lichens changing hues

windfalls first stages yellows and russets. with the past gales there's so much on the ground.

after two weeks of daily stirring to incorporate oxygen and aid in fermentation.process similar to dyeing with sukumo. 

two more weeks and the reds are starting to appear

shetland and hebrides people are crafty, with what they've got they create a whole range of colors including magenta and purple .think harris teeds.

neki desu

 

it's going to be a long wait

windfall lichens. on the right vintage ones from 4-5 years ago: on the left last week's pick from my walk in the park. this is lichen and moss country.

the vintage ones  almost instantly turned reddish brown last week's are in the yellow stage.

my latest friend, gemini, gave me much more info  about lichen dyeing that what i wanted. however, it was unknown to me that they needed to ferment in ammonia at least 3 months to get purples and reds.hopefully dyeing will happen in late fall.

another new friend is snapseed. my phone photo editing tool was very basic and this app is photo editing on steroids.and free. 

neki desu

 

pondering

 it's already december and still pondering.

warp silk dyed with tannin , walnut and akane. weft wool/ stainless dark blue and terracotta from the much beloved and now defunct avril in kyoto.

 2 cms of plain weave 4 -5 cms in broken twill, nice soft furrows. the question is re-sley at a more open 8 ends   x cms for more drama( and possibly less stable cloth) or keep it as is at 10 ends x cm what to do ??

this is the back colorwise much more subdued. like the two for one effect  unlike double weave it's  minimum effort.

on a side note life now became hollywood. mayor computer overhaul,changed hard disk, added more memory and did a big deep cleanup.all functions became instant. .feeling virtuous because instead of getting a new one i repaired the old one.the dumpster won't see me for another stretch. ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )   

neki desu

 

a week of ganbaru

although i do have a life i managed to thread and reed last week. i need to debug and decide on the weft: two possibilities in wool/stainless steel.more collapse fabrics. then on with the show. the warp is silk dyed with madder, walnut and food grade water soluble (?) tannin .really counting on the japanese class hiatus.

neki desu 

 

working week

working plan for the week ;600 fine silk threads to be threaded and sleyed. tannin, madder and walnut dyed work  will go through the weekend , no rush.

neki desu

 

discovery mode

this is a tannin bath .this kind of tannin is food grade the one used in winemaking and other edibles. it's a blend of quebracho,chesnut and tara and it's soluble in water.of course the crafty dyer knows that this is prime material for dyeing, albeit the shopkeeper's weird look.

and now the discovery. i/we were under the assumption that silk needed to be scoured in order to remove the sericin so that it could dye. not what i found.the top silk sample boiled to a glaring matted mess, glossy though,dyed much lighter after an overnight soak.the bottom one albeit still stiff is much darker.looked around for a proof of concept and ana lisa hedstorm has been dyeing without removing the sericin for quite a while.

the quid  pro quo would be gloss,softness and a lighter color or stiffness and a greater color intake. cast your votes.

doing a test this week  with mordanted threads to see what happens.

neki desu 

 

a three year predicament

finally going forward. color blanket ; there are 3  mistakes, seems like one for every rethreading. albeit the gross mistakes it holds a promise. not rethreading again no matter what. silk warp natural dyes, madder, ai, safflower. silk weft ai and cochineal.

i'll repeat this structure,networked rosepath, in  less taxing warp yarns.

already sourcing.

20/1 venne cotton in glowing colors. after a hair thin silk warp this will go fast.

the plan: one layer of solid color across the whole warp, the second layer the colors shift harmoniously.

and with this project we cap  the month of september.

neki desu

 

accomplishments dept.

this number was a joy to weave and it went fast and well. except for the shedding of the weft which gave me the ultimate cough everything was a breeze.  the dyeing also. green walnuts steeped in water for some weeks then the fabric added and after that an inmmersion in a weak iron solution to kill the yellow. warp white silk, weft sand colored  nubby silk.the structure is a crepe developed with alice schein's crepe action for photoshop.sorry can't find the post in her blog to link it  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

all in all a happy camper here. 

neki desu

 

the process worked

the weld extract not so much. stretching and brushing the dye after mordant printing. the only caveat compared with immersion dyeing is that the cloth needs to be steamed. i don't mind it bcse i thing one gets much clearer backgrounds.

fabric after steaming. dunged in oat bran to remove the gum and clear the background,then  washed. the yellow is pretty but faint.

>

another example of faint weld yellow. ran out of alum and everything's on halt.

waiting for the suppliers to come back from vacation to buy more alum.

meanwhile climate refugees keep visiting. last week not even us up north were safe.one day of 40º. thought i was going to die.(mind the spelling)

the fires have tinted the sky and everything is covered in  ash dust. doing a rain dance bcse all's fried if not burned.

neki desu

 

of tools

this little contraption from the chinese bazaar is god's answering service.it works for steaming,for keeping fabric below the surface of the indigo vat without touching the bottom and getting ruined.it also works forkeeping the samples pinned with a clothespin at the bottom, making them practically crease free. not to mention the original use of drying your underwear.

every japanese balcony has one as portrayed in japanese dramas. (￣ω￣ )

this other baby although a much pricier contraption also rocks it. you can dye in it keeping the temperature stable, you can use it as asteamer, you can also make beer! which btw is the original use. ask me why hardware clerks hate me.

i haven't been using it much as the electricity has skyrocketed.but usually weekends are ok.for steaming you only need to create the steam and put the fabric in which doesn't consume much energy. top it with aheavy cloth to gather the droplets and not ruin your work and wait 15 to 30 mins with the tank turned off.

neki desu

 

color brushing 101

 ok why brush instead of immersion dyeing? you can apply colors selectively as long as the motif has been previously stamped with mordant paste.in terms of work it's very economical. plus there's no need to clear your background which means an extra step. you can also adjust the thickness of the dye or you can brush it without thickener.

 the problem i see is the concentration of dye. this is a new concentration of weld, let's see how it works.also planning to do a couple of more layers of brushed color.

everyone roots for weld, so far it hasn't impressed me. surely i'm missing something.

neki desu

 

the steaming process

i'm telling you with this heat. textile wise the results border the BLAH.it's a learning process and so far what i've learnt:

• dyes improved after steaming.
• dyes need to be extra thick if not there's hardly any background definition
• dyes need to be extra concentrated if not they come out as washed out colors

we all know yellow is difficult really needs to be concentrated.

 i plan to continue screening on top as there's nothing to loose.c'mon this is practice and practice makes perfect

neki desu 

 

deconstructed screen printing i

the one who writes this is less interested in regimented instances in life and more in serendipituous happenings. take screen printing.i've done the orthodoxies but the rigidness is a fun killer. stressed bcse prints have to be on register, if not they're considered faulty.extra care so as not to strain the borders with paint etc etc. and the clean up is not fun at all.i can do it and get results but where's the joy?

years ago -omg 15 years ago life is moving too fast- ಠ ಠ  i tried deconstructed printing when it became popular-then people moved to the next new thing and it was forgotten. the technique resonated with me and i liked the results,but i was caught in the acts of living ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

i thought i could re do it but this time with natural dye printing.

this is going to be an exploration because i am mixing techniques and trying out different procesess so bear with me.

here the cloth was placed on the semi wet screen to cathch the texture. tomorrow i'll print the dry screen with clear gum and see what happens.in theory the gum will act as a resist i want to see how much of a reisit,if it's viable for resist printing  as well and if it then prints well with the thickened dyes. some options :

• print with  clear thickener
• print with thickened dyes
• immersion dyeing
• repeating he printing clear thickener procesess  and 
• then printing with dyes.

economy, gathering the drips from the screen on a cloth. think this one will just be printed with thichened dyes.

neki desu

 

the dyes

 making dye concentrates of weld and brazilwood. the walnuts were picked up last week at my local park.this year the trees are sick with yellowing foliage and bry branches.it doesn't affect dyes but it saddens me.walnut dye will take some time and won't be used this time.it's a long maceration akin to whiskey. ｡^‿^｡ 

the dyes will be thickened with guar gum for printing.

neki desu

 

the chosen and wabi sabi

which weaves like this. i am not claiming all the copyright bs in fashion  as i know someone somewhere along the line came up with this, either  gererated by a PS action or paper and pencil. there's a tendency to think one is fabulous and unique which it isn't quite so. off the soapbox.

adore the irregularities of the yarns. actually it's a yarn show.  (￣ω￣ ) an exercise in wabi-sabi.

warp: silk dyed with walnut and madder( not shown) weft: heavier silk indigo dyed gifted by a friend.

first monday without tai-chi, full weaving day.

neki desu 

 

the dignity of simplicity

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

AI and the frugal crafter

tried asking gemini the other day about making lakes with leftover dyes. the intelligence part was nowhere. the dumb thing first started by buttering me expressing admiration for such a clever creative idea.  ಠ ಠ then went on with environmental concerns about closed bodies of water. yep, so good for discerning and discriminating.very intelligent, even giving the leftover dye cue. with all the resources it takes to feed and keep ai one would have expected a better performance oi?

back to the frugal crafter. decanting after precipitating the remaining  madder dye. curious about the outcome as this is a first. wondering if the remaining liquid is still viable one way or another. ideas?

making lakes has  become the latest in the textile scene kind of reminds me about eco printing.

neki desu

 

sourcing from the stash

 for a weave. silk dyed in walnut and i believe chesnut water.the blues were a gift from a dear friend.

think i'll also use the akane dyed silk.plan is something simple to highlight the yarn colors.

have to decide on the structure but it needs to be simple, notice the operative word again, as it will be on the table loom. the dobby is still with the dead warp on bcse gutless me can't bring herself to cut it, trash it and liberate the loom.

the last hellebores.they were white but this year they came out pink.not complaining.

it's a holiday here so happy may day to all!

neki desu