Cloths part 3

Tags

art, colour, cotton, creativity, environment, failure, forest, mixed media, mordant, oak, plants, tannin, tea

Time for the last set of plant print experiments! I wasn’t really inspired to attempt any nice photography, so I just popped them in the flatbed scanner for you.

Sheet from last batch as well as the “mystery fabric that doesn’t take any colour” (I think we’ll just call it Homer from now on) had a bath in aluminium acetate then some powdered madder root and a handful of dried hollyhock heads, and the sheet, previously dyed brown from longterm exposure to celandine, had a short bath in – well, celandine. Not a lot of improvement, so I wrapped it up with some fern leaves. Nothing much happened for weeks, so I steamed it. And if you squint you might just be able to see a weak fern pattern…. Mostly, what I got was a bunch of brown, mouldy fabrics smelling like a cow’s a*se.

The raspberry leaves did print nicely – from the top side of the leaves only, the fabric covering the back of the leaves have 0 change. And, well, the lupine leaves? yawn…..

I actually think I’m giving up on this. Rose leaves gave me nothing. Alchemilla mollis, nothing.

I may however, decide to try with paper, after reading this blog. Tell me it isn’t cool!

http://wendyfe.wordpress.com/tag/eco-prints-on-paper/

Of course, I’m rapidly running out of leaves, so this will be for another year. Tomorrow I’ll go check if any more of these are still up (and no, I can’t imagine they’ll actually print red)

Liquidambar styraciflua

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Plantefarvning på stof

Tid til flere eksperimenter inden sæsonen er slut! Lupinblade og bregner rullet ind i bomuld. Forsøgte mig også med rosenblade – ingenting skete. Faktisk skete der absolut ingenting med nogen af mine forsøg ved at blot lade stoffet ligge med planter i og holde det fugtigt, så jeg prøvede at dampe/koge et par stykker. Hindbærblade virkede ligeså godt som egeblade, men kun fra forsiden. Tørrede stokrosehoveder var derimod forbavsende gode, glæder mig til at farve garn med dem.

Og der sker lige nøjagtig ikke ret meget, ud over at det begynder at stinke efter en måneds tid, så nu tror jeg ærlig talt ikke jeg gider prøve igen lige foreløbig, slet ikke på bomuld i hvert fald.

Cloths part 2

Tags

art, colour, cotton, creativity, dyeing, environment, forest, mixed media, mordant, oak, plants, tannin, tea, textiles

Time to open the rest of the packages from August 14th. The first package was opened on August 21st and now awaiting further experiments…

The sheet on the right was previously washed with soda, cooked with sumak leaves and was soaking in water with iron while rolled up with celandine. The pillow case similar although no tannin before but soaking in water with oak leaves while printing.

Discoveries so far:

1. Oak leaves = nice clear prints
2. yellow flowers = vague yellow blotches
3. Sage leaves = absolutely nothing. Maybe a pale shade of yellow?
4. Celandine leaves in a heap = again, turns brown when sitting too long
5. Put cloth in bucket of whatever = only the outside layer takes any colour at all.
6. My mystery cloth just lost whatever I put on it previously and didn’t take anything from the leaves it had been rolled up with.

None of these cotton rags were properly mordanted, which is the next process I’ll be trying to see what the difference is. Tannin and aluminium acetate, some with sea water and aluminium. Some with iron as well, before or after. But I probably won’t get to actually dyeing them until next summer. Rhubarb leaves will be on the menu as well.

Another set is brewing – hoping for prints from lupine leaves among other things.

Funny thing though, the celandine dyed sheet is brown – but when put into water again, the water turns yellow.

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Plantefarvning på stof

Tid til at åbne de sidste pakker jeg præparerede d. 14. august. Den første omtalte jeg d. 21. august, den er nu tør og afventer yderligere eksperimenter på et eller andet tidspunkt.

Der kom ikke så meget ud af det, svaleurt giver stadig brun ved langtidsfarvning og kun egebladene lavede print på stoffet. Det ene stykke stof mistede de print det havde inden og er nu næsten “rent”! Jeg ved ikke helt hvad det er lavet af, det er en slags kanvas og virker ikke syntetisk, måske hør?

Cloths part 1

Tags

art, colour, cotton, creativity, environment, forest, mixed media, mordant, oak, plants, tannin, tea

Well, part 3 really. Since I already showed off some cloths from last year and blabbed about the new project in another post.

So, I made notes. I did not number those notes and match them with my buckets however…. lahdeedahh. Some I remember from description, but…

I was going to leave them all there FOREVER, but in less than a week some had taken on A LOT of colour in the fabric itself, the print part I couldn’t see of course. What to do? Open or leave them?! ARGH!

Ok, so I opened ONE. Seven days in. Hot weather (finally). And did recognize it after opening, so the registration is back on track.

This cloth had previously been soaked in red wine with a horse shoe on top. Then bundled with tansy, daylilies, something sunflower like and sage. Cold water bucket. I also poured in some exhaust from the tansy test halfway through, I think that’s what’s giving the olive green with the iron and also being the outer layers of the package. There goes my theory about tansy not reacting with iron!

I learned that you don’t get clear plant prints when submerging the cloth in fluid. So next thing would be add flowers to damp cloth and then not to use more water. I should probably go read my book….

In the mean time I’ve been cooking the rest of my cottons in tannins and aluminium acetate. So they should be ready for further experimentation. Next up if I come across old bedsheets etc. will be seawater and milk, and I’ve got some dried sumac bark from last year. I’ve also aquired some texts on dyeing with clay and rust among other things, can’t wait to dive into them. Bring on winter, see if I care! (Yeah, I said that last year too and spent the entire winter being sick = no crafting, but I’m not planning on a repeat). Silk fabrics, cellulose fiber yarns – lots to try! As well as trying out the procedure on wools for comparison with ordinary mordants. There’s no end to the experiments, somebody find me a huge grant?! 😀

Funny how boiled oak leaves left to steep for a few days, look and smell JUST like black tea. So I wonder if that’s the smell of tannic acid? I didn’t have a sip though 😉

 

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Plantefarvning på stof

Kort fortalt, jeg tester alle mulige måder at få plantefarve til at hæfte på bomuld. Garvesyre fra rødvin, egeblade, bark, aluminiumsulfat, havvand, mælk, jernopløsning. Første test var 4 forskellige spande med blomster og salvie rullet ind i lagner og puttet i spande i drivhuset.

Efter en uge hev jeg første bundt op og har bl.a. lært at man ikke får tydelige print af blomsterne ved at have stoffet liggende i væske, der skal man nok sarte med fugtigt stof og så snøre blomsterne ind og lade være. Jeg kunne også studere lidt først, men det er typisk mig at bare prøve noget. Jeg burde nok tage og få læst min bog om emnet! Jeg har også fået fat i nogen e-bøger om at farve med ler, rust og andet sjovt. Vinteren kan bare komme an og gerne med en del mindre sygdom end den sidste, hvor jeg sagde det samme og så blev det bare til nul spinding! 😦

Jeg skal også have spundet nogen forskellige plantefibre og teste med dem, måske silkestof? Nogen som vil donere noget kedeligt hvidt bomuldsgarn? 😉

Kogte egeblade som har trukket et par dage lugter fuldstændig som og ligner sort the. Gad vide om det simpelthen er garvesyre der lugter sådan? Jeg smagte dog ikke på det….

Jeg lader stoffet tørre mellem hver behandling, jeg håber det sætter sig og ikke bliver vasket ud i næste omgang, men de kloge påstår jo at det kan lade sig gøre på den måde.

Pia’s Playground

Tags

colour, cotton, creativity, fabric, forest, garden, mad scientist, oak, pattern, plants

-or “Where’s my Igor?”

I’m no good at it so far, I haven’t done my research yet, but I just had to try, didn’t I…..

Various cottons and one mystery cloth washed in soda, some soaked in red wine for tannin (YES, it had gone bad, ok?), some cooked with sumak, some with horse shoes, some a bit of both. I also had one treated with milk but forgot to label them, so I dunno which one that is.

Everything will be sitting in the greenhouse in various buckets now for weeks or months depending on my patience. Some with plant matter on the outside, others just in Alum/CoT water, or iron or everything. I did take notes….

Basically I’m just going to keep adding layers until they look interesting. The worst that can happen is nothing. Plant material: what caught my eye in the garden that day.

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Plantetryk på stof

Jeg har ikke helt fået studeret emnet nok, det er svært at få plantefarve til at fæste på bomuld, især direkte som tryk fra blade mm.

Men jeg måtte alligevel iværksætte et par vanvittige eksperimenter…

Stoffet er vasket i soda, noget af det har fået garvesyre fra rødvin eller hjortetakblade/bark, noget har været dyppet i jernvand eller stænket med det, ligget i blød med hestesko, sådan lidt efter tilfældighedernes princip. Jeg er helt sikker på jeg også har haft et stykke i mælk (skulle binde protein i stoffet, så det tager mere farve), men glemte at sætte labels på sidste år. Så nu ved jeg ikke hvilket stykke det er….

Nu får det hele lov at ligge i spande i drivhuset nogen uger eller måneder, alt efter hvor god jeg er til at styre min nysgerrighed. Det værste der kan ske er jo ingenting!

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Those acorns!!

Tags

acorns, alder, chestnuts, growrth, oak, postaday, seasons, trees

I’m not seeing any acorn reports people!
Walk in the forest today, there are also no chestnuts this year and hardly any of the Alder catkins I wanted to dye with. I guess those have to be scheduled for 2013…

Colour Cottage

I was planning on dyeing with acorns this fall, we have a big old oak tree on one side of the property. I know it’s way too early to harvest, but as I was walking by the other day I was expecting to be able to see them at least.

• That’s not too early, is it?
• Is this a Danish, European, worldwide 2012 phenomenon or just my neck of the woods? Seems that none of the rowan trees in the area are showing much in the berry department either, now that I come to think of it, regardless of variety.
• So those of you with oak trees around – take a walk and send me a report! Pls and thanku.

I did however on the same walk discover that one of our wild patches suddenly sports quite a few St. John’s Wort. Nearly all finished by now of course, but…

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No acorns?

Tags

acorn, country life, oak, seasons, trees, weather

I was planning on dyeing with acorns this fall, we have a big old oak tree on one side of the property. I know it’s way too early to harvest, but as I was walking by the other day I was expecting to be able to see them at least.

• That’s not too early, is it?
• Is this a Danish, European, worldwide 2012 phenomenon or just my neck of the woods? Seems that none of the rowan trees in the area are showing much in the berry department either, now that I come to think of it, regardless of variety.
• So those of you with oak trees around – take a walk and send me a report! Pls and thanku.

I did however on the same walk discover that one of our wild patches suddenly sports quite a few St. John’s Wort. Nearly all finished by now of course, but maybe they’ll come back now that they seem to have established themselves? Just have to keep hubby from mowing at the wrong time of year…

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Hvor er mine agern?

Jeg havde planer om at farve med agern i år – eller hvis det ikke rigtig gav farve, bruge det som bund for noget andet med garvesyren i garnet/stoffet. Men jeg kan slet ikke SE nogen agern i år på vores gamle egetræ?! Jeg ved godt det er for tidligt at høste dem, men de burde da sidde på og være grønne?

Så jeg kunne rigtig godt tænke mig at lave en rundspørge, sende jer alle på vandretur til jeres lokale egetræ og melde tilbage her, om der er agern på jeres? Ikke fordi jeg vil have dem, bare for at opklare, om det er et udbredt fænomen i år.

Til gengæld har jeg i dag opdaget at der er kommet Perikum på engen – de fleste er afblomstret, men til gengæld hvis de så smider en masse frø, så burde jeg kunne farve til næste juli???! 😀 Min mor vil have snaps, men så må vi vel slås om dem.

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