Peace Plus Ink

 Thursday was International Day of Peace and like we do each year, we hung our peace weathergrams and our peace doves and watched them move and sway in the breeze (wind!). They catch people's eyes as they walk the road and we chat about peace every now and again. Which is a good thing.

So here are some photos of the installation in Scotland this year.

The fence always bears the marks of previous weather grams, and I like to leave the strings in place as reminder of peace throughout the year.

Here are some of the previous years' ones that have fallen and been rescued, to maybe fly again another day...

We popped some of the rescued weather grams and doves on one of our trees which is now big enough to carry them, and it felt wonderful. We had our peace tree in Maleny at the top of the drive at our old house; we now have the peace magnolia at our new house and here at the cottage it looks like we have the peace plum! Tradition continues.

Our crocosmia montbrecia are flowering away and provide a stunning backdrop to the cottage. I have cut quite a few and brought them inside where they really brighten the kitchen and the lounge. As the petals fade and drop I wondered about the colour. It is such a vibrant orange when they are in bloom, would it retain that as a dye in some form?

The sun hasn't been around much for me to think about solar dyeing, so instead I thought about trying to make ink of sorts...

I steeped the flowers in alcohol for a few days., and they released the most fabulous orange!

In the end, a fairly pale yellow maybe? appeared. I dipped a few papers in it and am waiting to see how much the colour fades or changes nature. I would love it to last and be able to use it, but we shall see.