Cushions

One last swansong with dye discharge and devore before exploring the unchartered seas of green fabrics and processes.Cushion labelled thus :

'One Bird ' devore cushion from the 'Beautiful but deadly ' never to be repeated range of un-environmentally friendly interior textile products by Rowena Ardern.
During the devore process the following rules apply HANDLE CHEMICALS WITH CARE *Wear rubber gloves and dust vapour mask.Work in a well ventilated space.


Fabrics used silk viscose

"Steadily over the next four days the silkworm produces a fine thread by making a figure of eight movement some 300,000 times, constructing a cocoon in which it intends to spend the chrysalis stage where it is in a state of sleep and casting off its skin. After this the pupae begin the sixteen days that would normally result in the miracle of transformation to a winged being - the moth. However, if the pupa (chrysalis) remains alive it will begin to secrete an alkali, which eats its way through the cocoon, ruining the silk threads. Therefore during the commercial production of silk, only enough adult moths are allowed to emerge to ensure continuation of the species. Most of the remainder of the silkworms are killed by heat, e.g. immersion in boiling water, steaming or drying in an oven.

Hundreds Die"

"The amount of useable silk from each cocoon is small. One hectare of mulberry trees yields 11.25 tonnes of leaves, producing around 200kg of cocoons, but just 40kg of raw silk. The silk yield is many times smaller than this in countries such as Thailand, where the silk is reeled by hand rather than by machine. So it takes hundreds of tiny lives to produce just one silk scarf or tie.

and cotton organdie

Cotton, the most widely used textile in the world, is grown in over 60 countries and covers almost 5% of all land cultivated. However, as competition grows and people expect to buy clothes for less money, cotton farming has become a riskier business.

As a result, farmers have been using huge amounts of chemicals which are sprayed on crops and plants to kill harmful insects. Unfortunately, pesticides may also kill non-harmful insects and other animals to protect their crops. A quarter of all pesticides are used on cotton - in the South, this figure rises to half. And because cotton isnt eaten, many of the pesticides that farmers use are particularly toxic.

This has caused a range of health problems:

the natural insect population in cotton areas has been greatly reduced

pesticides are washed into rivers and taken into drinking supplies

high levels of pesticides build up in the soil, making food that is later grown there bad for us

empty pesticide containers are dumped, posing a health hazard

cattle fed on cotton leaves, or oil cake made from cotton seeds, can be poisoned and even die."

and thats just the fabrics never mind the chemical processes , devore that eats a way the top layer of the fabric , once printed the fabric is then baked and the devore layer has to be rubbed off by hand wearing a mask to protect from fibres and dust .Coloured discharge entails bleaching out one colour and adding another colour on top . Bleach well enough said . Add that to the water table .
At least the embroidery is environmentally friendly or is it !
The end result is so gorgeous though I am going to find it hard to quit this habit !

detail of back and opening


























Front of completed cushion.