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.

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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 :-)

PIRHI Easter eggs

 

 

Letos sem pobarvala samo deset pirhov. samo s čebulnimi lupinami in kurkumo, pa nekaj rastlinic.

This year I only made ten Easter eggs, using onion skins and curcuma (turmeric), and a few plants.

Vsem obiskovalcem bloga želim blagoslovljene velikonočne praznike!

I wish a blessed Easter to all visitors of my blog!

Vesel Božič - Merry Christmas

in srečno novo leto  - and a Happy New Year
vsem obiskovalcem!  -  to all visitors of my blog!

Filcani copati - Felted slippers

 

 Copati so iz nebarvane volne črne ovce jezersko-solčavske pasme. Kot se lepo vidi, naša "črna" ovca dejansko ni črna, ampak temnorjava. Notranjost je v rumeni barvi, a se žal vidi le malo na zavihku. Naredila sem jih v nedeljo, jih posušila v ponedeljek, danes, v torek, pa sem jih odnesla naročniku - in jih pozabila prej slikati. Tako sem gospoda enostavno prosila, da je "posodil" svojo nogo za slikanje. Copat na sliki niti ni videti hudo eleganten, lastniku pa se copati tako prilegajo, da so noge od veselja kar zaplesale.
 Pa še slika od zgoraj, da se vidi malo več rumene notranjosti.


 The slippers are made of undyed wool from black sheep of Slovenian breed "jezersko-solčavska ovca". As may be well seen, our "black" sheep is actually not black but dark brown. The inside  is made in yellow; unfortunately only a small piece is seen on the  cuff. I made the slippers on Sunday, dried them on Monday, and  today, on Tuesday, I delivered them to the customer - without taking photos before. What could I do? I asked the man who bought them to lend his foot  for taking pictures. The slippers may not look very elegant but they fit the owners feet so well that they danced joyously.
 Below is a picture from above to show a bit more of the yellow inside.

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.