Lansko barvanje 2 - Last year's dyeing 2

Druga rastlina, ki sem jo lani zelo veliko uporabljala za barvanje, je bila vrba. Skromno, nezahtevno drevo, pionirska na mnogi terenih. 

Tule vrbe obkrožajo Zelence s čudovito smaragdno zeleno vodo, ki izvira v posameznih "vulkančkih" na peščenem dnu jezera; to je povirje Save Dolinke v Podkorenu pri Kranjski Gori.

  

 The second plant I used very much in dyeing last year is willow tree. It is such a modest, undemanding, pioneer tree growing on various terrains.  In the picture above willows surround the beautiful  lake Zelenci, one of the two sources od the Sava river, the longest river in Slovenia, with brilliant emerald green watters springing from the bottom sands like small volcanoes. It lies in the nature reserve behind the village Podkoren near Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Večinoma imajo vrbe ozko podolgovato listje, zeleno do srebrnkasto. Nekaj slik vrb ob moji vsakodnevni sprehajalni/kolesarski poti čisto blizu doma. 

 

Willow trees usually have lance-shaped leaves, green to silver in colour. Above are some pictures of willows growing by the sides of my daily walking/biking track near my home.

 Čeprav so listi zeleni, zelene barve seveda ne dajo.  Kot še mnogo drugih rastlin na volni dajo rumeno. Lepo, intenzivno, dobro obstojno rumeno. Neverjetno je, kako veliko barve je shranjene v vrbovem listju. 

              

 Although the leaves are mostly green, green is not the colour it imparts to wool. Like many other plants it imparts yellow - a beautiful, intense, fast yellow colour. It is incredible how much colour is stored in willow leaves.

Več o barvanju z vrbovimi listi  tule

More about dyeing with willow leaves    here

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!