About

Hello and welcome! I am Monika. I enjoy exploring what’s possible with raw and  processed fibre, yarn and fabrics and dyes, mainly natural. I choose various textile techniques depending on the design I am making.

I sell my work mainly off-line at the moment.

For custom work please e-mail  red2white[at]zoho[dot]com or contact me via my Etsy shop www.red2white.etsy.com, Facebook or Flickr.

I post on Flickr . You can find me on Pinterest too.

To SUBSCRIBE to the blog, please scroll down on the main page and click on ‘+’, the ‘sidebar’ will open and you can enter your e-mail address there

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go to ‘Links’, scroll down, click on ‘+’ and enter your email address.

I don’t mind if you pin my images. If you use my images elswhere, please, link back to my blog.

23 Comments

  1. Thank you for your inspiring blog. When I found your blog I was so captivated that I stayed up late reading all the blogs! – and I learned such a lot. Thank you for taking the time to write it and make it available for everyone to share. My journey into the felting world is long behind yours but I feel as if I am taking the same path. I have had such fun with cobweb felting and I am working my way towards a garment. Such fun!

    Reply

  2. Suzanne, thank you so much for taking time to write this! It is encouraging to know, that my posts have inspired you to do felting. I wish you lots and lots of success!!!

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  4. Hi again: loving your new works and wondered if you could share with me the technique you used to do the most recent cuff. I have seen several types like this around and thought of making it over a pvc large pipe and felting like a huge bead, or making a flat resist and then bunching it up on one…any tips on this process would be really appreciated…I have been doing gauntlets with flat resist but wanted to try something different…thanks monica…and loved all of your recent works…and your blog of course…happy season to you and yours….cedar

    Reply

    1. Hi Cedar! And thank you for your lovely comment! As for the cuff I am planning to write couple of tutorials and the cuff is one of them, but until then – you already know what to do, just try it.

      Reply

  6. Your work is breath-taking and so inspiring! I am working on teaching myself all the art-full things that I missed as a child and young adult. The depth and breadth of your work is dazzling! Thanks for sharing your gift! Happy New year!

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    1. Wendy, thank you very much for your words, thank you for the time to stop by and write them!!! I too wish you a very happy and a creative New Year 2011!

      Reply

  8. Hello,
    Your work is gorgeous. I would like to know if you have any interest in having a presence in a salon in Los Angeles. Please email me if you do and we can have a “conversation” !
    Thank-you,
    Andrea

    Reply

  12. Dear Monika,
    Your work is beautifully shown and so inspiring! Thank you for the extra effort required to share!! I am looking for a dress form and yours is simple and elegant. Would you tell me the brand or where you purchased it?
    Thanks so much.
    Sheila

    Reply

    1. Sheila, thank you very much for your kind comment.
      For the dress printed with plants I have used a pattern from Burda, but have adapted it so it’s no more like original. But, it’s very simple, now it’s just a rectangle from top to bottom with bust darts, so if you have any pattern for a top with darts, you could use it, just make it longer and chop it at the top for the straps.

      Reply

      1. Thanks for the information about the dress design….it is simple and beautiful.
        I was really interested in the mannequin…..white with wood knob at neck. I haven’t found one as nice as yours.
        Thanks!

  14. Pingback: Red 2 White | Joanne Shewan Textiles

  15. Hello! I am absolutely THRILLED by your natural dying results. Having done a bit, I realise that a lot of the success one enjoys is through trial and error; but nonetheless I would really like to know how you get such sharp imprints of your leaves? Recently I tried to imprint some rose leaves on cotton napkins (treated previously with alum and cream of tartar) while dipped in an onion skin bath. The onion skins produced a lovely dark mustard but I couldn’t get an impression of the leaves. What I’m wondering is whether you use an iron bath after the dying to obtain your results? I would be extremely grateful for your feedback as I am quite mesmerised by the effects you achieve. Many thanks! Sarah

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much Sarah. A good plant/eco print is usually a result of the correct mordant used with the correct fibre & plant. Alum and cream of tartar are used in immersion natural dyeing and on protein fibres. They will not create a ‘bridge’ strong enough for the pigment from plants to adhere to cellulose fibres. You got colour from onion skins because they are substantial dyes, they will dye even without mordant, though mordanting will make the colour more fast.
      So you will need to use different mordant on cotton, I use soy mil or washing soda most of the time. But there are so many other and you could use combination of few + post mordant as well. Do you have India Flint’s book Eco Colour? I find it the best source of information on eco print in general and also I don’t think there is any other better book on various mordants out there.
      As for the rose leaves – they are high in tannin and if there is iron/rust present somewhere close you will get prints and perhaps some colour as well. You can soak the fabric in rusty water. And/or soak leaves as well. You can bundle fabric around iron pipe with or without plants and then print. Possibilities are almost endless. Then you can have a look on-line and see what other plants are in rose family and try them out. Good luck!

      Reply

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