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!

Filcani copati pa zelene orehove lupine - Felted slippers together with green walnut hulls

Prejšnji teden sem imela dva dodatna dneva prosto pa me je potegnilo v filcanje. Pa ne, da bi naredila en par ... Ne, ko sem izgotovila prvega, sem bila tako navdušena, imela sem še dovolj česane volne in barvilne tekočine, da sem šla delat še en par. 
Tokrat sem filcala z belo, nebarvano volno, in nato narejene copate barvala z zelenimi orehovimi lupinami. To delam zelo redko, saj moram imeti res dovolj lupin. Pa ta največji lonec moram izvleči izpod vse druge šare, zasede mi tri četrtine štedilnika, težek je in ga komaj prestavljam. Ampak je vredno.
Last week I was granted two additional days off and I immediately set to felting. But it was not only one pair ... Oh no, when the first pair was finished I was so delighted about it, I had enough carded wool and dyeing solution left, so I immediately started another pair.
This time I used white, non-dyed wool for felting and dyed finished slippers with green walnut hulls. I do this only very rarely, I have to have really large amounts of hulls at hand. Besides, I have to get out my huge pot from under all sorts of junk, it takes about three quarters of my stove, it is rather heavy so I can move it only with great effort. But it does pay off. 

  Copate je najbolje nositi na boso nogo, saj volna zelo blagodejno deluje na noge. Zelo primerni so tudi za boleče noge, ki otekajo, saj ni treba nositi nogavic, ki po navadi stiskajo nogo in ovirajo krvni pretok.
The slippers are best worn on bare feet since wool has a very beneficial effect on feet. They are well suited also for swolen and aching legs because no socks are needed that usually compress the leg tightly, making blood circulation even poorer.
Pa še to: copati so zelo elegantni, čeprav slika tega mogoče ne prikaže dovolj.
In še nekaj posnetkov ustvarjanja teh copatov:
What's more, these slippers are nice and elegant although the pictures may not show it very well.
Below are some pictures of the felting process.

 

   

 

 

Pa še ena bolj poskočna :-)
And here is a more lively picture of the slippers:

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.

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

 

 

Barvano+nebarvano - Dyed +undyed

Pred časom sem dobila zelo lepo domačo volno od črne ovce, se pravi dejansko temno rjave. Ostrigli so jagnjice, volno skrbno odbrali in jo dali sčesat. Je izredno mehka, čista, skoraj brez smeti in tudi zelo malo resasta.
Taki volni sem morala dati priložnost, da pride do izraza v vsej svoji lepoti in žlahtnosti, zato sem jo uporabila za filcane copate, ki so zunaj samo iz te volne, v notranjosti pa je volna, barvana z zelenimi orehi, da jo bolj poudari. 

Copati so bili tako lepi, da sem jih prav s težkim srcem nesla naročnici. Ampak sem bila poplačana: ostala je brez besed in copate kar božala. Njena mama jih bo gotovo tudi zelo vesela in jih bo rada nosila.

Some time ago I got very beautiful wool of our native sheep - black, which is in fact dark brown. The owners sheared young ewes, carfully discarded the bad parts of the fleece and had the selected fleece carded. it is extremely soft, clean of almost any dirt and vegetable matter and with very little kemp.

Such wool had to be given the opportunity to show all its beauty and nobleness so I used it to felt slippers with outside layers uniquely from this wool and an inner layer of wool dyed with green walnuts for greater accent.

The slippers came out so beautiful I gave them to the custommer with a heavy heart. However, I was well paid off: she remained speechless, stroking them. Her mother will doubtlessly be glad to receive them and will love to wear them.


Pa še dve dodatni sliki:

Two more pictures:

Volnene nogavice 1 - Wool socks 1

Z vejicami od obrezovanja jablan sem pobarvala domačo volno. Brez galuna sem dobila tole lepo breskovo roza, ki bi bila po "Name That Colour" lahko Chardonnay, #FFCD8C, RGB: 255, 205, 140. Pri naslednjih barvanjih v isti kopeli je barva prehajala v marelično roza in nato proti "roza" s precej manj marelično oranžne, ki je ne znam opisati.

I used apple tree trimmings to dye some wool of our native sheep. Without alum I got this nice peach pink that would correspond to "Name That Colour" Chardonnay, #FFCD8C, RGB: 255, 205, 140. The following dyeings in the same bath gave colours moving towards "light apricot, #FDD5B1, RGB: 253, 213, 177".

Pri teh nogavicah sem še posebno ponosna na peto, ki sem se jo naučila januarja in februarja na tečaju tete Vide na Kovkovem. V realnosti je zelo tridimenzionalno, kot satje.

What I'm especially proud of in these socks is the heel that I learnt in the course given by Aunt Vida on the Kovk farmstead last January and February. In real life it looks 3D and looks what I would call honeycomb pattern.

Pa še dve sliki nogavic.
Two more pictures of the socks are shown below.

Poletno barvanje 2 - Summer dyeing 2

Spet šentjanževka, kaj pa! Razen najsvetlejših dveh (na zgornji sliki v sredini spodaj) je vsa volna barvana s šentjanževko, pisana pa še z zelenimi orehi.

St. John's wort again, what else could it be! Except for the lightest skeins (at the bottom in the picture above) all the yarn is dyed with St. John's wort , and the variegated yarn has been dipped also in a walnut dyebath.

Barvala sem volneno in bombažno prejo. Na volni sem dobila tele lepe rjave in rumene tone, na bombažu pa komaj kaj barve (za primerjavo je na njej položena štrenica z nekaj bele niti), zato sem eno pomočila še v železovo vodo za močno sivo barvo.

I dyed wool and cotton yarn. Wool acquired these beautiful brown and yellow colours whereas cotton hardly took any colour (I placed a tiny  skein with some white yarn on top), so I dipped one skein in iron water to get strong grey.     

Rjava ima lep rdečkast pridih in mi je po vsem temnem orehu prav všeč.

Brown has a reddish hue to it which I quite like after all the dark walnut browns.   

 Tole sem barvala kontaktno, se pravi, tesno sem povila cvetove v čimžano prejo in jo po malem parila nekaj ur. Rezultat je prav zadovoljiv. Mogoče si spletem brezrokavnik, zdaj ko imam več štren.
This was contact dyed, that is I wound flowers tightly in skeins of mordanted yarn and steamed for several hours, with some breaks. I may knit a tank top now that I've got several skeins.

 Poskusila sem volno aranžirati na mladem boru, pa sta nastali tidve sliki.
I tried to arrange the wool skeins on a young pine tree, so I took these two pictures.