Category: PÃ¥ dansk

Brown Knapweed – Alm. Knopurt

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Centaurea jaceaknopurt2

It so happened right after I mentioned a pH tip from Riihivilla in my Scentless chamomile post, that I spotted some Knapweed at the side of the road. So my designated driver was ordered to pull over so I could take a few pix and plants.

I didn’t get the cool yellow that Leena mentions, but I decided to also try her method of using the same dyebath once a week or so until it’s exhausted (or you are). Some plants, like birch leaves, will stay the same and dye fine for weeks, even if there’s mold in it. Others, like Celandine, will go brown and smelly in days and the dyed items will be brown too.

I actually thought it was exhausted by the 2nd skein, but decided to give it another week. And got a stronger colour. So obviously had to keep going. Unfortunately I think I know I weighed the plants (mostly flowers), but must have forgotten to take notes. But it was rather “a lot.” Now that I see the dates I’ve noted, my weeks obviously aren’t as long as they feel like. I’m going to try and leave it for a bit now.

21st July

24th July

29th July

2nd August

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They’re not very exciting, but Leena writes that they are nice under woad for greens. I’m going to try one of them with reeds, which I’m playing with at the moment and looks awesome on Birch.

Knapweed 2 >>

PÃ¥ danskdanish

Jeg nævnte i indlægget om Falsk kamille, at jeg fra Leena i Finland havde fået ideen om at tilsætte potaske når man trækker farven ud af planterne. Hun brugte knopurt, og et par dage efter så jeg rent faktisk en lille dusk i vejkanten og beordrede straks min chauffør ind til siden til foto og indsamling.

Jeg startede ikke med en kold gul som nævnt i linket, men jeg besluttede at gøre på samme måde som beskrevet, at lade badet stå og med mellemrum varme op og farve igen indtil der ikke sker mere. Det er lidt pudsigt at nogen farvebade bare giver det meste til første fed, og de efterfølgende bliver lysere og lysere, men her får man altså næsten samme farve igen og igen, også selvom de nogen gange står i gryden et døgn.

Regner med at overfarve med blå og evt. med tagrør, som jeg leger med lige pt.

Allerede ved fed 2 skete der så ikke ret meget, desværre glemte jeg at skrive vægten på blomsterne ned, men der var mange. Fed 3 var sjovt nok mere gult, så jeg blev jo nødt til at teste i hvert fald ét mere!

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Fun with coreopsis

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

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Last time I tried to grow these, I got a few spindly stalks with hardly anything on them. Which means, this year I totally underestimated how far apart I should plant and now I have a waist high jungle of thick, thick plants with hardly a size 5 footprint anywhere for me to reach the middle for picking flowers. I’ve taken to wearing my Fivefingers, to make the footprint smaller than a pair of Crocs (I apologize to those of you who are fashion conscious, but they DO work well for zipping in and out of the house all day).

I know they work really well frozen, so this year I’ll try drying some and see if that works, because it’s easier to store anywhere. Whereas steak and peas don’t survive for very long on a wardrobe shelf…

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And I’ll have enough to conduct a series of tests, as I’ve heard a rumour they are pH sensitive. If you just want a regular yellow, you need less than half your yarnweight in flowers, or you can start with plenty and dye one skein at a time from orange over turmeric to sunny yellow until it exhausts. It also doesn’t need a lot of heat once the dye is extracted from the flowers, it’s excellent for solar dyeing and on silk.

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So the plan would be:

  1. alkaline for reds
  2. acid for yellows
  3. test skeins in neutral
  4. amounts – work my way from strong dyebath to an exhausted one
  5. if the reds come out – test them with tin, to see if it gets even redder
  6. iron and copper possibly

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You can get a lot of different yellows from the exhaust, depending on amount of yarn, plants, temperature, how long you let each skein remain in the bath etc. Here’s the 2011 batch with some cold dyed Japanese Indigo:

Japanese Indigo

Skønhedsøje

Coreopsis tinctoria er rigtig god at lege med fordi man kan få så mange forskellige nuancer. Hvis man starter med et kraftigt farvebad og kommer 1 fed i af gangen, kan man få fra kraftig orange over gurkemeje-gylden til frisk solgul.

I år ville jeg så også lige teste påstande om at den er pH følsom, rød fra basisk farvebad og gul fra surt. Det blev en helt anden slags gul end ellers, og pga en fejl fra min side (manglende base) lavede jeg også lige en variant med kobber.

Der skal meget lidt blomst til, til alm gul behøver man mindre end halvdelen af garnvægten. Også flot på silke og god at solfarve med.

Det fungerer ogsÃ¥ rigtig godt at fryse blomsterne, men i Ã¥r vil jeg ogsÃ¥ forsøge at tørre, da det er lidt nemmere at opbevare. Bøf og ærter holder knap sÃ¥ godt i et garderobeskab. 😉

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Tagetes 3

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

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Having used double up plant to yarn the first time, I wanted to test the dye properties at 1:1 ratio. I used the tagetes tenuifolia.

I did 1 alum, 1 rhubarb and then 1 copper mordanted in a pot of its own. And yes, it’s different, but not green like the first year, I must have really overdone it back then. Now I’m intrigued as to actually getting green on purpose.

Rhubarb: you disappoint me (again). It may be that it only works in some plant combinations, but frankly then I can’t be bothered. I also have no succes with it on cotton, but more on that later.

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These three skeins didn’t even get simmered, I just put them in the warm dyebath to soak. So I decided to test how far I could go on the exhaust, one skein at a time. 5 more skeins, so that’s 200 g yarn from 75 g of flowers.

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Tagetes 1

Tagetes 2

Tagetes igen igendanish

Sidst brugte jeg dobbelt op af plante i forhold til garn, så jeg ville lige teste en gang 1:1. Samt det rabarberbejdsede garn og kobber i en gryde for sig.

Denne gang fik jeg ikke grøn fra kobber som det første år, så nu tænker jeg jo på, hvordan man får det med vilje. Rabarber er igen meget skuffende/kedeligt, jeg tror ikke det er noget jeg vil bruge krudt på igen.

Efter 3 fed farvet 1:1 ville jeg så teste hvor meget ekstra farve der var i, så jeg blev ved med at putte garn i, et fed af gangen indtil det blev meget lyst. 5 stk. blev det til, så det er i alt 200 g garn til 75 g blomster! Jeg brugte Appelsintagetes denne gang.

Hedge dyeing

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Ribes alpinum
ribes

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I’d promised somebody, I think it was Mary Jo, to do a dyepot of my hedge clippings. So now I have, truly the clippings, bits of twigs and all, as I’m in no mood or timeframe to pick off the leaves.

Worst case I’d get some boring yellow that can go into the green bin, right? (my green bin being skeins destined for indigo or woad).

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I was quite surprised to get up in the morning and find a red dyebath. So I did two skeins instead of one, as part of my “no mordant project”.

Now of course I wonder how a pH change works with this… But first, testing permanence, the hedge will grow back next year. I’m contemplating trying to dry some of it though.

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So, this is me a week later and I finally cut the last stretch of hedge. I’m really late this year, but so is everything else, right? 😉 And you know, all work and no play…

So I decided I would rib some leaves from my cuttings and throw in a skein. Amount: until I got hot and bored. Yarn: 25 g as usual. I do love my preskeined “tapestry yarn” for this.

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First skein, then another in the exhaust

Ribes Alpinum

Jeg blev bedt om at farve noget med mit hækafklip, og tænkte at det jo ikke kan gå værre end at det bliver kedeligt gul. Det kan sikkert bliver meget smukt med indigo ovenpå.

Så jeg blev lidt overrasket, da farvebadet var rødt! Og garnet orange. Så nu spekulerer jeg på, hvad pH ændringer kunne gøre. Men heldigvis vokser hækken jo ud igen til næste år, nu vil jeg lige teste farvens holdbarhed først.

Første billede er bejdset og ubejdset på hele kviste med blade og farven trukket ud med lidt base, det næste er bejdset på kun blade og rent vand, nederste er første sæt i fuld sol.

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first set full sun

 

Marigold – Morgenfrue

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Calendula Officinalis.

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I didn’t check up on dyeing with these flowers, but I hope you do. Don’t bother. Really, I mean it. Just leave it. Instead use the following options, if you have this plant in your garden:

  1. Look at them, enjoy them, soak up the colour with your eyes, they’re very pretty.
  2. Pick the leaves and add them to salads or smoothies, they’re shock full of antioxidants.
  3. soak the leaves in a good olive oil, when they begin to sink to the bottom the solution is ready, strain and keep in a nice flask for treating burns or small cuts.

Silk mordanted with alum, dyed at a ratio of 20:1

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Mordanted silk solar dyed for a week in hot weather in greenhouse:

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The solar dyed skein after an iron dip:

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PÃ¥ danskdanish

Hvis du har sået morgenfruer i din have, foreslår jeg at du bruger dem på følgende måder:

  1. Nyd dem med øjnene
  2. Pluk kronbladene og put dem i salater eller smoothies, de er fyldt med antioxidanter
  3. Lav en olie til små sår og forbrændinger ved at lade dem trække i olivenolie til bladene begynder at synke til bunds, si dem derefter fra.

Det kan VIRKELIG ikke betale sig at farve med dem. Ovenstående resultater på silke er dels 20:1 plante:garn opvarmet OG trukket natten over, dels solfarvet i et varmt drivhus i en uge.