latest obsession

shikon, murasaki dyeing coming up next.

have a good weekend .

neki desu

 

morphology of a mess

my umbrella swift collapsed.its a brother and i want to repair it (ideas?)   m(_ _)m because the ones selling now are chinese made aka flimsy and will not withstand use. this old baby has been with me since 1990 and as i said it's a brother =quality. every time i think that brother sold their k machine patent to the chinese and cannot manufacture them  anymore i cry.the result of that deal is the taixema machines ; reports say they are iffy and the price is high therefore everyone in the craft is repurposing old japanese made brother machines.but there's a limit and some of them are reaching it. (╯︵╰,)

the result of the collapse : big time tangled mess.

1. i am salvaging the yarn bcse it's silk
2. was dyed with murasaki on an auspicious  day and got this gorgeous lavender color. have not been able to replicate it.

have about a week of detangling. the good news is that age has given me patience and i actually feel a great sense of accomplishment in putting order into chaos.

 ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯  i can even say i enjoy it. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯

neki desu

 

not your regular dye session

quite puzzled by the out-turn.murasaki on silk this time turned out a beige with a purplish overcast. not unpleasant but not planned.the photo is a tad doctored to highlight the overcast, so that you can get a better idea.

it could be a handsome  weft. now for the warp...

neki desu
 

not thrilled

very little murasaki  dye left and the color is spent. came out looking dish watery, kind of  greyish.

fortunately this will be the side panels so not much has been lost.the front and back panels are coming along nicely. this week is going to be carrot top  dyeing week .

already started japanese clasess and the tuesday 9 km walk  as well. time juggling has begun.

neki desu
 

all the shades

and then some more. had this curing because it was a shallow immersion. however it turned out very well in terms of color and wash off.the gorgeous silk crepe is now waiting for the carrot tops dye.

the scarf turned out ok. there is not much contrast between the lines and the red has a brick shade.

perhaps i could modify the color, but it is also waiting for the carrot tops dye.or maybe i could over-dye in a weak murasaki bath.decisions.

neki desu
 

bringing the backburner to the front

getting ready for some itajime shibori.

the cotton gauze fabric from dharma trading- geezz they celebrated their 40th anniversary and i think i've been buying from them that long.

mordanted using the lile's recipe of alum tannin alum.already folded now needs to be clamped and dyed in murasaki of course.i need to exhaust that dye before moving on to carrot tops.

neki desu
 

selective

dyeing while i continue to centimeter away at the loom.folded and clamped silk crepe, left soaking  in a concentrated murasaki liquid  in a shallow container.it came out the color of a good claret wine.this one does not need an extra dip as the color value is just right. now it needs to be re folded and clamped again and dyed with the carrot top dye. as soon as i finish the yardage i have tons of sewing waiting and this silk crepe is  queueing.

note my kusamono on the right *▽*




neki desu
 

diversifying

second murasaki dip. turned somewhat reddish, but that's ok. have been extracting the dye with ethanol alcohol instead of isopropyl  and it seems that the previous is more acidic than the latter. will have to decide whether to modify it and bring it to the blues or just leave it as is.

the bad news is that i used up the whole 100 gr. bag i had from so many years ago. the good news is that i found an on line source to buy more. ＼（＾▽＾）／

one more dip and then re bundle and dye the last color using carrot tops. aiming for the kind of green in the background of the photo. but first i need to exhaust the dye.

neki desu
 

more shibori: the line up

this is also from the stingy dyepot.the color is grayer as you can see, but it's going to be folded and dyed  more times therefore i can live with that color.

i had this piece of crepe silk that i bought about 20 years ago in a closeout sale.my friend and i ransacked that store and bought many meters of their different silks all gorgeous. can't find that quality now. this crepe looks like japanese chirimien not the stuff that comes now from china which is probably weighted silk and will fall apart in a couple of years because of the iron salts.

already stitched and folded. this will be dyed with 3 natural dyes and then made into a skirt hopefully. more sewing ahead.













neki desu
 

murasaki shibori

this got dipped 4 times and i was mean with the dye so i kept using it instead of using fresh dye for every dip. there's still dye in the pot which i cant bring myself to throw it away although i know that the tannins released are obscuring the color.

the results.

i am contemplating  re binding and overdyeing with fresh dye to add color to the light bottom part.the linen was mordanted in alum tannin alum ergo the white turned into a beige and with the repeated heat and dip a grayish beige. not too crazy about it if you care to know.

if overdyeing does not rescue this it will go to the oh well.. pile.

went back to aquagym for this month, as if i needed more movement!

neki desu
 

motainai dyeing

second extraction, this time using the hot water-kneading japanese method. could not bring myself to open the tap (yes it has a tap!) and dispensing the liquid as there was dye . added the second water and dunked the linen knit which had been  mordanted in alum-tannin- alum and then wound shibori like to a plastic rope.

the color is a bit darker than in the photo and also duller, not as clear as the first water.this will be dipped a couple more times to develop the color.

neki desu
 

of murasakizome

japanese say that alcohol extraction is no good, that it doesn't give good color,but i guess it's they way they have to save their tradition.

as i don't have a murasakizome tradition i allow myself to take the shortcut.and i am pleased with the results.

 here's the stainless vat, which btw it's performing very well.remember i bought a beermaking vat? not exactly this one ,but close.
i can dye now in my bathroom!! looking forward to starting an indigo vat . you set the temp  and time and the vat keeps them.rejoice,rejoice i can dye in the winter.

but back to murasakizome.the outcome of the first waters.

alum cot mordant on silk, bottled water because i have been lazy and haven't tested the water here.

it's close to hon murasaki 

hon-murasaki (true-purple) #65318e and i am super chuffed with it.
until now i had just been able to get fuji murasaki and then shifting the blues by adding an acid.

neki desu
 

coin purses

luxurious silk coin purses.another flavor,same warp.the weft here is some remnant of murasaki dyed silk from some years ago.

think i have enough for one more.after that setting the loom up for the yardage fabric.

neki desu

math challenged

no matter how well planned and counted sometimes  i end up short of warp ends. not fun especially when they have been custom dyed for the project as in this case. good thing i still had some murasaki steeping in alcohol. now time will take its course with the yarns.

in the meantime staring at my design wall and having a feeling that all of this is irrelevant given the situation. thinking about life and how it goes on. though not in the superficial sitcom way we're used to  where even the most compelling issues have to be solved in twenty minutes. not even in the let's not think about it and keep moving way.

comfort  came by way of one of my favorite reads.

and outside is  raining and thundering. ides of march?

neki desu

doing the reds now

this is the red spectrum of murasaki. you add lemon and the blue-purple turns to red-plum. what i like is that the color ranges are dusty muted, at least in the mid values.the silk yarn has already been a week in the liquor and if i'm patient i'll let it exhaust.

also in the reds my wine tasting class is great. we sample 4 wines per class after a most interesting lecture. i've learned (DUH??) through experience that some notes you perceive are according to your personal references.last week they were talking about stable smell and i never having been to one was totally clueless. but i did find  a green coconut taste and everyone was bewildered.

i have made friends with the farmer who brings the produce to my organic supermarket. he is a very kind person and  an exact replica of old macdonald. i foresee inordinate amounts of dye yielding matter . life's good.

btw anybody knows what would give a lime green?

 have a good weekend ya'll!

neki desu

we are exhausted

but we feel very accomplished

 after a week in the dye bath.


neki desu

colors changing hues...

this is very exciting, let me share it with you.

yesterday Dick Huset posted something on the natural dyes list about  gromwell and shifting the blue by adding an acid. i had noticed the alcohol extraction liquid was very red, but when water was added it turned blue.i was going to try some after mordanting to shift colors when the dyeing was completed, but let's face it, as i  have a scant supply of shikon i was scared to f***up.

i cut a lime in half dashed outside and dunked it in the dye tub where there was some silk peacefully soaking.voila! it started shifting towards the red almost immediately.  here is the mystery behind what i saw in japan as murasaki dyed . all those deep reddish purples.

the skein at the background of the photo goes towards the blue because it was soaked in ash lye water.  on its third dip  now the color is less gray than on the second dip and more let's say glowing form inside out for want   of a better term.  the foreground skein has been dipped twice, the second time in the acidulated dyebath.

-digression and rant- GRRRR! between google and microsoft they are trying hard to impoverish the language. acidulated is counted as wrong in ms spellcheck. if you don't use  the words google  likes it ignores you and you don't get indexed. GRRRR!

back to dyeing. the reddish skein went back to the dye tub and will stay there until the dye exhausts.

i still have some dyestuff soaking in alcohol and will use it for the textured silk which coincidentally i was aiming at  getting reddish purple.

250 knots already tied to the dummy warp, working on the mokume this afternoon. life is good.

neki desu

oh elation!oh rapture!

the alcohol steeped chips with distilled water gave me this interesting liquid.it is not transparent and has an almost  solid translucent quality. ok.ok., the photo has some added texture, but the color is right.

 the silk skein was scoured and while still wet dipped for 30 minutes +/- in ash lye water. then dyed for 45 minutes starting on cold and slowly rising the temperature without letting it boil. then cooled in the liquid and then hung outside to dry.

i was gratified this morning with the color it took. ouchiiro!!.

dipped the skein in ash lye water  again and will do a second dip today. meanwhile i'm mordanting a skein of very textured silk with alum and will use the murasaki liquid in the other jar.

what i've learned so far:

• alcohol extracts much purer color than water soak.

• it also extracts more color than water so it is more cost/time effective.

•  color extraction with water gives a lot of yellowish- brown color. the purple coloring matter tends to stick to the container so it is wasted.

i think i'm going to devout time to murasakizome.i could become a specialist as  it is much less frustrating than indigo. i can't imagine myself becoming a specialist on something, the ever jack of all trades :D

 

neki desu

totemo murasaki ne!

yesterday i checked the steeping murasaki and was totally disappointed with the color of the water. it was yellowish brown with no hint of the beautiful purple. having read in the natural dyes lists about  using alcohol for extracting dyes i thought i had nothing to lose by trying. after all sandra rude is an advocate of the method  and she gets gorgeous colors from wood chips.

it was like magic. as soon as the alcohol touched the root chips the liquid started getting purple.this time i'm going to get purple, not like last time.  

here  you can read about the different shades of purple and their names in japanese. 

note the difference between edo and kyoto colors both tremendously iki in their own way

i'd be elated with anyone except fujiro. done that one already!

turning a page. today there's a general strike here. strange to see my street, a busy cross town street empty and silent at 11 a.m.

neki desu

fall forecast

lots of mauves and purples. i have 50grams+/- of shikon roots ( aka murasaki) in distilled water in my balcony. they will be letting out their color slowly over the weeks enjoying the fall sunlight. then dyeing will commence.

for dyers shikon is one of the traditional dyes of japan which gives a range of mauves and purples  with a pretty  time consuming, laborious dyeing technology . see the dyeing of tohoku scroll until kazuno akane zome, shikon zome.

known as  lithospermum erythrorhizon in  latin , shikon belongs to the borage family.

the color obtained from the roots is not only  used for dyeing, but it is also used in the cosmetic industry.

in english shikon is known as purple gromwell so in case you bump into it- don't forget to say hi (^^)!

for more information about its classification go here , an invaluable resource for plant taxonomy.

i have tried my luck with shikon before and the results were not very satisfactory . i think the problem was due to the water so that's why i'm using bottled  water this time.and taking the temperature too just to be on the safe side.

we shall see if the predictions hold true.

have a beautiful fall weekend!

neki desu