looks like a tropical drink

 

 but it is brazilwood liquid from the pot, where the linen stole is resting, to which i added a squeeze of lemon. fell in love with the color!!! sort of fluo salmon pink. but you know the saying about the devil  and how he  pokes the eyes of his loved ones....


here we go. i thought that  bit of heat would not harm it  so the skein was brought inside and put in a pot to simmer. it didn't quite get to simmering and i turned the fire off. left it overnight and repeated again. and in the process the lovely bright salmon pink got browned by the heat. the moral of the story is clear, isn't it? it's not an awful color, but the other one was prettier and clearer. this one is very much like the madder colors i got last year.

on the home front. i survived yet another barça- madrid the last one fortunately. this year because of the calandar they met 4 yes 4!! times almost consecutively. and madrid's coach generated such an incredible amount of bad vibes that even people from madrid were sick of him. as if we needed more angst . this is me talking about soccer, i who couldn't care less so you can imagine  the  general situation. anyhow for those interested barça won last night and will be in the champion's final in wembley playing against the man united methinks.

after all the deluge of testosterone i needed something girlie so today i went for a haircut. pleased to death with the outcome. and tomorrow i'm treating  myself  to ノルウェイの森  aka norwegian wood

the movie based on murakami's eponymous novel.

let's see if i can get back to work now.



neki desu

bounty

yesterday i bought  pink  and an  orange daturas and a clematis jackmanii  as a replacement for the one which didn't make it to spring.
but really look at my chives!! they haven't been so beautiful in ages, so it's tit for tat.
apart from enjoying looking at them here's a specialty from my kitchen:

• slice one big zucchini per person paper thin.

• put olive oil in a frying pan and heat.

• sauté the slices until light brown.

• add a generous squeeze of lemon juice and chopped walnuts.

• a drop or two of tabasco for a spice kick.

• chop a generous amount of chives. sprinkle them on the zucchini off the flame and serve.

optional: add grated grana padano or parmiggiano. you could substitute for cubed goat cheese for a more pungent taste.
you can serve as starter or accompanying a chicken or lamb course. don't forget to have a dry chilled white  such as rueda with it.

lots of planting for today.
and some weaving in the afternoon.



neki desu

not only music, but also wood

the linen stole aka raindrop stole has been steeping in brazilwood for 5 days now. i did a alum tannin alum  mordanting process with some required washing soda.

according to my reads the brazilwood is supposed to yield a clear red on alum and indeed the liquid from the alcohol extraction was almost annato orange. if you're familiar with latin cooking you know what i mean, almost phosphorescent. but i forgot that my water is extremely alkaline and didn't use bottled water.  the combination of water and  the washing soda still attached to the fibers gave me the dark raspberry above. 

at first i was mildly annoyed as it didn't meet my vision, but  after a day or two it grew on me and i started to like the color. it's still developing in the cold dye liquor and will remain there for the rest of the week.i'm not sure i'll try doing a color shift with an acid.

 

my environment limits me, can't go to the woods and gather windfalls branches and barks.
i depend on my good chemist around the corner for mordanting stuff and i'm thankful he's knowledgeable as well as well stocked. i got two choices for tannin. one which is chestnut brown, dissolves in water and for the love of dyeing i can't find the pack now. and the one on the right much lighter in color which dissolves in alcohol. evidently this is the one i used for the linen double mordanting. it does color the fibers a bit, but nothing dramatic. i've looked around for references and could not find any info about the alcohol tannin therefore i'm running some sort of blindfolded experimenting. until i find the other pack i'm going to keep on using this one.  it's a good thing i am a well known customer at the chemist because i'm going through liters of alcohol !

neki desu