Lynda Shoup

Playing with rose ink and walnut ink on 1 inch circles. Some of these will end up in my botanical ink journal.

My basket of hand dyed embroidery floss. I’m working on a journal full of botanical dyed papers. Decided to dye some embroidery floss to go with it. The colors are achieved with red cabbage, avocado and rose dyes. The bunny cards were drafted by . via .app

So many colors from red cabbage. Changing the ph changes the color. In this case I added washing soda and vinegar to achieve different colors. There’s a magic to watching the colors transform.

I love making ink from the world around me. These heirloom roses smell heavenly!

Sometimes my commute is a little out of the ordinary. In June I carried several crocheted hula hoops to work on the bus. These were later the base for a seascape made with students. People have stopped being surprised by what we bring with us.

I needed a new bag so I made one. The purple satin is a scrap from a dress i made 35 years ago, the ruffle from a worn out garment, the flower embellishment crocheted from my scrap pile and the zipper and mother of pearl buttons from my friend Don. Happy memories every day I use it.

Recently bought a ceramic paint pallet to use with my inks. Wondered how ceramic would be. I love it. all these funky circles in different sizes are great for mixing the inks with vinegar or baking soda to change the PH and therefore the color.

Noticed my stash of ink dyed paper was getting out of hand so threw myself into making a self-made ink centric journal. Why not dye some embroidery floss to match, I thought over tea. And so the journey has begun.

Sketching in the wild. Or at a cafe. Or on the bus. Finding little details to examine and document.