Praznično - Sweet holiday season

In prišel je Božič in postavila sem jaslice, spekla potico, okrasilo božično drevesce, šla k polnočni maši ... res lep čas!
Tudi vam ga želim obilo!

So Christmas came and I set up the Nativity and baked the potica and decorated the Christmas tree, went to the Midnight Mass ... what a sweet time!
I wish you a very happy holiday season!

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.

Zmanjkalo volne - Ran out of wool yarn

Za tole malenkost mi je zmanjkalo volne. A ni to grozno? Morala bom levo nogavico malo sparati, pa narediti malo krajšo, potem še desno malo sparati...

I ran out of yarn for this little bit. Ain't it horible? I'll have to unravel the upper part of the left sock, make it a bit shorter, then unravel the right one a bit .... grrrrh

Sicer je pa volna barvana kontaktno s koreninami rabarbare in s skorjo nekega grma, za keterega sva s kmetom mislila, da je mogoče krhlika, pa ni. Če bi bila, naj bi dala rdečo (doslej sem dobila samo roza).

Anyway, the wool yarn was contact dyed with rhubarb roots and the bark of a bush that was believed (or hoped) to be alder buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula). If it were it was to yield red (so far I have only obtrained pink).     

Mi je pa precej všeč to prelivanje sive, rjave, rumene, celo malo rdeče na nogavicah.

I must say I quite like the variegation of greys, browns, yellows, even reds in the socks.

Copatki - Tiny boots

Čisto majhni copatki iz domače volne, barvane z rastlinami (v resnici so precej bolj rumeni).
A za koga? Za Darjinega (moja drugorojenka) prvega, ki ga pričakujemo jutri :-)

25. oktobra: Copatki so za Naceta!

Tiny little boots made from wool of Slovenian native sheep and natural dyed (in reality they are much more yellow)
For whom, you may ask. For Darja's (my second daughter) first baby that is due tomorrow :-)

25 Octobre: The booties are for Nace (boy)!

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.

Prodajala bom svojo rastlinsko barvano volno na šuštarski nedelji v Tržiču

Domača volna, ki jo barvam z rastlinami - nekateri temu rečejo naravno barvana volna (natural dyed wool) - bo na prodaj na “šuštarski nedelji” v Tržiču. Prinesla bom prejo in česano volno za filcanje.

Uporabljam samo volno od naših ovc jezersko-solčavske pasme, ki imajo od slovenskih ovc najmehkejšo volno. Ovčke se vse poletje pasejo visoko v planinah, tudi do 2000 metrov nad morjem, pozimi pa jih krmijo s senom s planinskih travnikov, zato je njihova volna ekološka. Oprana je z vodo in barvana z rastlinami, ki rastejo pri nas. Vse to ji daje poseben čar in vrednost.

Ima tudi certifikat Obrtno-gospodarske zbornice Slovenije, da je izdelek domače obrti. Ni v prodaji v trgovinah, zato si jo pridite pogledat - in morda kupit - na “štant” na šuštarski nedelji :-)

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.

(Spet) šentjanževka in zeleni orehi (spet) - (Again) St. John's wort and green walnuts (again)

... tokrat pa skupaj. Zaželela sem si teh dveh mojih priljubljenih materialov na isti štreni volne. Barvanja sem se lotila s posušenimi cvetovi šentjanževke in svežimi zelenimi orehovimi lupinami. Ker je bilo materiala veliko, so barve močne, presenetila pa me je zamolklost šentjanževkine barve: no, čisto sem spregledala, da posušene dajo te zamolkle barve, računala pa sem na sveže barve šentjanževke in temne orehove. Saj ne rečem, da mi ne bi bile všeč...


... together this time. I wished to produce the colours of my two favourite dyeing materials on the same skein of wool. I set to dyeing with dried St. John's wort flowers and fresh green walnut hulls. I had plenty of material so the colours are intense but the dullness of St. John's wort colours surprised me. Well, I quite forgot that the dried flowers give these dull colours, I had fresh, more pastel St. John's wort colours in mind, combined with intense dark walnut . I can't say I don't like them though...

Vesele velikonočne praznike - Happy Easter

Vsem obiskovalcem bloga želim blagoslovljene praznike. Kristus je vstal, aleluja!

I wish a blessed Easter to all visitors of my blog. Christ is risen, alleluia!

Velikonočne voščilnice - Easter cards

Bliža se Velika noč. V mislih na voščilnice sem šla malo pogledat, kakšne "volnene" voščilnice sem že delala, tako malo za navdih. Rdeči in modri pirhi so iz sintetično barvane volne, ostalo je barvano z rastlinami.

Easter is coming in a few weeks. Thinking about cards to make I had a look at the pictures of those I have made in previous years, to get some inspiration so to say. The red and the blue eggs are made of synthetically dyed wool, all others are natural dyed.

Ni bil brasilwood, ampak logwood - Not Brasilwood but Logwood

Ni bil Brasilwood (Rotholz), ampak logwood (Blauholz). Uf, kako ta nemška imena zavajajo :-( Ves čas sem bila negotova, saj sem material dobila v dar, končno pa mi je dvome razpršila Jenny Dean, za kar sem ji hvaležna. No, ne glede na ime je tisto rdečkasto žaganje dalo krasne, močne barve. Pobarvala sem kar nekaj česane volne pa tudi preje. Ko mi jih zmanjka, bom uporabila še preostalo količino žaganja. --- No, it was not Brasilwood but Logwood. I had been given the material as a present and was told its name. Ugh, the German names can be so misleading :-( I was somehow uncertain as to the real nature of the material all the time, and then it was Jenny Dean to clear my doubts - thank you Jenny! Anyhow, regardless of its name the reddish sawdust gave gorgeous intense colours. I dyed both carded wool and yarn. When I run short of it I'll use the remaining amount of the sawdust.