Monday 20 July 2009

Tiskanje z rastlinami - uspehi in neuspehi - Plant printing - successes and disasters

Vsa navdušena po začetnih (dvajsetih) uspehih tiskanja rastlin na svilo sem veselo nadaljevala in tule je en svilen šal, kjer mi je celo uspelo natisniti obstojno modro barvo (v barvilni kopeli se žal ni obnesla). Drugih šalov mi še ni uspelo poslikati, ali ni bilo prave svetlobe ali pa volje :-(

Fascinated by the initial (twenty) successful plant prints on silk I cheerfully went on, and this isj one of the printed silk scarf where I even managed to obtain a fast blue colour (which, to my great sorrow, isn't effective in a dyebath). I haven't managed to take photos of other scarves - either the light wasn't right or I I wasn't in the mood :-(

Potem, ko sem na veliko brala svoje tri nove knjige o rastlinskem barvanju in tiskanju, sem se lotila še tiskanja na bombaž. Imela sem dve tanki bombažni plenici, zelo zelo stari in sprani, in tisk se je lepo prijel. Na kuhinjski rokavici, ki je verjetno iz mešanice bombaža in lana, odtis ni tako lep, uporabna je pa vseeno (dokler je ne bo kdo spet zažgal ...).
After having spent hours reading my three new books on natural dyeing and plant printing I proceeded to printing on cotton. I had two thin, very very old cotton diapers, much washed with use, and the print took on well. The oven mitt, probably made of a mixture of linen and cotton, didn't take the print so well, still, it can be used (until someone burns it again ...).

Kaj pa je tole? Nič tako lepega kot svileni šali, samo bombažna majica, ki je s tiskanjem nisem čisto pokvarila, nosila jo bom bolj za "športne" priložnosti.

And what is this? No such beauty as the silk scarves, only a cotton T-shirt that I didn't ruin completely by trying plant printing on it ... well, I may still wear it for "sports" occasions.

Drugi poskusi na bombažu so različni, nekaj je že uporabnega, marsikaj pa (še) ne, ali, kot pravi India Flint, to je šele podlaga za nadaljnje tiskanje.

Other trials on cotton are of various quality, some may be used, many not (yet) or, as India Flint puts it, they are a background pattern for further printing.

ZDAJ PA NA DOPUST - OFF FOR HOLIDAY!

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Večbarvno barvanje volnene preje - Multicolour wool yarn dyeing

Našla sem novo rastišče šentjanževke, precej blizu doma, le nekaj kilometrov stran. Volneno prejo sem pobarvala kontaktno samo s cvetki. Rezultat me je tako navdušil, da sem morala slikati še mokro volno, čeprav sem vedela, da posušena ne bo več tako živih barv. I found a new growing area of St. John's wort, quite near my home, not more than a couple of kilometers away. I contact-dyed wool yarn with flowers only. The result filled me with such enthusiasm that I just had to take a picture of wet yarn although I knew well it won't keep the vivid colours when dried.

Res barve niso več tako žive, vijolična je šla proti rjavi (pa ne toliko, kot je videti na sliki), ampak volna je še vedno čudovita.

Indeed, the colours are not so vivid any more, the burgundy-purple shifted towards brown (not as much as in the picture, though), but the wool is still marvelous.

Navila sem jo še z malo napravico, da lahko nit vlečem iz sredine klobke.

I wound it using a small appliance to be able to pull the yarn from the middle of the ball.

Takole je videti spletena, gladko desne na licu.

This is how it looks when knit, stockinette stich.

Pred nekaj tedni me je premamil blog Helen Melvin, ki je dobila zanimivo barvo z zlato rozgo tik pred cvetenjem. Rezultat je bilo razočaranje - nezanimiva rumena (razen prvega barvanja, ki je dalo močno živorumeno). Odločila sem se, da bom volno prebarvala po delih. Del sem pobarvala z izrabljeno barvilno kopeljo iz rabarbarinih listov in del z izrabljeno kopeljo zelenih orehov. Barve sicer niso ravno moje najljubše, kombinacija pa mi je zelo všeč in sem zdaj prav zadovoljna z rezultatom barvanja, pa še izrabljene barvilne kopeli sem karseda porabila.

Some weeks ago I was tempted by Helen Melvin's report of an interesting colour obtained from goldenrod just prior to bloom. My result was a disappointment - an uninteresting yellow (except for the first dyeing which gave a vivid and strong yellow) so I decided to partly overdye the skeins. I used a rhubarb leaves exhaust bath and a green walnuts exhaust bath for parts of the skein. Although the colours are not just my choice I like their combination very much and am quite happy with the result now. In addition, I made utmost use of my exhaust dyebaths.