Category: Plant Dyeing

Getting tired?

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Of all the plant presentations I mean. I think I am…. Those “other” posts that I half promised seem to have scooted way down the to do list and my brain is running in circles.

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Phragmites australis, birch left

So luckily I’m running out of plants to try right now while it’s season to pick. Just tried a batch with Common Reed, very nice green! It’s time for birch leaves, remember that it’s easiest to strip young trees for some reason. I don’t think I’m going to this year apart from the couple of skeins I did to overdye. Goldenrod is coming in, but I think I’ll just toss some in the freezer to see how that goes.

I have weld, woad and Japanese Indigo growing in the garden, but you either have those or you don’t, so I’m in no hurry to report… Madder likewise, I have a set of experiments lined up for that with various mordants.

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weld patch – vau/farvereseda

And I think that’s it! I’m going to use some of my remaining Tagetes and Coreopsis to make watercolours, that is, if I’m not too stressed, I feel a bit fluttery inside as well as having a wedding to attend the coming week. We’re trying to get a few things tidied up around the place and I’m awaiting hay and straw for the ponies.

One of my looms is done, for my first piece I won’t be making a tapestry though, but a rug to put under my spinning wheel. Or possibly it will be a bathmat. I’ve been twisting 8 strands of cotton yarn to make something resembling rep weave (ripsmatta). Just have to find a calm spot to warp up and I’ll show you. And no, I won’t be making anything as fancy as that image, I believe you need something like an 8 shaft floor loom for that, not a navajo style frame loom.

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Spinning, I really feel I need to start spinning again, but I also have this urge to paint. So I’m holding off on both until other projects are done, so that I don’t go completely nuts and split into a million little pieces. I left some fleece soaking in a tub outside for so long it started to go green! I have no idea if I can save it or not, it is of course the best bits that I started out with.

My quick knit holey sweater really is quick, or rather it would be if I had the time to actually work on it. The yarn seems to go on and on and on, I think I’ll have half the body done when the first 2 skeins finally run out. I was worried I didn’t have enough, so that’s why I chose the large needles, but I could have probably gone with smaller. And then it would have taken a lot longer. 😉

flagAnd I painted the flagpole. Way overdue. Windshield corner where the hedge died is all done! And seems to be helping, not that it’s been very important last week with temps up to 30 C.

So, a stream of silly chitchat and various musings await – at some point. For now, I’ll go clear all my dye pots off the stove so the kitchen can look like human habitat at least for half a day.

fence

“Trat” i hovedet af en hestdanish

Er I ved at være trætte af mine planterapporter? Jeg er. Det blev slet ikke til at skrive om noget andet, selvom jeg har en hel håndfuld kladder og emner.

Men nu er det vist ved at være slut med sæsonbetonet farvning og planter der bare skal høstes lige NU, tagrør var det sidste i rækken. Gyldenris plukker jeg vist bare og så må årets eksperiment være, hvordan de holder sig i fryseren. Vau, Vaid og japansk indigo har I enten eller også har I ikke, de kan ikke findes i naturen, så det haster ikke. Det er en god tid at høste birkeblade, husk at det er nemmest at ribbe de unge træer. Men jeg tror jeg springer over i år, bortset fra de par fed jeg har lavet til overfarvning med blå (ok, jeg burde også have lavet et til overfarvning med krap, som jeg har linet en række eksperimenter op med til senere, den er jo tørret).

Min ene væv er færdig men jeg skal ikke væve gobelin pÃ¥ den i første omgang, derimod en efterligning af noget der pÃ¥ svensk kaldes “ripsmatta”. Hvis det skal være rigtig flot skal man vist bruge en avanceret skaftevæv, sÃ¥ det bliver bare noget med 8 snoede bomuldsgarner og sÃ¥dan lidt kludetæppe stil. BademÃ¥tte eller tæppe til min rok sÃ¥ den ikke glider.

Jeg har virkelig lyst til at bÃ¥de spinde og male, men jeg kan mærke stressen blafre rundt indeni, jeg afventer hø og halm til krikkerne, der er lige et bryllup i den nærmeste familie som skal overstÃ¥es og 1000 ting der burde ryddes op her pÃ¥ matriklen og jeg kan mærke dampen allerede er begyndt at ligge pÃ¥ lavt niveau hos os begge. SÃ¥ jeg mÃ¥ lige vente… HÃ¥ber dog at jeg har overskud til at teste noget indkogning af tagetes til at bruge som akvarelmaling, kunne det ikke være super cool?

Men jeg har dog fået malet flagstangen for første gang i 10 år. Den knækker muligvis en dag i et stormvejr, men så tager vi den derfra. Vores plankeværk som læsted i stedet for den hæk der døde er også færdigt.

Min hurtige hullede striktrøje skrider fremad, dog ikke så hurtigt som jeg håbede men det er mest fordi jeg ikke får gjort noget ved det.

PÃ¥ et eller andet tidspunkt vender jeg frygtelig tilbage med mere sluddersladder. 😉

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Brown Knapweed – Alm. Knopurt

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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