Category: Plant Dyeing

Pia’s Playground

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

-or “Where’s my Igor?”

I’m no good at it so far, I haven’t done my research yet, but I just had to try, didn’t I…..

Various cottons and one mystery cloth washed in soda, some soaked in red wine for tannin (YES, it had gone bad, ok?), some cooked with sumak, some with horse shoes, some a bit of both. I also had one treated with milk but forgot to label them, so I dunno which one that is.

Everything will be sitting in the greenhouse in various buckets now for weeks or months depending on my patience. Some with plant matter on the outside, others just in Alum/CoT water, or iron or everything. I did take notes….

Basically I’m just going to keep adding layers until they look interesting. The worst that can happen is nothing. Plant material: what caught my eye in the garden that day.

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Plantetryk på stof

Jeg har ikke helt fået studeret emnet nok, det er svært at få plantefarve til at fæste på bomuld, især direkte som tryk fra blade mm.

Men jeg mÃ¥tte alligevel iværksætte et par vanvittige eksperimenter…

Stoffet er vasket i soda, noget af det har fÃ¥et garvesyre fra rødvin eller hjortetakblade/bark, noget har været dyppet i jernvand eller stænket med det, ligget i blød med hestesko, sÃ¥dan lidt efter tilfældighedernes princip. Jeg er helt sikker pÃ¥ jeg ogsÃ¥ har haft et stykke i mælk (skulle binde protein i stoffet, sÃ¥ det tager mere farve), men glemte at sætte labels pÃ¥ sidste Ã¥r. SÃ¥ nu ved jeg ikke hvilket stykke det er….

Nu får det hele lov at ligge i spande i drivhuset nogen uger eller måneder, alt efter hvor god jeg er til at styre min nysgerrighed. Det værste der kan ske er jo ingenting!

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Those acorns!!

PiaFarm Life

I’m not seeing any acorn reports people!
Walk in the forest today, there are also no chestnuts this year and hardly any of the Alder catkins I wanted to dye with. I guess those have to be scheduled for 2013…

Rowan – sorbus aucuparia

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

This was just a small experiment since my rowan trees on the property are rather measly. And the ones along the main road are too tall for me to reach…. So I just did my usual simmer-soak-simmer-soak 2-day routine to get it out of my hair, like. I threw in a couple of berries because, well, they fell into my sack. Alum/CoT mordant on wool yarn.

Birch left, Rowan right, in my usual Sumak drying tree

I forgot to weigh the leaves…..

One of my books suggests it’s a good base under madder and indigo, another that it gives a brownish yellow. (brown in my head not being great under blue? I could of course be wrong)

The colour did turn out to be a different yellow than birch leaves (more on those in the near future), so quite ok as experiments go. Whether the berries had an influence? Well, it’s always fun to have more mysteries waiting out there.

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Rønnebær og -blade


Det skulle lige prøves, ingen forventninger andet end “gul”. Men det kan jo bruges til overfarvning. xx g blade (og et par klaser bær fordi de sad der) til 30 g garn, alun/vinsten bejset.

Den gule farve er i øvrigt, mod min forventning, anderledes end den gule fra birkeblade, så det var alligevel ikke et helt tosset eksperiment. Om det er de få bær som har give en lidt varmere tone er svært at vide, det må jeg teste en anden dag. Men det er da en udmærket måde at få variation.

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No acorns?

PiaChit Chat

I was planning on dyeing with acorns this fall, we have a big old oak tree on one side of the property. I know it’s way too early to harvest, but as I was walking by the other day I was expecting to be able to see them at least.

  • That’s not too early, is it?
  • Is this a Danish, European, worldwide 2012 phenomenon or just my neck of the woods? Seems that none of the rowan trees in the area are showing much in the berry department either, now that I come to think of it, regardless of variety.
  • So those of you with oak trees around – take a walk and send me a report! Pls and thanku.

I did however on the same walk discover that one of our wild patches suddenly sports quite a few St. John’s Wort. Nearly all finished by now of course, but maybe they’ll come back now that they seem to have established themselves? Just have to keep hubby from mowing at the wrong time of year…

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Hvor er mine agern?

Jeg havde planer om at farve med agern i Ã¥r – eller hvis det ikke rigtig gav farve, bruge det som bund for noget andet med garvesyren i garnet/stoffet. Men jeg kan slet ikke SE nogen agern i Ã¥r pÃ¥ vores gamle egetræ?! Jeg ved godt det er for tidligt at høste dem, men de burde da sidde pÃ¥ og være grønne?

Så jeg kunne rigtig godt tænke mig at lave en rundspørge, sende jer alle på vandretur til jeres lokale egetræ og melde tilbage her, om der er agern på jeres? Ikke fordi jeg vil have dem, bare for at opklare, om det er et udbredt fænomen i år.

Til gengæld har jeg i dag opdaget at der er kommet Perikum pÃ¥ engen – de fleste er afblomstret, men til gengæld hvis de sÃ¥ smider en masse frø, sÃ¥ burde jeg kunne farve til næste juli???! 😀 Min mor vil have snaps, men sÃ¥ mÃ¥ vi vel slÃ¥s om dem.

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