Eucalyptus Printed Nuno Felted Seamless Vest and Hand Warmers

I was told by eucalyptus mavens India Flint and Irit Dulman to leave the bundles soaking in the pot as long as possible.  But impatient me could never wait more than 24 hours to unveil the gift.  But this time there really was a gift after a week of waiting.  I put them in the pot to cook on a Sunday afternoon and let them stew on a medium heat for several hours.  Then I turned off the heat and forced myself to wait a week.  I knew I was going on a weekend trip the next weekend and figured I'd have something to look forward to after I came home.  The results were excitedly vibrant and worth the wait.

The pot after one week.

The bundles after one week.

 The excitement builds as the bundles are ready to be pulled out of the pot.  I take off the string, the rubberbands, the iron pipe and the wet leaves.  And then, drum roll please....the first reveal.  

Nuno Felted Handwarmers 

A glimpse of the back of the jacket.

Hand warmers next to the vest.  The vest shows the pocket.

Close up of the vest pocket and hand warmers.

Eco Printed Alabama Chanin dress

Here's the dress before it was eco printed.  Click HERE to see how it was made.

I really love the results of eco printed the dress with eucalyptus leaves.

 Here's the dress all bundled up with leaves and tied with cotton string.

My work space.

 I placed the leaves and folded it so I'd get a mirror image on the back.

Close up of the dress.

My One-on-One with Vilte and Irit

Gorgeous Pacific Grove (Monterey, CA) was the site of the nuno felting and eco printing January 2013 workshops given by Irit Dulman and Vilte Kazlauskaite who came all the way from Israel and Lithuania respectively.  These two amazing ladies hooked up several years ago and have created magic, not only singularly, but together as well.  Their work is stunning and absolutely breathtaking.  

I wanted to take the four day dress course where Vilte was teaching how to make a nuno felted seamless dress followed by Irit instructing how to eco print it.  The class was full but lucky me was able to arrange two days of one on one private workshops with each of the ladies.  Of course the time zoomed by but they were both incredible teachers and I ate up everything they had to say.  In my two days with them, we didn't actually make a dress but I got enough information to go home and try it...and boy did I ever (future posts).  

Because of the time and scheduling constraints, I actually met with Irit to do eco dyeing before felting with Vilte.  Given this I came prepared with some of my own felted pieces along with some wool and silk yardage.  

Here we are folding the fabric and making our bundles with fresh eucalyptus leaves.  

Irit is preparing the dye bath by cutting leaves and stems of eucalyptus. She then used the garden hose to fill the pot with water and threw in about a cup of vinegar. This is cincerea eucalyptus which produces beautiful reds.  We simmered the dye bath for about an hour before we added our bundles.

 The incomparable, talented and beautiful Irit Dulman.

Irit taking the bundles out of the dye pot.  We only had time to leave the in for a few hours but time is your friend and the longer they can stay in, the better. 

The bundles are initially held in place with rubber bands and then tightly wrapped with string. 

 Wool takes to the eco printing so beautifully.

In my one day with Vilte, I learned how to manipulating silk fabric.

Shibori techniques on silk fabric

 Me and Vilte

Vilte is amazing, gorgeous, talented and so bright.