storing

for a session to come.i'm going to keep records this time.














neki desu

dyeing variables

dyeing with natural dyestuff  is both irritating and fun. not to mention unpredictable.

proof is in the photo. the silk yarn on the left was from the  alum mordant batch  dyed last year using pomegranate rinds and left seeping in the liquor for some unaccounted time.

the one on the right was mordanted using liles method of alum, cream of tartar and tin all in one pot.he says is very good for yellows so i gave it a shot. the color it gave me is not ugly, but can't compare to the one i got last year.

there are so many variables to consider besides the mordant: the water, this year's crop of fruit, the time spent in the liquor , the quantities of dyestuff used.

it's a well known fact that overdyeing is a cure for disappointments.

happy monday!

neki desu

poetics in color

silk dyed with madder. the foreground yarn was overdyed  with pomegranate and  left in the dye for a week. excuse the ties.

the next experiment is going to be with persimmon. getting the colors ready for a colorful warp.

this has been going round and round in my head for some days now:

the man who puts his arm around your shoulders when the winds blow cold.

neki desu

OD

From this to.......... this

Quite a change. Pomegranate dye with an iron od. One gram in 6 liters of water for 30 minutes and the yellow did not dull. It went away!!The silk skein did not change hand nor luster, but i covered my back with an acid rinse, just in case.i know what iron does to silk in the long run, all those cheap silk blouses that sort of melt away. i don't mind the drastic change in color, what i' would really mind is a change in the silk properties.
Now i know that pomegranates can also give black with a slight greenish cast, or pool water brown hair :)

Happy Monday to you!

neki desu


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in between acts

Making new friends, saying good bye to old ones. It's bitter cold here by our standards. Can't even think of going outside to check the dyes, so i'm patiently winding on the warp inside.
Luckily i had taken out this one at the weekend before the cold front hit.First stage in a pomegranate dyed shibori.
i have been told that yellow dyes are fugitive.So is life. Enjoy the fleeting moment. Carpe diem.
For textile buffs and stitchers check this and also this

neki desu


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pomegranates-act 1

Here is the silk skein after two days in the soup.This one was mordanted in alum, no heat, for two days, taken out and left it to drip the excess water.Then it was plunged in the soup and left in peace.Since it won't be used immediately i'm leaving it to cure without rinsing until its due time comes.Unbelievable taxi cab yellow oi? No ps here so excuse the dark cast on the background.
Now i have some shibori in the soup and this one will take longer.

Have a fab weekend!

neki desu


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visual pun

Natural dyes with a street and parked motorcycles as background.Get it?
The silk skein was alum mordanted and put into a diluted pomegranate solution and the photo was taken after 24 hours.i have visions of shiboried scarves floating in the liquid.Just a matter of time.

The warp hasn't made significant progress,i managed to tie about 100 threads yesterday.My cop out for yesterday was a long due visit to the hair salon for a desperately needed haircut.Do not tell me it isn't an impeccable excuse :)

neki desu


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strutting along

Reached the halfway mark, although my house has never been so clean, have never been taken so many nice photos, my Flickr never so organized. Have 2 mordanted silk skeins to dye in the pomegranate soup.
Creative and efficient procrastination is what i've developed :)
Still, i want one of these.

neki desu


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i'm curious

Yellow!! When i took the sample out of the pomegranate soup after two days it was taxi cab yellow. Some color washed off, but it is still pretty vivid.Next step will be mordanting some silk yarn with alum and leaving it for 2 days as well.
Weavingwise i managed to finish tieing on the first chain in all of its 300 knots.Amazing the strategies used to combat boredom. Like chanting gray-blue, blue gray in mantra fashion to keep the order on each layer as if i suffred from Asperger's syndrome .C' mon people, i need a pep crew!

We are having a 5 day bank holiday until Tuesday.Anybody wants to move to Spain?

Have a lovely weekend!


neki desu


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an implied promise

Battling with a book cover and trying to fit it to a book in the impossible quest. Doing things that Etsy doesn't like, like using dark photos.
The rebel in me came out in these photos, too"artsy" to get a clear idea of what they are about.
We all have similar sensibilities, travel to the same places therefore our photos tend to look alike. i'm trying to change directions photowise. Perhaps this blog will end up looking like this other one, who knows.
Anyhow the actual narrative of the photos is very straightforward. A woven silk sample,no scouring, machine zigzagged and dunked in the pomegranate soup that has been steeping for 2 weeks now.
No romance.

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still waters run deep

Yes they do Do Wa. Gallery of my natural dye soups. First one is kakishibu which has been fermenting for 2 years, needs three at least.This is a once in a lifetime thing if you're interested in dyeing. Akin to making croissants. Next comes the walnut soup. i'm keeping the hulls in and just adding water as it evaporates. Like having a pot au feu and making soup. Last photo,pomegranates which have been soaking for a week in the balcony getting some weak winter sun, a stratagem so that husband -san doesn't get cardiac foreseeing all the future dyeing activity.
It seems that everybody's involved with the same dyes lately. Sort of a secret sisterhood.

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