Vrbovo listje - Willow tree leaves

V tej poletni vročini sem se pozno popoldne odpravila s kolesom po gozdni poti, ob kateri raste precej vrbovih grmov. Nabirala sem listje, dokler me napadalni komarji niso prisilili k "umiku".

Late in the afternoon in the hot summer weather I took my bike and rode along a forest road with many willow bushes growing by its sides. I collected leaves until aggressive mosquitoes forced me to "retreat".

Listje sem kuhala več ur, dokler se ni res  zmehčalo. A voda je bila precej svetla, nekako sivkasta. Bala sem se, da ne bom dobila tiste lepe, močne rumene, ki jo imam v spominu od prejšnjih let.

I simmered the leaves for a couple of hours until they softened. But the dyeing bath remained rather light coloured, somehow greyish. I was afraid I would not get the beautiful intense yellow I remembered from previous dyeing sessions.

Kako sem se zmotila! Moj strah je bil neutemeljen. Volna iz barvilne kopeli je bila močne, živorumene barve, še precej bolj, kot kaže slika.

I could not be mistaken more! My fears were ungrounded. The wool yarn came out of the dyeing bath beautifully intense yellow colour, even much more so than shown in the picture.

Na slikah je volna iz prvih dveh barvanj, tretje barvanje ni skoraj nič manj intenzivno, barvala bom še četrtič v isti barvilni kopeli.

Vrba - tako skromno drevo, pa tako razkošne barve!

The pictures show wool yarn dyed in two successive dyeings in the same dye bath. The third dyeing gave a colour almost equally intense and I'll be able to do a fourth dyeing in the same dye bath.

Willow tree - such a humble tree giving such rich colours!

Odtisi jesenskih listov na svilenih šalih - Autumn leaf prints on silk scarves

Liste iz prejšnje objave sem že uporabila. Natisnila sem jih na svileni šal Pongee08. Prav dobro so se odrezali. Škoda, da je zdaj vse listje že odpadlo z vej, začelo razpadati v večdnevnem dežju in za tisk ni več uporabno. 
Podlago sem barvala z vrbo, natisnila sem javorjevo listje. 
Na notranjem šalu prevladuje vrbova barva, odtisi listov so samo nakazani (ginko).
Spodaj je še nekaj slik šalov.

The leaves from the previous post have already been put to use.  I printed them on a silk scarf Pongee08. They performed very well. It's a pity all the leaves have fallen from the branches, started rotting after several days of heavy rains and can not be used for eco printing any more. 
The background was dyed with willow on which maple leaves were then printed. 
On the inner scarf the willow colour dominates and the leaves are just subtly printed (gingco). 
Below are some more pictures of the two scarves.

 

  

Barvanje z lubjem asimine - Dyeing with pawpaw tree bark

Na srečanju vrtičkarjev je kolega prinesel vrečko vejic asimine Asimina triloba po pomladanskem obrezovanju. Lubje sem olupila z vejic in razdelila na dva dela in z vsakim poskusila barvati po različnem postopku.

En del lubja sem namakala nekaj dni, nato sem v vedro s tekočino in lubjem dala štrenico čimžane volnene preje in meter, dva nečimžane. Po nekaj dneh je bila bledo rumene barve - premalo, da bi bila uporabna. Zato sem lubje odcedila, volno pa v barvilni tekočini grela pod vrenjem okrog dve uri in pustila, da se shladi.
Drugi del sem grela  okrog dve uri, pustila stati nekaj dni. Bilo je toplo vreme in je začelo fermentirati in seveda smrdeti. Potem sem tudi to precedila in v barvilni tekočini barvala volneno prejo kot s prvim delom lubja.

In rezultat? Prav boren: nekaj bledo umazano rumenega in nekaj bledo sivorjavega :(  
Skratka - ni uspelo...

I was given a bagful of prunings of pawpaw tree Asimina triloba at  a gardeners' meeting. I peeled the bark from the twigs, divided it into two portions and tried to dye with it following two different procedures.

The first portion got a several days soaking after which a skein of alum mordanted wool yarn went into it, and also a few metres of unmordanted yarn. After some days it got pale yellow, not enough for use. I therefore strained the bark and heated the bath with the yarn in it up to simmering for about two hours then let it cool.
I simmered the other portion for about two hours and let it stand for some days. As the weather was quite warm the liquid started to ferment and smell. I then strained the bark and proceeded in the same way as with the first portion.
And the results? Rather poor: something pale dirtyish yellow and something pale greyish brown :(
A failure, in short.

Čebulne lupine - Onion skins

Za Veliko noč pirhe vedno barvam tudi s čebulnimi lupinami.

I always dye Easter eggs also with onion skins.

    

Po praznikih v vodi, v kateri pustim tudi lupine, še pobarvam volno.

When the festivities are over  I use the dyeing bath including the skins to dye wool.

   

Od leve proti desni:

1. štrenica volne

2. štrenica volne

3. bombaž

4. štrenica volne

na krožniku: pirhi v različnih rjavih tonih.

From left to right:

1st skein of wool yarn

2nd skein of wool yarn

3rd cotton

4th skein of wool yarn

On the saucer: Easter eggs of various brown hues.

Prva in druga štrenica sta bili barvani istočasno, a sta dobili drugačen odtenek; nista bili povsem beli, ker sem ju že  prej z nečim barvala.

The first and the second skeins were dyed together but obtained different shades; they were off white since I'd dyed them before with I don't know what.

Indigo modra s silino - Indigo blue with woad

Letos je bilo tako deževno leto in tudi silina, ki ima rada sonce, ni rastla tako bujno. Tako sem prvič barvala šele v začetku septembra. Tistih klobk še zdaj nisem poslikala :-(
Sinoči sem se pa končno  spet spravila k barvanju s silino. Naredila sem dva kosa predfilca iz bele volne, da bom imela za krašenje filcanih izdelkov. Liste siline sem na gredi odrezala že v temi, doma se mi je grel lonec vode in sem hitro začela. Liste sem splaknila v hladni vodi, ker so bili spodnji blatni. Polžke je pa dobil moj Miško, želvica rdečevratka, tako da je še on imel svoje veselje z indigom!
Prvi kos filca je bil proti mojim pričakovanjem precej močne modre barve in drugi skoraj nič manj. Hitro sem naredila še en kos. Ko se je ta namakal v indigu, sem naredila še enega, potem še enega. Na koncu je bilo že pozno, bila sem utrujena, pa sem naredila še štiri kroglice in jih čez noč pustila v kopeli indiga.
Močne barve od siline skoraj sredi oktobra mi kar ne gredo v račun. Sem mislila, da je bolj jeseni manj indiga v listih, pa se očitno nabira ves čas, kar raste. In prvič sem porezala samo dva grmička, ostali so pa zdaj dali tele lepe barve. Komaj čakam, da bom lahko barvala še s preostalo silino! 

This year we had such a rainy summer my woad plants that love full sun did not produce an abundant harvest. I made my first woad dyeing session only in the beginning of September. It's a shame I haven't yet taken pictures of those balls :-(

Yesterday evening I finally set to dyeing with woad again. I had prepared two pieces of prefelt from white wool to use later in decoration of felted items. I cut leaves of woad late so it was already dark. A large pot of water was heated on the burner and I immediately started dyeing. I rinsed the leaves in cool water since the lower ones were muddy. I also removed a few snails and gave them to Miško, my little red necked turtle so that he too enjoyed my woad.

The first piece of prefelt came out surprisingly intense blue and the second one was practically no less intense. I hurriedly made another piece of prefelt. When it was soaking in the woad bath I made another piece, and then yet another one. Finally it was late in the night, I was tired and only made four small balls, dipped them in the woad bath to stay there overnight.

The intense blues obtained from fresh woad in mid-October came as a great surprise. I had believed that later in autumn there is less indigo in the woad leaves, but now I'm inclined to think it accumulates in the leaves during growth. When I dyed with woad in September I cut the leaves of only two plants and the remaining ones now gave me these beautiful colours. I am impatient to make another woad dyeing session!

Gobe, gobe ... končno gobe za barvanje -- Mushrooms, mushrooms for dyeing - at last

 

 

 

 

Končno mi je uspelo dobiti gobo za barvanje. Ker nisem gobar, se na gobe - razen na krožniku - prav nič ne spoznam. Imela sem srečo, da sem od gobarja dobila žoltorobega rjavoporja, težkega okrog 40 dag. Po literaturi naj bi dal toplo rumeno z galunom in zeleno z železom. In sem barvala s tema dvema čimžama in tudi dobila lepo rumeno in  olivno zeleno.
A kaj ko fotografija ne kaže prave barve, tudi ko sem dodala nebarvano volno :-( Na zgornji in na spodnji sliki z vsemi štirimi štrenicami je realna barva rumena druga z desne. Skrajno desna je v resnici topla svetlo rumena, prav nič bež, skrajno levi pa sta zelena in zeleno-rumena, prav nič rjavi v resnici. Ampak tako zeleni kot na tretji sliki pa spet nista ....
No, toliko o slikanju barvane volne. Sicer pa je barva od te gobe zelo obstojna. Pa še to prednost ima tale rjavopor, da ga ni treba pripravljati z lugom in da pri kuhanju nič ne smrdi.
Upam, da pri gobarjih počasi dobim še kakšno drugo zanimivo gobo za barvanje.

I finally managed to obtain a mushroom for dyeing. I am no mushroompicker and have no knowledge of mushrooms except on a plate. I was lucky to be given a dyer's polypore weighing 40 dag. Literature says it gives warm yellows with alum and greens with iron. So I used these two mordants and actually obtained a nice yellow and an olive green.
But the photos won't do them justice even when I added an undyed white ball of wool. In the top and the bottom pictures showing all four skeins the skein showing the real colour is the yellow one lyeing second from right. The skein on the right is warm light yellow with no beige at all. The two skeins on the left are green and greenish yellow, with no brown in them. But still not so very green as the third picture shows them ...
This said about taking pictures of naturally dyed wool, the advantage of this mushroom is the colours are very fast. What's more, no alkali is needed for its preparation and no unpleasant odour produced.
I do hope I get other mushrooms interesting for dyeing.

Naj sonce barva mojo volno - Let the sun dye my wool

Letos sem barvanje in vse ostalo delo v zvezi z volno in svilo postavila v drugi plan. Zdaj, ko takoj čez cesto na zapuščeni zemlji bujno cveti lučnik, na vrtu pa se košatijo lepi grmi šentjanževke, mi žilica ni dala miru. Če svoj čas namenjam drugim stvarem in ga zmanjka za dolgotrajne priprave in izvedbo klasičnega barvanja v loncu na štedilniku, je tu še sonce, ki lahko opravi večino dela zame.
Tako sem predvčerajšnjim zjutraj skočila z vrečko in škarjami čez cesto, nabrala lučnikovo cvetje s stebli vred in stehtala - 400 g. Tole s tehtanjem je izredno, bi rada enkrat vedela, koliko materiala uporabim. Ponavadi kar nabašem v kozarec in tehtam samo volno in galun.

This year, natural dyeing and other wool- and silk-related work is placed in second plan. But now that I can see mullein in abundant blossom, right across the road, and that rich bushes of St. John's wort  catch my eye in the garden, I could no longer put it off. If I dedicate my time to other things and have no spare time for the time-consuming preparations necessary for standard dyeing in a hot bath on the cooker, and for its performance, I said to myself: "Let the Sun do the job for me."
So the morning before yesterday, with a bag and scissors  in my hands I leapt across the road to collect mullein flowers on stalks. I weighed the material - it weighed 400 gram. This weighing is an exception to my routine dyeing. I just wanted to know how much material I use. Otherwise I usually just stuff the plant material in a jug and only weigh alum and wool.

.

Na to sem v mrežasti vrečki položila 50 gramov bele česane volne jezersko-solčavske ovce, ki sem jo namakala čez noč in nato oprala. Sicer bi bilo bolje, če bi v mrežico dala lučnik, ampak pri roki nisem imela nič uporabnega. Na vrh sem počez zatlačila lučnikova stebla, da bi držala volno pod gladino.

On top of this I placed, wrapped in a netted bag, 50 gram of carded white wool of the jezersko-solčavska ovca sheep breed. It were better if I put the plant material in the bag, but there was none at hand. On top of wool I stuffed some stems of mullein to keep the wool under surface of the dyebath.

 

Na to sem nalila bakrov acetat. Sliši se učeno, a je to samo živo modra tekočina, ki jo dobimo, če kos bakra dovolj dolgo namakamo v kisu.

 

Then I poured in copper acetate. It may sound a bit scientific but it is only the vivid blue liquid you obtain if you let a piece of copper sheet or wire (or coin for that matter) in vinegar for a sufficient period of time.

 

 

V vroči vodi sem raztopila 5 gramov galuna (to je 10% na teži suhe volne), razredčila s hladno vodo in vlila v kozarec.

Počasi se zelenomodra tekočina dviga po omočeni volni.

 

I dissolved 5 gram of alum in hot water _(this is 10% of the weight of dry wool), diluted with cool water and poured into the jar.

Slowly, the greenish-blue liquid rises uop the wetted wool.

 

 

 

Na soncu se vsebina kozarca lahko zelo segreje in celo kipi čez rob. Počasi lučnik oddaja svojo barvo, ki skupaj z modro bakrovo vodo volno obarva svetlejše zeleno.

Ves napor pri tem barvanju je potrpežljivost, ker moram počakati vsaj dva tedna, lahko pa tudi cel mesec.

Sredi julija pa vidimo, kaj bo nastalo :-) 

The sun can heat the liquid very much, even to make it spill over tge brim of tha glass jar. Sloswly, mullein gives off yellow colour that, together with the blue copper water imparts a light green colour to the wool.
The only hard work in this method of dyeing is patience: I have to wait two weeks at least, and sometimes even an entire month.
By mid-July we'll see what will have been produced :-)

Skupno barvanje -- Group dyeing

Rabarbara, kozmeja, zelene orehove lupine  --  Rheum, Cosmos sulphureus, Juglans regia  -- Rhubarb, yellow cosmos, green walnut hulls

Včeraj smo skupaj barvali Tatjana, Tadeja, Klavdija, Simona, Dušan in jaz. Barvali smo z dvema rastlinama, ki ne potrebujeta čimžanja z galunom - rabarbarinimi koreninami in zelenimi orehovimi lupinami, in s kozmejo, ki zahteva galun.
Naša pričakovanja: zlatorumena ali gorčična iz rabarbare, živa oranžna iz kozmeje in temno rjava iz orehov. Pa poglejmo, kaj smo dobili.
Pri rabarbari, iz katere sem naštete barve že večkrat dobila, sem potihoma upala na roza barvo v alkalni kopeli po barvanju - če bo Bog dal, sem rekla na začetku. Po navodilih Jenny Dean iz Anglije (http://www.jennydean.co.uk/ smo vzeli malo suhih korenin rabarbare, jih kuhali dobro uro in nato barvali belo volneno prejo brez predhodnega čimžanja. Dobili smo svetlejšo rumeno, ki je žal nisem poslikala, preden so jo odnesli. Predlagala sem, da nekaj štrenic namakamo v raztopini pralne sode - in Bog je dal roza! Doslej sem jo - bolj nevede kot z znanjem - dobila le enkrat, potem je pa nisem v več letih nikoli mogla več ponoviti.

Yesterday Tatjana, Tadeja, Klavdija, Simona, Dušan and I met to dye together. We used two plants that need no premordanting with alum, the so-called substantial dyes - rhubarb roots and green walnut hulls, and yellow cosmos that requires alum mordanting.
What we expected to get was the following: golden yellow or mustard from rhubarb, vivid orange from cosmos and dark brown from walnut. Let's see what we got.
I had obtained the two colours from rhubarb several times in the past. In my heart I hoped that this time we might get pink - God permitting, as I sighed at the beginning of our dyeing session. As Jenny Dean (http://www.jennydean.co.uk/) suggested we used only a small amount of dried rhubarb roots, cooked them for about an hour or so and then proceeded to dyeing white wool yarn without any premordanting. We got a light yellow, but unfortunately I didn't take any photo. I then suggested to soak a skein or two in an alkaline solution of washing soda - and God granted us the pink! Up to now I've only obtained it once. It was more a happy chance than expertize, and I could never repeat it.
More English translation coming soon

Roza iz rabarbarinih korenin na mokri volni.
Pink from rhubarb roots on wet wool.

 

Kozmeja je na čimžani volni dala predvideno oranžno, zares lep odtenek, ki razveseli oko in srce.
Yellow cosmos gave the predictable orange on alum mordanted wool, a beautiful nuance that makes the eye and the heart happy.


Zeleni orehi dajo zelo temno rjavo, če jih uporabimo v zelo veliki količini, tako kot na spodnji sliki, kjer volna še ni oprana. Meni se je zdelo, da ne bo dovolj temna in bi jo v orehih kuhala še kakšno uro ali dve, drugi pa so bili z doseženo barvo čisto zadovoljni. Ko smo jo oprali, smo dobili rjavo, kot je na prvi sliki zgoraj, desno.
Green walnuts give very dark brown when applied in large quantities, a nuance shown in the picture below, with wool not washed yet. To me it didn't seem dark enough and I would have prefered to cook the wool for another hour or two, but the others were quite happy with the colour obtained. After washing we obtained the brown shown in the first picture above, the skein on the right.

Tole barvarsko dopoldne je bilo zanimivo, veselo, pestro, z lepimi barvami, ki nam bodo sive deževne novembrske in ostale zimske dneve polepšali z barvami poletja na volni.
The dyeing morning session was interesting, merry, with a variety of beautiful colours that will make the grey rainy days of November beautiful with the colours of summer on wool.

Tkan podstavek - A Woven Mat

Že dolgo je bila moja tiha želja tkanje. Da bi svojo volno, barvano z rastlinami, stkala v nek izdelek. Ampak ta velike statve me ne privlačijo, nimam ne prostora ne dovolj volne iste barve ne volje za pripravo velikih izdelkov. Kaj takega, manjšega, kar ne vzame preveč časa, preden imaš v roki končni izdelek.
Pa mi je padla v naročje pripravica, ki jo proizvajalec Schacht imenuje Zoom Loom, po slovensko ji pa rečem tkalni okvirček. Ima zelo nazorna navodila, z malo vaje pa že nastane takle kvadratek, 10 x 10 cm. Primeren je kot podstavek za kozarec, vazo, ..., lahko pa se sešije več kvadratkov za večje izdelke - šal, torbica, blazina, ...
Navodila so za enobarvne izdelke, to pa meni ni dovolj. Malo sem poskušala, malo podirala, zdaj sem nekako zadovoljna s takole dvobarvno kombinacijo.
Temnejša volna - v resnici ni rjava ali olivna, ampak lepa zelena - je sončno barvana z lučnikom in bakreno vodo, svetlejša pa s cvetovi sončnice.

I have been longing to learn to weave. To weave my natural dyed wool into a product. I'm not interested in large loom, I don't have either the room for it or enough wool yarn of the same colour or willingness for preparation of large projects. I wanted something smallish where not much time is required to arrive at the finished product.
And lo! I came into possession of the small pin loom the producer Schacht named Zoom Loom (I named it frame loom). Only a little practice, and a small square of 10 times 10 cm is made. It may be used as a mat to put a glass or a vase on it, or several squares can be sewn together into a scarf, a bag, a pillow, ...
The instructions tell you hoe to make squares in a single colour, which wasn't enough for me. So I kept trying and unravelling: now I'm pretty happy with this combination of two colours.
The darker yarn - in real life it isn't brown or olive as represented by the camera, it is a pretty green colour - was sun dyed with mullein and copper water, the lighter yarn was dyed with sunflower heads.

Pa še sličica stkanega kvadratka skupaj s tkalnim okvirčkom:

Here is also a picture of the woven square together with the pin loom.

Silina ali oblajst - Isatis tinctoria - Woad

Na vrtu so mi zelo lepo rastli trije grmički siline, ki sem jih vzgojila iz semena v lončkih na balkonu, pa še en grm od lani. Ta je najprej cvetel in semenil, potem pa je naprej rastel kot bi bil letošnji, kar ni običajno.
Volno - seveda našo domačo - sem dobro oprala in nato barvala po postopku Leene Riihelle (http://riihivilla.blogspot.fi/2009/10/my-dyeings-with-woad-minun.html) . Obstaja več postopkov za barvanje s svežimi listi siline. Dva sem preskusila že lani poleti, ko sem silino prvič vzgojila na vrtu, pa nista delovala. Po kakšnih štirih neuspelih poskusih sem že skoraj obupala, potem sem pa poskusila še Leenin postopek - et voila! dobila lepo modro.
Tole barvanje je bilo z veliko količino listov, kakih 1200 gramov, ker sem porezala vse liste pred napovedano slano. Tako sem dobila lepe modre, nekje med zgornjo in spodnjo sliko.

There were three bushes of woad thriving in the garden that I'd grown from seed in pots on my balcony, and an additional plant from last year. The latter produced flowers and seeds, then it grew on as if it were this year's plant, which is unusual.
I prepared wool yarn - naturally it was Slovenian wool - washing it well and then dyed it with woad following the procedure described by Leena Riihella here (http://riihivilla.blogspot.fi/2009/10/my-dyeings-with-woad-minun.html). Dyeing with fresh woad leaves can be done in different ways. I tried two last summer when I grew woad for the first time: they both failed. After about four failures I almost gave up but then I tried Leena's procedure - et voila! I got beautiful blue.
Dyeing was done with a large amount of leaves, about 1200 gram. In the beginning of October as frost was forecasted I harvested all leaves. I got a couple of nice blue skeins of wool yarn, the colour is somewhere between that shown in the two pictures above.   

 

Po nekaj pobarvanih štrenicah intenzivne modre je bila naslednja takale - nekaj puste drap z nakazanimi, skoraj neopaznimi odsevi svetlo modre in lila-roza. Tudi naslednja štrenica je bila enako neprivlačna.

After a couple of skeins dyed intense blue the next skein was this - a drab beige with barely perceptible hints of light blue and pink. The next skein came out equally unattractive.

Naslednji dan sem - bolj zato, da barvno kopel popolnoma izčrpam - poskusila s striženo volno ovce Bluefaced Leicester in dobila tole:

On the next day I threw in a few curls of Bluefaced Leicester, ore in an attempt to exhaust the dyebath than in any hope to get good colour - and got this:

 

 

Ju-hu! Še en kosem v barvilno kopel - in spet takale krasna barva! In še en kosem, in spet!

 

Waw! Another fluff of Bluefaced Leicester went in - and again this gorgeous colour! Another fluff  - again this colour!

 

 

V resnici je barva rahlo lila, ne čisto roza. Kosem  volne na levi je bolj izrazito lila,  a se na sliki mogoče ne vidi.

 

In real life the colour also contains some blue, it's not pure pink. The fluff on the left is more blue which may not be seen clearly.

 

Naslednji dan sem spet barvala kosme strižene volne Blufaced Leicester, tri zapored. Zdaj so bile barve malo bolj na oranžno. Opogumljena z doseženimi barvami sem en kosem namočila v okisano vodo, enega samo v vodo in enega v vodo s pralno sodo (bazično). Barve so bile: kisova lepo roza, samo v vodi roza z malo bež odtenkom in v bazični vodi precej drap (od desne proti levi).

 

On the next day I dyed fluffs of Bluefaced Leicester again, three dyeings in a row. Now the colours came out a bit more orange-ey. Encouraged with the colours obtained I dipped one fluff in water with vinegar, one in just tap water and a third one in water to which I'd added washing soda (alcali). The colours were: vinegar - nice pink, just water - pink with hints of beige, washing soda - rather beige (from right to left in the picture).

 

 

Ta mi ni bila preveč všeč pa sem jo namočila še v kisovo vodo: postala je precej bolj roza.

 

I didn't like the latter so I soaked it in vinegar in water to obtain a pretty more pink colour.

 

Tako sem od teh blitvi podobnih listov dobila tri povsem različne barve. To pa je ustvarjalni

užitek!

 

So these spinache-like leaves gave me three different colours. What creative pleasure!

 

 



 

 

Pa še posnetek nastajanja modre na volni iz kopeli. Žal je posnetek res amaterski, narejen z mobijem enoročno, z drugo pa obračam štreno, da se dobro prezrači na vse strani. https://picasaweb.google.com/110721982076288214726/STelefona#5931697817468940258 

 

I'm also adding a video showing wool yarn turning into blue as it comes from the dye vat. Sadly, the video is highly unprofessional: Imade it with my mobile phone, holding it in one hand and manipulating the wool skein with the otnher to aerate it well.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110721982076288214726/STelefona#5931697817468940258

 

 

Sončnica in kozmeja (2) - Sunflower and yellow cosmos (2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kozmeja se je zelo dobro izkazala na volni. Pobarvala sem tri majhne štrenice, žal pa jih nisem slikala, preden sem najbolj intenzivno oranžno prodala (neki deklici, ki jo je hotela, da bo spletla šal svojemu plišastemu medvedku).

 

Že barvam naslednjo serijo: ena štrenica v prvi kopeli (se suši) in tri štrenice v drugi kopeli - od tega ena v pranju, dve pa se čez noč namakata v barvilni kopeli, ki sem ji dodala sodo bikarbono. 

 

Na sliki je še volna, barvana z zelenimi orehi - rjava, s čebulo - zelenkasto rumena, (verjetno) rabarbaro - bež in silino - indigo modra.

 

Res je čudovito takole shranjevati poletne barve za sive, temačne zimske dni!

 

 

 

Yellow cosmos proved to be very effective on wool. I dyed three small skeins. To my shame I must admit I took no pictures before selling the most intensive orange skein (to a small girl who wanted it to knit a scarf for her teddy bear).

 

A second batch is already underway: one skein in the first dyeing (it is drying) and three skeins in the second dyeing, of which one is being washed and two are soaking in the dyebath to which I added a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate.

 

Shown in the picture are also skeins dyed with green walnuts - brown, with onion skins - greenish yellow, (probably) rhubarb - beige and with woad - indigo blue. 

 

 

It is so wonderful to preserve summer colours for the grey, dull winter days!

Sončnica in kozmeja - Sunflower and yellow cosmos

 

Sončnicam je letošnje vroče vreme zelo prijalo, če že drugim rastlinam na vrtu ni preveč. Tako cvetove sproti režem, da mi krasijo dnevno sobo, ko začnejo veneti, pa uporabim še za barvanje.

 

Sunflowers liked this summer's hot weather, if most other plants in my garden didn't. So I cut flower heads regularly and use them to decorate my living room. When they start to wilt I use them for natural dyeing.

 

Ker se mi je zdelo premalo materiala od ene sončnice, sem potrgala še nekaj cvetov kozmeje, ki raste tudi na balkonu, dodala nekaj posušenih cvetov kozmeje ...

 

Since the material from only one sunflower head appeared to be insufficient for a good dye bath I also picked some flower heads on the cosmos growing in a pot on my balkony, and added a few dried ones...

  

... in skuhala barvilno kopel.
Volna se še pere oziroma počasi barva v hladni kopeli - slike prihodnjič.


... and boiled everything to obtain a dyebath.
Wool is being washed or undergoing slow dyeing in a cool bath - pictures coming soon.