Volna vs. bombaž - Wool vs cotton

Tole ni kakšna pajčevina, ampak štrenice bombažne preje, prevezane z volneno prejo. In kaj je tu tako zanimnivega? Zame to, da sta bili obe barvani hkrati v istem loncu. Ta razlika, kako rastlinsko barvilo prime volna (namreč odlično) in koliko rastlinske barve sprejme bombaž - bore malo.
This is not a spiderweb but small skeins of cotton yarn tied with wool yarn. And what is so interesting about it? For me it is the fact that both were dyed in the same dyepot at the same time. The difference between the amount of plant dye taken by wool (excellent) and that taken by cotton (poor).

Tele niti so bile pobarvane z zelenimi orehovimi lupinami. Volna je temno rjava, bombaž pa sivkasto bež. Na nekaj mestih je videti precej močneje rdečkasto rjavo obarvane madeže. Nastali so tako, da sem vlažno prejo obesila nad lonec in jo samo delno pomočila v barvilno raztopino. Barva je nato potovala po mokri preji navzgor: različne barve, ki jih vsebujejo zelene orehove lupine, so potovale različno visoko, kar se na zviti štrenici ne vidi tako dobro, ko je visela nad loncem, pa je bilo dobro vidno. 

No, takole se igram z rastlinskimi barvili in temu rečem "rastlinska barvna kromatografija", he-he.

These yarns were dyed with green walnut hulls. The wool is dark brown and the cotton greyish-beige. Some spots are dyed fairly better - there are reddish-brown colorations. They developed when I hung the moist skein above the dyepot and dipped only a part into the dyeing solution. The colour travelled up the moist yarn: different colours contained in green walnut hulls travelled different distances upwards, which is not so well seen on the twisted skein but was very well seen on the skein hanging above the pot.

 Well, this is how I play with plant dyes and call it "plant colour chromatography", he-he.

Poletno barvanje 1 - Summer dyeing 1

Poletje je krasen čas za barvanje z rastlinami. Vse bujno raste, vse cveti, da kar ne vem, s čim začeti ... pa delam vsega po malem.

Summer is the excellent season for natural dyeing. Everything grows abundantly, blooms exuberantly so I just don't know what to start with ...so I use more or less everything.

Rabarbarine korenine sem imela v velikih kosih, pa sem jih tesno povila v štrene oprane volne, dala v velik kozarec, dolila toplo vodo in dala na sonce. Ker je bilo sonca dva tedna res veliko, je dobro opravilo delo - volna je rumena in živo oranžna, drap barva je pa od orehov.
Rhubarb roots I had were in large pieces so I wrapped them tightly in skeins of washed wool, placed them in a large glass jar, poured in warm water and placed in a sunny place. As the last two weeks were really sunny the sun did its job well - the wool yarn is yellow and bright orange, the beige part had been dyed with green walnuts.

Imela sem tri štrenice različnih neizrazitih barv - izčrpana kopel šentjanževke, jelševa skorja in cvetovi kokardije - pa sem polovice namočila še v delno izrabljeno kopel zelenih orehov. Zdaj je preja mnogo zanimivejša!

I had three skeins of various plain colours - an exhausted bath of St. John's wort, another of alder bark and of cocardia flowers - so I dipped halves into a partly exhausted bath of green walnuts. The skeins look much more interesting now!

Tidve štreni, pobarvani na soncu z rabarbaro, sem pomočila še v raztopino zelene galice.
I dipped these two skeins that had been sun dyed with rhubarb roots into a solution of ferrous sulphate. 

Tele nežno zelene štrene mi je v kozarcu z lučnikom in bakrovim acetatom prijazno pobarvalo sonce.
It was the sun that kindly dyed these lovely light green skeins in a glass jar with mullein flowers and copper acetate. 

Zeleni orehi, ki so junija odpadli po vetru in dežju, so dali tole čudovito temno čokoladno rjavo na volni.
Green walnuts that had fallen from branches after rain and wind in June gave this miraculous deep dark chocolate brown on wool yarn.

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.

Barvano z zelenimi orehi - Dyed with green walnuts

Zelenin orehi dajo krasno žametno temnorjavo barvo (najtemnejši barvi na sliki). Potem pa je barve v orehih še toliko, da sem barvala naprej in dobila še nekaj odtenkov od rdečkaste do oranžne in rumenkaste, preden je končno ostala samo še bež (najsvetlejša na sliki), ko se mi je zdela vsa barva v barvilni kopeli porabljena in sem jo zavrgla.

Orehova barva mi je zelo všeč in bom letos junija spet skušala dobiti zelene orehe.

Green walnuts give a beautiful velvet dark brown colour (the darkest two skeins in the picture). After the first dyeing there was so much dye left in the walnuts that I continued dyeng new skeins and obtained several nuances passing from reddish to orange and yellowish to finish in a beige (the lightest colour in the picture) when the dye bath seemed exhausted and I discarded it.

I like the walnut colour very much and will try to obtain green walnuts again this June.