begining of the season

 silk dyed with carrot tops. water here seems to be ferrulous and the colors come somewhat shifted and muted. going to use bottled water in next batch.

neki desu 

 

remedial dyeing ii

 carrot tops  on ai  came out a light sage green with blue and yellow highlights. in a mixed warp will do well.

scouring more of that silk to be dyed for yet another scarf.

everything is strange; not too keen on doing artwork i have been concentrating on wearables something that was occasional,perhaps it's the urge not to leave a huge stash behind. perhaps i am dwelling on the futility of things .who knows. hope this is a phase. 

neki desu

 

remedial dyeing

uneven aizome silk,bummer bummer

seeping carrot tops.it's going to be an interesting green.stand by.

neki desu

 

an easy one

in an afternoon's work i got the silk skeined, scoured, mordanted and dyed.while i was skeining it the carrot tops were brewing so the dye was ready after all the prepping. 

carrot tops are  becoming my favorite dye,the range of greens is surprising.and this comes from a green-o-phobic person.i have yet to explore modifying the dye, but so far i am pleased with  just alum and however tap water comes out on  dyeing day.they are also ready available, even if i don't buy the carrots my greengrocer saves them for me.

now that the 12 shaft loom is empty here's a

proposed warp: brass green and blue; from indigo, of course.it would be silly to waste the thrums and a perfect threading, albeit straight draw,when i can just tie on.that would limit me to crepes or double weave. but not with these yarns and sett.we shall see.

first though i have to scour, tie and dye the wool shawl.

neki desu
 

getting better

but still wont make the cut for the patience award.opened the silk organzine skeins after what? 5 days?
rather pleased with the results although the lime green turned a  bit yellower .not a disaster because this will be two 3cms stripe so the rest of the warp is keeping  in with the lime green.

now tell me this is not an object of beauty.

neki desu
 

dyeing and what iffing

lovely people my green grocers.dyed this organzine with 1 bunch of carrot tops i had  and gave me a blah endive yellowy greeny. went to them and asked if they had some carrot tops to give away. they produced 3 bunches! and three bunches gave this deep greeny yellow.the organzine was mordanted in 2 teaspoons alum dissolved in 5 liters of water.

i had already skeined and mordanted 2 skeins that i wanted to dye with a modifier to make 2 stripes in the future warp.but in the bliss of not having any bs occupying my mind i started whatiffing.

result: 

two skeins wound as for shibori, but euca leaves 

on,between,under and all the possible prepositions.

looking for a mottled color  effect more than leaf 

imprints. i'm confident these will be the handsomest stripes ever :)

neki desu
 

blog breaks are productive

 left first extraction right second extraction

i've been dyeing silks for the summer top fabric this time using carrot tops. silks were mordanted using 5 gr alum +5gr cream of tartar. carrot tops were simmered for an hour and then the hirakami silk and one shantung skein were dyed. the color obtained was yellow green in various shades.

   shantung                                                 hirakami silk

the shantung in the photo is a bit greener, but not as green as the hirakami silk.

the loot

another skein,left  on the photo, was dyed in a second extraction. this one turned a beautiful bronze green.

note: the second extraction was simmered for a longer period and i think that brought out a lot of yellow. this will have to be kept in mind if you want a  greener shade.

these shades will complement the murasaki shades i got last  november. can't wait to finish what's on the loom!

neki desu