaf Gallery to drop off some of my newly created baby and toddler silk-screened tees. 

I recently mentioned this gallery in my last post, but since I took my camera along to document my wares I decided to talk more at length about my participation and love for this new home for my artwork and hand made items.

This eclectic gallery is full of art, handmades, jewelry, stained glass, journals, fiber art, and gifts galore.  It is the type of boutique/gallery that one can spend a lot of time perusing through all that the gallery has to offer.  It is a multi-sensory experience to look, see and feel all the items that range in color and texture from leather bound journals, smooth stained glass to felt covered soap!

As I mentioned I also have an array of my handmades and artwork including silkscreen tees, handmade vintage style aprons, handmade journals, lotus flower books, nature prints, nature print card sets, handbags, a set of silkscreen place-mats, and some handcrafted rose topiary ornaments.  I am proud and honored to be one of Laurel Leaf Gallery’s main artists.

The gallery is owned and operated by Bethany Reiser.  She is an accomplished stain glass artist and fine jewelry maker.  I literally want to own every piece of jewelry she makes.  She uses beautiful semi-precious gemstones to create exquisite hand crafted necklaces, earrings, and other jewelry.  Bethany’s jewelry has a sophisticated natural look that I am very much attracted to and I almost exclusively only purchase (or desire to purchase!) this type of jewelry for my own personal fashion aesthetic.

Bethany also creates beautiful stained glass window art as well as functional stained glass lamps.  Her work can be found at her gallery as well as in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts Gift Shop and “Shimai” at the Loveless Cafe Shops both located in Nashville, Tn.

I think it is well worth the trip to charming Leipers Fork.  And when visiting Laurel Leaf you will also find a lovely surprise.  The gallery has recently become two stories of creative loveliness.  Upstairs in what Bethany calls the Tree House you will find more of a Fine Art Gallery filled with quality oil and acrylic paintings from a handful of talented local middle Tennessee artists.  

Laurel Leaf Gallery is located at 4208 Old Hillsboro Rd, Leipers Fork, Tn. 

Hours  are Wednesday through Saturday from 10-5:00pm.

And Sundays from 1-5:00pm.

Here are a few snapshots I took of my work at the gallery yesterday. I hope you enjoy this quick sneak peek window shopping experience.

Posted in prints, paintings, artwork, handmade, Galleries, artists | 1 Comment »

New Business Cards On the Way!

25. August 2010 by Eve Peach.

(front of card)

(back of card)

I finished designing my new business cards this week and sent them off to the printer’s!

I am very excited and happy with the new design I came up with.  And I hope to get more of my handmades and artwork listed in the near future on my etsy shop evepeachart.etsy.com.

I also have my handmade journals, vintage style aprons, and nature prints at Laurel Leaf Gallery in Leipers Fork.  Leipers Fork is quite the charming little country town with a strong artist community.  I encourage all to take a scenic ride on Natchez Trace Parkway and visit all the galleries in Leipers Fork.  While you are there stop in and have a healthy organic lunch at Joe Natural’s Cafe where they serve locally grown food and provide organic groceries for purchase too.

Posted in prints, artwork, handmade, Galleries, artists | 2 Comments »