Eucalypts of Narrogin - Art, Science and Story
Season Changes
Is there a difference in dye colour extracted from leaves during a year?
We each chose 2 trees, one tree and one mallee, to focus on and follow over 12 months. Samples were taken from the same tree each time, and mature leaves only were collected. We use the 6 Noongar seasons as our guide for timing.
Season dye results 2023-2024
What we found: there were changes during the year with all our trees.
However, the summer of 2023-2024 was very dry. We decided to continue our sampling for another 12 months to see if there was an influence on dye materials in our leaves.
Setting up test for seasonal changes of leaf dye
Collect leaves at middle of each of 6 Noongar seasons.
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Birak (December - January)
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Bunuru (February - March)
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Djeran (April - May)
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Makuru (June - July)
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Djilba (August - September)
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Kambarang (October - November)
Weight of leaves. 100 g of fresh leaf
Bring to simmer in 500 ml water using fresh leaves, not dry, for this. Keep at heat for 60 minutes.
Preparation
Cotton prepared with Aluminium Acetate and then chalk. Rinsed.
Fabric sample dried and ironed.
Cut into triangles for sample dyes.
Testing
Add fabric sample triangle to hot dye pot. Volume of water needs to be enough for fabric sample size.
Remove, rinse, dry. Stitch to whole year backing sheet square. Label as desired.