Tag: iris

Iris leaf trivet

On By CarynIn Craft

I recently found a tutorial from Sally Pointer on looping around a core and really wanted to try it. I look some dried and rehydrated iris leaves from my garden, twined them, then started looping. I didn’t have enough material for a basket, but the thick twine did make a nice trivet.

Photo description: trivet made of twined iris leaves with simple looping over a core construction

I did overestimate the amount of core, but rather than cut it off, I switched to just looping with the tail and was able to add some width to the trivet. I then sewed a leather label in a circle to an outer loop.

I like this method of construction. The core gives a way to tighten the stitches and fill in the density of the looping. It can also be done as the twine is created and without tools, which makes it a great skill when I am waiting and don’t have a project with me.

Iris leaf basket

On By CarynIn Craft

I made a small basket entirely from dried iris leaves. The spokes are large iris leaves, and I twined multiple smaller leaves together around the spokes.

Photo description: starting the twining with dried then rewetted iris leaves
Photo description: finished basket made from iris leaves gathered from my yard

The leaves were soaked more than was ideal for weaving, so to dry it I put it in the oven on low and weighed the basket every twenty minutes until the weight was constant, indicating all the water was gone. Air drying a basket that wet would have given too much time for mold to set in.

I found some iris printed fabric and lined the basket. It took me two tries to sew a liner that fit the shape of the basket, and I ended up with a single layer that wrapped over the top lip of the basket.

Photo description: iris printed fabric liner on the iris leaf basket

To finish off the basket, I added one of my new leather tags to the edge of the liner.

Photo description: laser engraved leather sewn-on tag that says “iris leaves”

I like twining, so plan on harvesting more iris leaves in the spring, drying, and practicing on more twined baskets.

Photo description: basket in use holding sewing tools

Dye fail

On By CarynIn Craft

I’m not a dyer. I don’t like dye. I don’t like the accidental stains, the bleeding, the quasi-chemistry that is more art than science. But I thought I would try to dye some dried iris leaves. I pinged my wild basket group, and one person said she dyes iris leaves with regular dye meant for cotton. I bought some Rit dye for cotton and natural fibers, followed the instructions for the hot water dye, thinking that had the most chance for success. I added salt and dish soap as instructed, and about a quarter of the bottle of dye. I put in the rewetted leaves. I stirred. The dye and leaves refused to connect. I added a cup of vinegar. I stirred. I added the rest of the bottle of dye. I stirred. I checked that the temperature was staying at 140 degrees Fahrenheit on the stove. I stirred for 40 minutes. The leaves should have been absolutely black for the amount of dye that was in the bath. They were stubbornly the same original color. I drained the dye bath outside and rinsed the leaves, and rinsed, and rinsed (have I mentioned how much I detest dyeing?) and rinsed some more. There were faint purple streaks in the iris leaves, but not even close to the color I was hoping for. I thought I rinsed it enough, but when I handled the leaves, my fingers turned purple. The dye liked my skin better than the iris leaves. Arg.

Photo description: dried iris leaves
Photo description: iris leaves after rinsing, the faint bits of purple disappeared, well, didn’t disappear, it left the leaves and stained my fingers instead

I went back to my post in my basket group to report the failure. I noticed another person said they soaked iris leaf pulp in mordant before dying. When I feel less vitriolic toward dyeing, I will research mordant, and maybe look for a book on dyeing that has the actual chemistry explained. Right now I would rather stick with natural colors that don’t stain my fingers.

Inside vs Outside

On By CarynIn Craft

In April I gathered some iris leaves and let them dry inside on a drying rack.

Photo description: freshly picked iris leaves on a mesh drying rack
Photo description: same iris leaves after five months
Photo description: dried iris leaves gathered from outside in September

I was surprised at the color difference between iris leaves dried inside, and those left to dry outside. The inside leaves are so much darker, but the color is more uniform. The outside dried leaves are more golden, but with streaks of black. What isn’t surprising is the grasshopper bites on the leaves left outside on the plant. There isn’t much grasshopper activity in April, but as the summer rolls through, and most of the other greenery turns brown, the grasshoppers go after the iris.

The next step is to see if there are any differences in how the leaves weave up.

Update: Twined bracelets

On By CarynIn Craft

I added a few more twined bracelets made from different natural materials and had a whole wrist full of test subjects.

Photo description: six twined bracelets with labels: Bark, Daylily, Corn, Daffodil, Iris, Grass

The daylily is the oldest at 12 days, corn a close second at 11 days, then daffodil, bark, grass, and iris all at 6 days. The bark knot didn’t want to stay tied, but they all survived showers and regular wear. What they didn’t survive was my sensory overload. It felt like they were getting tighter around my wrist, although photographic evidence doesn’t really show a difference.

Photo description: same bracelets six days later

Because the bracelets were bothering me, I subjected them to a pull test. The surprising result was that the daylily bracelet did not break. The others all ceased to be connected. The bark, grass, and iris all had the stop knot pull open, the corn leaf and daffodil broke along the length of the twining.

Photo description: twined bracelets broken from pulling

The lone daylily bracelet was allowed to remain on my wrist. I made this of dead and partially dried daylily leaves that were lying near the base of the plants. Because the leaves were not completely dried they were easy to twine without breakage, but they also had some shrinkage which causes the twine to separate and be a little spring-like. We’ll see how long it lasts on my wrist. It is light and not biding with a little give, so it has a chance.