Maki-age challenge

For the Maki-age Shibori challenge that Karren Brito of ENTWINEMENTS posted for the month of October, I decided that the effect I wanted to try to reproduce was the green and white pattern seen on variegated nasturtium leaves and shown in this photo.

The finished piece is at the end of the post, or check out photos of all the finished pieces posted so far in the Maki-age Shibori Challenge flickr pool. Here is a brief description of what I did.

	This sketch of a nasturtium vine was transferred to an 18 x 24 inch piece of white 8 mommie silk.
	To get the suggestion of an orange nasturtium flower I stitched and tied the leaves, capped these, and died the orange flower first, which was tied around a cork.
	The plastic cap was then turned inside out so that the orange flower was capped. The previously capped white silk was then died green.
	Leftover Procion MX dye stocks were diluted in 50% white vinegar to dye silk. This is the tied silk after dyeing.
	This is the cork used to cap the orange flower with the depression showing where the silk was bound to the cork.

Maki-agi shibori "Nasturtium" 8 mommie China silk 18 x 28 inches Procion MX dyes Some orange and green dye leaked around the plastic cap in both directions but is mostly visible in the inside edge of the orange flower. I originally wanted to over-dye the background but at this point I think that I would probably make a mess of the leaves. I may quilt this piece of silk and use embroidery to mask the green dye that has bled into the borders of the orange flower.

Detail