Monday 18 January 2016

Končno barvilni brošč z vrta -- Finally, madder from my garden

   
 
Lansko poletje sem na vrtu prvič gojila barvilni brošč Rubia tinctorum, rastlino, ki ima v koreninah barvilo alizarin in ki volno, pa tudi svilo in bombaž, obarva s čudovito rdečo.
Za uporabo so korenine od rastlin, starih vsaj tri leta. Ker nimam primernega vrta, kjer bi ga lahko gojila toliko časa, sem ga vsadila v nekaj večjih loncev. Enega bom skušala prezimiti, dva sem izkopala in z drobnimi koreninicami barvala.
Postopek vzame kar precej časa, saj je treba koreninice temeljito očistiti.
Last summer I grew madder "Rubia tinctorum" for the first time. This plant contains alizarin in its roots which imparts  a beautiful red colour to wool, silk and cotton. Roots from plants at least three years old are appropriate for use. Unfortunately, I don't possess a garden suitable for growing madder for three years so I planted seedlings in several larger flower pots. I'll try to overwinter one of them. I took two plants out of the pots and used the tiny roots to dye.
This is a rather time-consuming process since the tiny roots have to be meticulously cleaned.

   
 

Za eno barvanje sem koreninice dala v vrečko iz gaze, od drugega grmička sem jih dala kar v kozarec in oboje zalila z vročo vodo.
I placed the roots from one plant in a gauze bag and those from the other plant directly into a glass jar, and poured hot water in both.

 
 
Oboje sem postavila v vedro in grela s potopnim grelcem za tropski akvarij na okrog 40 stopinj. Nato sem barvala majhne količine čimžane volne.

Brošč je sprva živahno fermentiral:
I then placed both jars in a plastic pail with water and heated with an immersion heater for fish tank, at about 40 degrees Centigrade. I only dyed very small amounts of alum mordanted wool yarn.
In the beginning madder fermented quite a lot:
 
Nato sem barvala še svileno ruto in bombažno gazo, vse seveda v majhnih količinah, saj je tudi koreninic bilo malo. Volna in svila sta se obarvali zelo lepo, gaza pa ne in sumim, da je sintetična.
I also dyed a silk scarf and cotton gauze, only small amounts of course since the amount of roots was also small. Wool and silk took colour real nicely whereas gauze dyed poorly. I suspect it was in fact synthetic.
   
 
 
 
 
Navdušena sem nad barvilnim broščem! Končno lepa in obstojna rdeča!
Samo še dve leti počakam, pa bo več barve ... če ga bom seveda lahko kam vsadila...
 
I'm thrilled about madder! Beautiful and fast reds at last!
Now I only have to wait for two years for more and stronger roots to grow, and get more colour ... if  can get a place to grow it ...