Johanna Mechelina has launched MECHELINA studios in November 2013. I love sewing, pattern design, textile printing and dyeing/eco-printing with natural dyes. I am mostly inspired by colour, nature and light and also by culture, travel, landscapes and cities. There are so many places where inspiration can be found
My fascination with colour and beautiful creations started from early childhood. I
was found dressing up in my grandmother’s vintage clothing exploring her wardrobe as a small child. Growing up I started drawing and designing clothes on pieces of scrap paper at the age of 11. I expressed my interest in colour and nature by drawing and painting. My Caran D’Ache pencils and my father’s pastels gave me great pleasure just looking at the different shades and colours. It was not till my twenties that I started sewing my own clothes and customising vintage finds. During my time at university I bought my first sewing machine from the earnings of a part time job packing boxes in a factory. It was worth it and that machine got some heavy use! In my thirties I moved from the Netherlands to the UK, and moved to Scotland 10 years ago. I am influenced by the traditional Dutch use of strong colours and light and the perspective of wide endless skies and water. Scotland offers a different colour palette and is home to some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen. I prize myself lucky to have a foot in both countries and a sense of belonging in both places. Travel is another source of inspiration from the red earthy hues in Moroccan deserts to the blue ceramic tiles in Portugal. A journey in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in my early forties deepened my interest in the rich tradition of textiles, including rugs, embroidered suzanis wall-hangings and felting traditions. I also became aware of the devastating effect of the diversion of rivers to irrigate the cotton industry in Uzbekistan on it’s environment. This was most obvious in terms of the Aral Sea, once one of the four biggest lakes in the world, which has shrunk to a fraction of its former size and is now heavily polluted. Over the last 5 years I have done various courses in pattern drawing to enable me to produce my own designs. I am particularly attracted to Japanese examples of pattern cutting. In addition I enjoyed the chance to learn about screen-printing and the use of natural dyes. I have plans to combine these different strands in future projects. I am still learning and hope that I will always be open and curious to develop further. I draw my inspiration from everywhere; in nature, culture, cities. It is mostly patterns of colour and light wherever I am that grab my attention. Recently I have focussed on learning everything I can about natural dyes and eco-printing. This brings together my love for textiles, nature and colour. The pigments derived from plants yield rich and subtle colour, very different from the artificially produced chemical and polluting dyes. I aim to provide an ecological sound alternative, being sensitive to how plants are sourced and using only safe mordants such as alum or kitchen materials. My current projects include creating Eco-printed/Hand dyed silk scarves using natural ingredients from plants:
• A range of rich colours and shades are achieved from Madder (red, orange, dusty pink, pale apricot) logwood (purple, dark blue, grey-lilac) onion (burnt orange, yellow), nettles (silver green), black bean (blue), elderberries (mauve), walnut husks (brown gold), weld (yellow);
• I use a variety of techniques including Shibori;
• Eco print involves several dyeing and steaming stages where the print is made by rolling the plant up tightly in a bundle. It is left to cure for several days to a week;
• This gives my work a seasonal nature. For example autumn leaves found at this time of year have been printed on a madder exhaust or nettle dyed scarf;
• Only safe mordants (alum) are used to prepare the silk for dyeing, no toxic mordants are ever used. Sometimes rusty nails are added to the dye bath and these shift the colour due to the iron component;
• I am constantly experimenting with these combinations to create a varied range of patterns. Even if I wanted, no two scarves will ever be the same.
