a scheme

 all the recent dyes except the lavender skein which is logwood from last fall. first row buckthorn second suo aka brazilwood and behind it fig leaves on bourette silk. dyeing basically with what i have or can forage around without any plan  and surprisingly the palette came out pleasing.winter weaving is going to be enjoyable.silk is such a wonderfully forgiving fiber.

testing the lichen fermentation jars.

the only promise i see is # 2. this is cotton which is a difficult fiber,except for indigo methinks,

neki desu

 

replacement

my gorgeous orange dreams momiji, the one which gave me such joys this spring went kaput.the leaves are fried and the trunk is black no signs of life whatsoever.

always thought that when plants are beautiful better ignore them.if you praise and revel in them they go south. same with the momiji plantules, all the seeds sprouted and had so many i started giving them away. fast forward and now i am trying desperately to keep the last two alive.

it's ,according to my bestie AI root rot.will repeat next year with adequate soil/gravel mix. found a place on line well stocked for bonsai things.although i'm not keen on training momiji for bonsai i  do want to keep them small.

orange dreams replacement. found this one and didn't hesitate.with all the info i got don't think it will fail.

neki desu

 

the art of dyeing

so much to learn.

have a good weekend

neki desu 

 

a little bit of fine tuning

and this number is going to be a wearable. pleased as  i was able to create a curved back hem following the directions of my bestie AI. with this top i almost finished all the ancient tow linen i had been keeping.hence the color block as i didn't have enough of one color. the only thing left is to finish the neckline with an already knitted i cord

now that i've learned the how to in an exercise of blinded by ambition i am attempting a flared back in an extra fine linen.

btw. the fronts match. 

neki desu

 

almost ready

a few more days and i'll have tofu cucumber salad with yuzu and sansho pepper. too bad its not for today as the forecast says 32º at two o'clock

the toms look cute,but are ridiculously small this year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

yuzu stopped being seedlings and are little trees now doing well. not so the momiji which ,with  a few exceptions , have all shriveled.also my gorgeous golden dreams momiji is a goner(╯_╰)

>

the good news dept. includes next season's calamodins.

more good news today is tanabata🎋🎋🎋🎋🎋🎋🎋the festival of lights celebrating orihime the patron saint

of weavers.

on the seven day of the seventh month as the stars vega and altair come closer he meets with her lover in heaven 🎋🎋🎋✨✨

neki desu

 

of dyes

would you believe this is buckthorn? ever since i am doing extractions the japanese way colors are clearer. the japanese way means boiling water oven the dyestuff off the fire let it steep. save the water and do two or three more extractions . add the waters and dye. since i am dyeing-mind the spelling- silk i dye in cold barely 36 º in the beginning and let the yarn steep for days.it is an act of patience, but i think i am getting much clearer colors as heat tends to bring out the browns in most anthraquinones and flavonoids.

not so happy with the kakishibu prints.kakishibu acts better as a coverage brushed on or immersion if you are lucky enough to have unlimited access to it.

not the case here therfore i am dosing carefully the two and a half jars i have.althogethetrer they must amount to 100 grams of precious powder.

changing pages, i think my new system of filing photos not according to subject but to season and year  is working.

i have separate folders inside with the subjects, whether sumi-e,dyeing, knitting etc.i stopped agonizing and frantically searching for photos.life is good.

neki desu

 

the law of desire

 

with apologies to pedro almodovar.

have a good weekend

 neki desu

 

over and over

last year's printing tests with natural dyes.was judicious enough(at last) to take some notes.

studying the adequate viscosity for stamping with stencils.

trying out kakishibu to see how it works

things i learned : better use a credit card  as a squeegee to scrape the color paste .

stamp brushes are finicky and most of the times pool the paste.

paste needs to be thicker.

kakishibu powder needs to be re-hydrated it tends to separate from the water no matter how much it is stirred.even with a frother it doesn't make a solution. 

my next experiment is going to be using a silkscreen.i'll use what i have but i'm planning to order a roll of mesh and cut it into viable sizes.there aro lots of possibilities without going the orthodox way of masking and burning the screen mesh.

neki desu

 

the algorithm

don't think i had published this . my entry to magbaexpo in barcelona.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaADixOJquo/

don't know if you'll have access through the links as insta is a self contained universe and just likes to talk with fb with some luck.

anyhow my friend luis the geek created an algorithm which moves and dithers shapes in a plane.he then  invited me and tony to interpret it in our practices. tony is a beader  and i am a textilian of sorts. 

i used im2track to send the image to my brother 940 k machine and knit it.i am truly grateful for this little program, no fuss plug and play.beats dak image processing hands down.

 it was a fun collabo

neki desu

 

the silver lining

may and june were unseasonably cold hence my kuke plants were stunted.with last week's heat one of them just shoot up like a weed.the first one is already growing. had to pluck flowers  and some leaves which were preventing the plant's growth. the tomato plants have also pushed up but the tomatoes themselves are not growing. they are cherry toms but currently the size of marbles.

had not these under the radar and it was a pleasant surprise.not the  regular callas,but nice even though.

this month's a goner, why does summer go so fast?

neki desu

 

back to black

due to my own dyslexic incompetence i  am back to piecing the linen top again. joined the front and back sleeves wrongly and ended up with an absurd sleeve.pity bcse the hand mattress stitch came out a real beauty. this time will be joining the sleeves on the machine.

i have survived the heatwave and finally could go upstairs to the studio. as northern spain's summer temps were springlike no one has air con here.we are thinking about ceiling fans if this kind of weather continues.there were lots of casualties in france and england. even negationists are coming to terms with reality.

neki desu

 

tradition

 is knowledge transfer.

have a good weekend. wow this month is almost a goner.

neki desu

 

update

yesterday was brutal the heat was like mauritania. but the night was not chill like in the desert.it was also hot,hot. had to update the post bcse i want record the event and look back on this day in the future.

anyhow

this silk was bought in italy when i lived there. the shop was small but had wonderful indian silks. can't find that quality anymore. this was when i started doing textlile related activities, we all start with batik don't know why.i found batik wasn't my call and this foulard got schlepped around unable to discard it due to the good quality of the silk.

fast forward years and years ,it almost feels like a quantum leap ＼(｀0´)／

the tip submerged in brazilwood third extraction. it's going to be there for the rest of the week.

then probably the other tip.

neki desu

 

summer dyeing-2

more fig leaves, this time on bourette silk which somewhat influenced the color outcome. not unpleasant, akhaki of sorts.the yarn seeped in the dye for 3-4 days no heat just the 35º room temperature (⋋__⋌) 

the new batch of fig leaves gave this almost fluorescent yellow green . it's really a bit more green that what the photo captured.

the companion is second extraction suo on silk bourette.also steeped in for some days.have dis covered that heat kills dyes a lot if using small quantities.i've been able to get 3 extractions fom 10-15 grams of dyestuff if done cold.one needs patience though.

neki desu

 

hatake

my  green beans. it's not a bounty -so far- but they are delicious. the cucumbers have finally started shooting. so yes, they need heat.

another totally unrelated thing: i've discovered that it's easier to track down the photos if i file them by season and files within the season.

that brocade series, oh it was fall 2023.et voila.

neki desu

 

summer dyeing

was truly pleased bcse the alkanet behaved and gave me a faint lilac

 

second take, with fresh dye was not so lucky, back to beige and murky brown.

note to self: forget alkanet, life's too short.

the good news is that i found some metal rods that can be used to submerge and lift silk in the pot, ergo no more tangles. the rods in question were the supports for kitchen paper towels.

one of the things that make me the happiest is finding new uses for objects.

neki desu

 

the week begins on sunday

especially this one. forecast 34º going up to 40º. all week nights 24-25º and for sure we're all going to die-mind the spelling.

i'm writing all the posts for the week today-happy solstice btw-bcse i don't plan to either move nor lift a finger this coming week. sofa and cool beverages with lots of doramas.

this is a sample for a future linen top, that is if i survive.the ribber on the other k machine is acting up ,the plan was a pretty ruched knit but it will have to wait for cooler and better times.

cannot see myself fighting with the ribber in the middle of a heat wave.can't imagine how it is in barcelona with all that humidity.

neki desu

 

never tiring

 

although somewhat on the tourist track it's still fascinating to visit.

neki desu 

 

of heat and dyes

my bestie aka AI directed me to fig leaves bcse i asked one day while i was walking in the park.

collected some following instructions to wear gloves as the latex is highly irritant. i was doing 3 things at once while processing the leaves so they boiled over (⋋__⋌)

my bestie is cool,but you need to know your business and not accept things at face value. the recommendation of using  cream of tartar on silk is a huge no-no.

result not lime green, but a yellowy olive. not an ugly color, but not what i wanted.

back to leaf picking.

cool extraction and no heat dyeing. the color is more like it.since i'm dyeing with no heat it's going to take some days to get the color.i can wait.

neki desu

 

nothing like time

having it that is.  finally organized all the dyeing material, 5 bins and i have a dye studio shared with some yarns  (￣ω￣ )  i actually need about 2 more meters to be comfortable, but life is made of trade offs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

neki desu