Island Infusion

Island Infusion grew out of my love of old books, old fabric, nature and
thrift stores. Eco dyeing is the process that connects those passions.
Island Infusion is the result of my exploration of sustainable fashion,
up-cycling, eco-dyeing, felting, and bookbinding. Instead of fast fashion we encourage slow fashion that changes as we
change and can hold our memories & dreams. The more we wear these
clothes, the more they fray & fade & become part of our history; & then
we mend them, add new embellishments, & the fabric begins a new story
again. The very essence of our location has been dyed into these
clothes, using our local berries, plants, mushrooms, and trees. Our
world is overflowing with new clothes being made that are worn only a
few times, if at all, & then thrown away. Our thrift stores are
overflowing with clothes no one wants to be bothered with & end up in
the landfill. We have so much abundance, & with a little ingenuity, we
can clothe ourselves without adding to the problems that we have created
by our throw away life style.
Paper can also be recycled and eco-dyed. Old books and maps can be dyed
with local plants and berries and remade into journals and sketchbooks.
Old marine charts take the dye beautifully & live a second life as book
covers and artwork. Sometimes it is necessary to use new paper for
sketchbooks and art journals, but I try to use recycled paper as much
as possible. I love the smell of old, old, paper & will add some old
book pages into a journal just for the beautiful smell. Ideally,
these clothes & journals are collaborative processes between myself &
the person who takes them home. My journals have pockets where you can
add your own memories & treasures as you write your own stories.
Clothes all have a previous story of where they came from. You can add
to that story, perhaps adding some of your own experiences through
embroidery & mark making. Decorate & repair. Make it yours!