The seeds sprout and the sun rises

Planting seeds… Every Spring as Nature awakens and comes back to life, seedlings are planted and seeds are sowed. Cause that’s how it goes. Cause that’s the way it is – standstill taking over the movement, and solution and breakthrough coming forward after the deadlock…

Since we settled at #szaryganek a few years ago, I started another dyer’s garden right away. I planted several varieties of smoke bush, couple of catalpas, tamarisk, liquid amber, and two types of sumac in addition to what was already growing there. (Some of the new plants were presented by a friend visiting at that time. Evgenia, remember?) I also arranged madder root corner in the rear end of the garden. Needless to say, rubia tinctoria is a very important dye plant, although a young plant is not so good for dye extraction, you’ve got to wait 3 years until you harvest the first batch. This Spring I have been able to draw out a few root shoots to expand my madder plantation.

Madder is one of the oldest dyestuffs. According to J.N. Liles, it extends back at least to 2000 b.c. In his book The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing, 1990, you can find at least 10 recipes with madder root for color red. Wow, I’ve been always fascinated with madder dyeing potential, and also with its medicinal properties. At the same time, have to admit that traditional dyeing with madder has never become my thing. Maybe I am not ambitious enough…

However, enhancing the effects from leaf printing in contact dyeing with madder extract, on the contrary, has been serving me at its best from the very start. Back in those days, when an absolute newbie in botanical printing struggling to get leaf prints of decent visibility on fabric or paper, at the same time craving for eucalyptus foliage to appropriate for my studio experiments, (and eucalyptus itself had been a complete alien at the local florists) half in despair, I resolved to giving a break to squishing out wishful color from the foliage that had already proven void, and to taking an opposite approach of saturating a weak leaf with stronger potion.

The thing is that in days of the past newborn babies were traditionally bathed in herba bidentis extract bath-water in view of its antibacterial etc. properties, clothes were also treated with the extract. I did bathe my child that way too. The extract should’ve been cooked every time fresh through a time consuming process, and no steps to be skipped whatsoever. And the results were magical… So, in my studio I gave the old method a go and treated those weak leaves to the dye stuff extract. And, yes, the leaves impregnated with stronger dye print immediately even before the heat is applied. This is a pic back from that time:

What a relief it was after so many failures! And throughout the years of my exploring botanical dyeing this method never stopped surprising.

But it’s Spring time, remember? Conditioning the stage for madder root expansion in the garden was not a big deal, in fact. However, my recent urge for setting a vegetable garden (the lockdown sequela) required way more engineering intense arrangements. First came five plastic boxes for vegetable beds – yes, yes, I know, plastic… But, hey, sometimes you just have to to make do with what you got. I didn’t like the idea of poking holes in the bottoms, I wanted to keep the boxes intact. So, I thought I would make a raised mesh bottom supported with fixed wire. Water is supposed to go underneath, and I added a tube for ventilation and also for watering:

Next, I spreaded agrotextile to separate soil from the plastic walls, added some potting grit and soil.

It took me several hours to finish the construction stage. Planting and sowing took the next couple of days. However, after a period of nice weather we got the temperature dropping from +26C to +8C. Which now makes me really wonder if my efforts prove fruitful.

 

P.S. Oh, did I mention that seeds were germinated in a plastic bottle? It is a very effective and low maintenance sprouting method. XOXO

Flourishing butterbur Beavers woke up Full moon in three days

In this magical time of the year when Nature unveils itself, the most conspicuous recent traces of change around my usual routes just turned into a Haiku style blank verse and appeared as a title of this post.

Everything in nature resting during the winter, got charged up to come out as the earth is waking up in spring. Flowering Butterbur stock (Petasites vulgaris) gives the river bank a bit of a look of a Martian landscape. Butterbur extract may prevent migraine headaches, they say. Doctors do not know exactly how butterbur prevents migraines, they say. And this, in addition to many medicinal properties of this plant. 

Spring is all about light. Everything around is opening up and shaking free from winter dormancy. Especially beavers! Beavers do not hibernate, but are less active during winter.

Obviously beavers are embracing the freedom of spring after a long winter. On my spring exploratory excursion, I encountered a well-built beaver lodge, one I hadn’t known about before.

Beavers’ ability to change the landscape is second only to humans. their favorite foods include water lily tubers, apples and the leaves and green bark (cambium) from aspen and other fast-growing trees. Tree cutting is part of nature’s cycle, and beaver pruning stimulates willows, cottonwood and aspen to regrow bushier than ever the next spring. 

Again  we become part of the process of re-creation that is occurring during the season of Springtime! And speaking of being a part of creative process, I just happened to meet these amazing people deeply fascinated by poetry in Haiku style. Haiku poetry was originally developed by Japanese poets. I have been always admiring brevity and imagistic language in haiku which makes you feel connected to nature. Haikus are often inspired by nature, a moment of beauty, or poignant experience… And on the other hand, writing haiku provides a new way to look at the world… 

I am so proud that the first issue of Haiku Port Quarterly 1/2018  was published with my participation.  And on the other hand, writing haiku provides a new way to look at the world… 

 

Flourishing butterbur

Beavers woke up

Full moon in three days

 

 

 

Catalpa the True Gold/ Настоящее золото Катальпа

I know, I know, we have been sharing lots of catalpa contact extraction results in our FB group Printing Nature, haven’t we girls? How could I not mention it in my blog after all? Huge and medium size catalpa trees were always blooming in the streets of my town in my childhood memories and funny beams of pods always dangling from branches. Generously sized leaves of catalpa were so very much in place protecting us from the sun like umbrellas in the streets of the Southern town. After so many years catalpa keeps my imagination raving, however, in a somewhat different connection.

Известно, что катальпой увлеклись очень многие в этом сезоне и показали замечательные результаты своих работ. Не могу стоять в стороне и я! Большие и небольшие деревья катальп со смешными висячками всегда цвели на улицах южного города в моем детстве. Серьезного размера листья катальп прикрывали от солнца в жару как зонтики. По прошествию стольких лет катальпа продолжает занимать мое воображение, однако, уже немного по иному поводу.

The following information on catalpa medical properties I got from a number of sources. Catalpa has several medicinal uses. It can be made into a tea that is an antidote for snake bites and has also used for a laxative.  Catalpa is also known to be a mild narcotic, which is used in curing the “whooping” cough. Because of the shape of the leaves, the Southern Catalpa was used for heart illnesses by Native American medicine men. The juice from either the leaves or roots was used to treat eye swelling or cutaneous afflictions. Green leaves were crushed and placed on swollen lymph glands. The bark was dried then ground to a powder and taken, or brewed in a tea and taken for swollen lymph glands (Dalby 1999). A tea made from the bark has been used as a substitute for quinine in treating malaria. A tea made from the seeds was used in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis as well as used as a rinse on wounds (Felter and Lloyd 1989). Pods and seeds have been reported to possess antispasmodic, cardiac, and sedative properties. Modern pharmaceutical research has shown catalpa trees have diuretic properties. The leaves and branches contain alkanes, squalene and piperidine alkaloids. A most interesting info.

The Catalpa plants of Bignoniaceae Family have about 13 species in the world. In my neighborhood there are at least three: one that has violet instead of white flowers, one with white flowers and heart-shaped leaves almost odorless, and one with normal shape leaves and white flowers that are quite stinky when touched. I have been using catalpa foliage for contact extraction for three years now, and I believe I can make some initial conclusion on its use in this regard.

Род растений семейства Бигнониевые насчитывает порядка 13 видов катальп. В моей местности произрастают по крайней мере три вида, которые я определяю исключительно на глаз, поскольку для моих целей такой классификации вполне достаточно. Одна катальпа имеет фиолетовые, а не как обычно, белые цветы; одна имеет нормальную форму листа, и одна имеет листья в форме сердца. Также все три различаются по запаху. С катальпой я поработала на протяжении трех лет, и могу подвести некоторые итоги в части ее применения для контактной экстракции.

Catalpa on cotton at iron and aluminium presence yields bright lemon-yellow shades. Fantastic!

На хлопке в присутствии железа и алюминия катальпа дает прекрасный желто-лимонный цвет.

 

Catalpa yields dark-green to olive-green on linen at iron presence.

В присутствии железа катальпа дает темно-зеленый и оливковый цвета.

 

Very nice deep green on cotton.

На хлопке получаются хорошие глубокие тона.

 

Here we go with Catalpa, Tamarisk, Black poplar, and Birch. Felted jacket by Evgenia Komarova.

Здесь мы работаем с катальпой, тамариском, черным тополем и березой. Валяный жакет Жени Комаровой (см. по ссылке)

 

Guess what? The jacket! Yes, it perfectly fits in the plastic flask from mineral water. And let me put an emphasis on the phrase mineral water. I did my best to provide all the comprehensive information as for the shrinking plastic bottles use in the case of contact extraction. However, some people still believe that plastic engagement can be harmful for health in this case. I’ve been suggested by someone to provide my readers with a chart of plastic standards, so that they know the level of toxicity of plastic to use. My dear friends, I, in the first place, was talking about handling plastic bottles from mineral water, which by default suggests that for this purposes the less toxic plastic is used. I never mentioned handling a plastic canister from combustive and lubricating materials for instance. And second, let me ask you this question, it is a well-known fact that many of you who experiment with contact extraction and call it eco print employ food plastic wrap or wrapping plastic to cover and separate areas in your printed works when dyeing. However, I have never come across with any worry in regard of the health hazard from plastic in such case. Do you really believe that food plastic and plastic bottle from mineral water are two unrelated things of different nature? Well, they are not. And yes, shrinking properties of a plastic bottle are for one, an outstanding resource for contact extraction process in terms of its technical optimization.

Угадайте, что здесь? Да, да, весь жакет уместился в пластиковую бутыль из-под минеральной воды. И хочу подчеркнуть слово “минеральной”. Я добросовестно изложила исчерпывающую информацию по применению пластиковых бутылок для контактной экстракции. Однако, кто-то остался при убеждении о вредности для здоровья от применения пластика в данном случае. Мне даже предложили сопроводить презентацию моего нововведения таблицей типов пластика и их токсичности, чтобы читатели могли ориентироваться, выбирая пластик. Дорогие друзья, я ведь с самого начала вела речь о бутылках из-под минеральной воды и никогда не предлагала использовать канистры из-под горюче-смазочных веществ. Бутылки для минеральной воды сделаны из наименее токсичного пластика, если уж на то пошло. И теперь позвольте мне задать вам следующий вопрос. Всем известно, что энтузиасты “эко крашения” очень широко используют пищевую или упаковочную пленку для перекладывания и изолирования поверхностей во время крашения. Это обычная практика. При этом, за много лет я ни разу не встретила выражения обеспокоенности по поводу вреда для здоровья от использования пленки в экстракции. Вы и в самом деле полагаете, что пластиковая пленка и пластиковая бутылка – это разные по своей природе вещи? А вот и нет. И да, термоусадочные свойства бутылки однозначно делают ее весьма полезным техническим приспособлением для контактной экстракции. 

 

The felted wool jacket has been pretreated with aluminium mordant. Catalpa yielded very nice red-brown shade.

Валяный жакет был обработан алюминиевой протравой. Катальпа показала очень красивый красно-коричневый цвет.

Here is this very peculiar thing about Catalpa. The stem of the leave very often prints red to pink-red both with iron and aluminium, and even with no mordant. It means that stuffs inside the leave are distributed in a very specific way. This is really interesting. This phenomenon would not be noticed if leaves were used for conventional natural dye extraction.

А вот еще одна очень интересная деталь о катальпе. Ножка листа катальпы зачастую дает четкий розово-красный цвет и на железе, и на алюминии, и без протравы также. Любопытно, каким образом внутри листа распределяются вещества. Это обстоятельство осталось бы незамеченным в случае традиционной экстракции.

 Now, this is felt already dry.

Здесь войлок уже высох.

And finally, my fav golden yellow on cotton pretreated with aluminium. The Contact Extraction process, although follows the regularities of the general Natural Dyeing Science, introduces some unexpected twists and calls for reconsidering some fundamental basics, such as optimal temperature for instance. I see an analogy between Conventional Natural Dyeing and Contact Dyeing the following way, you can get, say, five apricots from your tree and eat them one by one and one fruit will be sweeter, one will be  sugary, other will be not much of a taste… However, if you take all five fruits and make fresh juice you will get just a regular apricot taste. In both cases apricots would be the same, but quite different outcome… I am still trying to grasp the core of this type of natural dye extraction, and define the point on which Conventional and Contact Dyeing split. Right now I can barely formulate questions, but I see the direction of search perfectly.

Ну и наконец, мой любимый желтый на хлопке по алюминивой протраве. Процесс Контактной экстракции, хотя и подчиняется общим основам Натурального крашения, но и предъявляет свои особые требования, например, в части температурных режимов. Я образно сравниваю традиционное и контактное крашение, проводя такую аналогию: скажем, если взять пять спелых абрикос и съесть их одну за одной, то почувствуется разница во вкусе, какая-то будет слаще, какая-то менее вкусная… Однако, если из этих фруктов сделать сок, то вкус будет обычным абрикосовым, нейтральным. В обоих случаях фрукты те же, а ощущения разные… Я все еще пытаюсь нащупать и определить зерно такого типа экстракции, и понять на каком моменте традиционное крашение и контактное расходятся и далее следуют каждое своим закономерностям. Сейчас я еще не вполне могу сформулировать интересующие меня вопросы. Но направление поиска видится достаточно четко.

 

Up in the Mountains/ В горы!

On the way home we took a detour to the upper lands in the Crimea, as I knew some precious leaves were waiting there to be picked and stored for the further dye baths. На обратном пути мы свернули с маршрута, чтобы подняться в горы, где воздух чист и прозрачен, а зеленые луга и лесные массивы богаты ценными для крашения растениями  

Just a brief visit to this fantastic area refreshes my mind and provides a rich ground for new ideas. Tranquil and spectacular, these mountains stood tall for centuries, witnessed of times change, and now hoard their wisdom and treasures. Даже непродолжительное время, проведенное здесь, в значительной степени освежает воображение и создает почву для неожиданных идей. Спокойные и величественные, эти горы стояли свидетелями перемен времен и по сей день молчаливо хранят свои истории.

Roads are so captivating to me. But the mountain roads wield some special power over my imagination. Дороги меня завораживают. А горные дороги безусловно обладают особой силой воздействия. 

The precious plants were finally found at some highest points of the route. Why it was no surprise to me? Наконец-то, вот они – на самой верхней точке пути наконец-то нашлись!  

Good garden cutters, a few dedicated plastic boxes and in an hour or so we’re heading back down West. Надежный садовый секатор, пара пластиковых ящиков – и примерно через час мы уже едем в западном направлении.

Bye, bye, Mountains! Hello my sweet Flat Land! I’ve been so missing your endless horizon line and unrenderable flavour of the Stepp weeds. Прощайте, высокие горы! Привет вам, милые сердцу равнины! Как я соскучилась по бесконечности горизонта и аромату степных трав.

At home tonight! А вечером – дома!

AfterSeminar Thoughts или Мы Сделали Это!

Two days in a row showers are pouring, the wind is so strong… Only a moment ago it was sunny and heavenly hot! Two days ago I was spending half a day watering my garden. Today streets are almost flooded… This weather change definitely calls for some summing-up of the feathers in the cap of the season. Or in my case, the leaves on my scarf!

Два дня кряду дождь. Точнее ливень. Только что приходилось полдня поливать сад, а теперь на улицах потоп. Что ж, время полистать архив и подвести сезонные итоги.

Let me tell you that my impromptu plan for gathering like-minded pips to enjoy textile practices in the open air using everything that the Nature provides for dyers, turned into a most captivating undertaking. No doubt, it was a challenge to turn the idealistic idea into reality. But when the time came I felt rewarded in spades. First of all, beautiful and knowledgeable people meeting and communicating whom was a treat. And of course, the place that I am constantly in love with!

Мой в высшей мере беззаботный план собрать однодумцев-текстильщиков, в реальности обернулся наиболее запоминающимся событием красильной практики сезона. Прекрасные знающие единомышленники и замечательное место встречи – мои организационные старания оказались щедро вознаграждены. Текстильные встречи в Крыму состоялись!

Mystical and enigmatic are the ancient walls…

тайной дышат древние стены

Always changeable, telling its immortal story of centuries – the Euxine Sea!

переменчивый и легендарный Понт Эвксинский

We tried to listen to the Euxine stories with great attention; we followed the path of the ancient predecessor scrupulously gaining advantage of naturally provided resources.

Внемля древним легендам, шли мы тропой предков, внимательно подбирая щедро разбросанные Природой ресурсы для красильщиков.

We felt like we were watched all times!

Казалось, что незримые глаза неотступно наблюдали за тем, что мы делали.

Did you know that cats strive for plants extracts? Each time we had a bowl with soaking leaves they would come, two or three, and gulp the water hungrily. In this bowl there are leaves of catalpa, strawberry, currents, pomegranate, some eucalyptus and cotinus.

Our place and environment provided a good deal of inspiration to get closer and discover the Nature’s secrets and recipes.

А вот известно ли вам, что коты очень предпочитают растительные экстракты? Неожиданное открытие!

И место, и окружение – все способствовало еще большему погружению в тайну Природного…

Great teamwork and mutual assistance. Guys, you are the best!

Взаимодействие в группе! Спасибо, ребята! Вы – лучшие!

Should I say that just browsing this seminar photo archive brings up warm and joyful thoughts in my mind… (More posts on the seminar results soon) 

I will be looking forward to the next year Textile Gathering in the Crimea as to the setting the mood for the year event! Thank you all and see you soon!

Перелистываю фото наших сборов, и тепло на душе! (еще будет пост про результаты). Спасибо всем! До скорого на следующих Текстильных встречах в Крыму! 

My Day at Atelier Fiberfusing

Hello there,

It’s been a while and I am already missing you all! The temp outside is +15C and I am in the middle of reorganizing my studio getting it ready for the new project.

A perfect time for a new post!

Along with my reflections on the new project, it is an aftersound of my recent meetings that my mind is being occupied with these days. One of my unforgettable impressions is definitely from the day at Atelier Fiberfusing in Amstelveen with the best hostess Dorie van Dijk whose textile art work has been my constant inspiration for quite some time now.

The beautiful landscape of the Netherlanden made an outstanding background for the development of that day!

The Road in Amstelveen

The next absorbing thing after reading juicy blog posts of my fellow-artists is for sure visiting the artists’ studios! 

The Working Process at the Fiberfusing

Dorie is checking on her samples with the local growers:

Dorie at work

The treasure revealed!

The Knot Unraveled

The result is just delicious to the general accomplishment:

The work of Dorie van Dijk

Some felting of the black sheep wool in the afternoon:

Ready, set, go!

And this is something I came up with after a while. I didn’t plan on anything particular, rather played by ear knowing that the future piece would be incorporated into a much larger piece dedicated to my long trip this past Fall.

My black sheep piece

The piece embodies scraps of silk dyed with plant dyes by Dorie van Dijk:

Dorie’s dyed silk bits in my piece

In my felted piece there is a house-like image luckily occurred, actually Dorie suggested it looked like a house. Which is very symbolical, I’d say.

A Little House

From this point I know that in my ultimate work dedicated to my Fall trip there will be some nice green part with the road going all the way through the pastures with white swans and black sheep straight to Dorie’s hospitable house!

On a Windy Day. Take 1

Warm and sunny day when you thoroughly enjoy the gorgeous splendour of the Fall all of sudden turned into the windiest afternoon by the time I took my scarves outside to take pictures.

Needless to say, catching the moment of stability for the photo with the silk scarves floating in the wind  was a lot of fun and a heck of an exercise!

All the scarves were dry when the pics were taken.

No one was harmed in the this photo session!

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Однажды в ветреный полдень. Дубль 1.

Теплое и ласковое осеннее утро, когда так возможно предаваться неторопливому созерцанию величества осени, неожиданно обернулось самым ветреным полднем, как только я расположилась в саду для того, чтобы сделать снимки новых шарфов.

Само собой разумеется, пробовать поймать момент покоя шелкового шарфа, играющего на ветру – дело нескучное, веселое и спортивное!

Отмечу, что фотографии делались с уже хорошо высушенных шарфов.

В результате этой фотосессии никто не пострадал! 

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SecretsJealouslyGuarded, or the Jersey Dress Dyeing Session

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Hi, Guys!

Reading about the History of Textiles and learning about the role of professional Guilds in the Medeval society I came across with this notion:

jealously guarded dye recipes

and I just liked the words combination!

Anyway, I have given some thinking as to why I enjoy so much sharing my findings and results with like-minded persons? As to some reason for me it is the second amusement after the art making process itself. Why so?

Maybe, these findings and stuff coming free much like the Inspiration comes, and hence what is freely given should be shared the same way?

Have not yet come up with any firm idea as for that so far…

In the meanwhile I have some nice pics of the process and some determination to share my experience, if there is anybody wondering how I got that dress dyed!

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress

and the process it turned out the way it is

First of all, the plant material I used for this dyeing session

Dry Cotinus Leaves

Catalpa Leaves

Strawberry Leaves

 

The dry Cotinus leaves I gathered in the past November and kept all this time in a plastic bag, in a few bags actually. They seem to be doing well in plastic, so no need to bother and press them within a book, time and space saving!

The Catalpa leaves I gathered close to my house and pressed them in the magazine for a week or so before using. These definitely should be pressed flat and dried a bit before utilizing, much better colour yielding that way!

My mom’s strawberry leaves taken fresh from the plants.

Here it should be noted that everything was soaked in water the night before the dyeing session.

Plant Material

Some other plants/flowers were added the same day.

There are some Fern leaves ans Walnut leaves in the bucket and some Flowers.

Would you, please, excuse the lack of the flowers’ definition! 

I am sure the flowers are recognizable;

I’d only note that the orange ones are not much of an effect in terms of color and printing.

The Oak Barrel

This is my Tannins Source, the oak barrel where I keep the water for some of my projects.

I did not use the tannin water for this project though.

Just wanted to show off  my barrel!

The Start

READY, SET, GO!

The Start

Feeling as usually the Uncertainty of the Starting Point!

As our dear colleague Pat Vivod has recently noted at her FB page ,

I can stare at things a LONG time before I take the plunge.

Thanks, Pat, it’s good to know I am not an exception in this regard!

The Materials

A Note on the Process:

The Jersey Dress is 100% cotton and it’s been pretreated with Soy flower mixed with water about a month before the dyeing session.

The soaked plant material I spread out over a cloth to get rid of the extra moisture before further utilization.

 

The Leaves Drying

I spent about 10 eggs for this project!

Laying out the Leaves

The plant material was subsequently dipped into the egg yolk and placed on the fabric.

I have to admit that after first 5 eggs I quit separating yolks, and was utilizing the whole egg!

Laying out the Leaves

Laying out the Leaves

This was one time consuming process, I’m telling you!

Laying out the Leaves

Laying out the Leaves

After all it was rolled over a copper pipe, simmered in the buckwheat shells dye bath at the temp 80C for about 1,5 hours.

Please, don’t ask why the buckwheat shells! I just happened to have a bag full of those and decided to give it a try…

Left outdoors for another 10-12 days.

And this is the result you may see:

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress

The Jersey Dress!

 

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Ревностно хранимые секреты красильщиков! – Или одно трикотажное платье в работе.

 

Всем доброго времени! Читая об истории Текстиля и роли профессиональных гильдий в средневековом обществе, я обнаружила следующее определение: «ревностно охраняемые рецепты крашения» – интересно.

Задумалась, отчего же мне так нравится делиться своими находками? Поняла,  со Средневековьем меня ничто не связывает.

 

Теперь о трикотажном платье.

 

На фото представлен весь процесс, в результате которого у меня получился такой дизайн поверхности.

 

Платье из х/б трикотажа;

Растительный материал: листья скумпии, катальпы, клубники;

 

Листья скумпии были засушены в прошлом ноябре, хранились в полиэтиленовом пакете; листья катальпы я собрала недалеко от дома за неделю до крашения и держала в книге; листья клубники – прямо с маминой грядки.

Весь растительный материал был замочен накануне вечером, кроме цветов. Отмечу, что от оранжевых цветов (текома) в результате толку было мало.

 

В ведре листья папоротника и грецкого ореха.

 

Надеюсь, все растения узнаваемы, и можно простить отсутствие лат. названий!

 

Дубовая бочка – мой источник насыщенной танинами воды!

 

Итак, все подготовлено, и можно начинать. Платье предварительно, за месяц, было обработано разведенной в воде соевой мукой. Замоченный растительный материал разложен на тряпке, чтобы удалить избыток воды, прежде чем окунать в яичный желток и раскладывать по поверхности платья. На все ушло 10 яиц, после первых 5-ти я отказалась отделять желтки и использовала все яйцо.

 

Весь процесс раскладывания листьев и складывания платья оказался очень длительным!

 

В конце концов, окончательная версия была накручена на упор в виде медной трубки и после этого тушилась в ванне из гречневой шелухи при t=80C около 1,5 ч. и в дальнейшем была выдержана 10-12 дней на воздухе.

 

Получившийся результат вы можете видеть!

 

 

The Silk Tree Dyeing Session

The Silk Tree fluffs

This is a Silk Tree  (Albizia julibrissin) that I planted about 7 years ago. In our area we have very hot and dry summers (it has got even hotter for a few last years). The winters  are known to be mild and snowless, though in February the temp often drops below -15C / 5F and easily can stay at -23C /below 0F for a couple of weeks. Just enough to freeze some certain types of vegetation to death! That was (and still is) my concern as for the garden. Until this year we used to cover this tree for the winter, whereas last Fall I decided to give it a try and leave it unprotected for the winter, especially when it was over 3 meters tall. It seemed to have lived through the winter alright but  this summer’s unbearable heat and drought have definitely depressed my Silk Tree… Nevertheless, my tree stands tall in my garden all covered with gentle pink fluffs giving of the delightful fragrance all over the area!

Of course I had to try the fluffs for dyeing properties!

The Bundle

I rolled the bundle over a copper pipe, cotton fabric, silk tree fresh fluffs, and simmered in aluminium pot for about 2 hours, let it sit for about 10 days.

Sorry, you all patient people, who can afford 3 weeks and more for curing! I just wanna catch the most of the opportunities this season provides for My Raw List of the Local Dyeing Chances to further develop and elaborate it with the flow of  the time.

That’s when my Rolls will be left  for years unbundled!

The Silk Tree Fluffs in the Cotton Cloth

The Silk Tree Fluffs in the Cotton Cloth

I was really surprised to get such a bright color! Though these are the images of the just unrolled fabric which is still wet.

The Silk Tree Fluffs in the Cotton Cloth

My poor Fluffs! Look what happened to you!! 

The Silk Tree Fluffs Dyed Cotton Cloth. The Still Wet Version.

And now the Fabric, just unbundled and still wet,

The Silk Tree Fluffs Dyed Cotton Cloth. The Dry Cloth Version.

and after a few days, heat pressed and dry.

Well, I have no idea if this is any valuable information for the Natural Dyers. And what is more important I do not intend to make any scientific discoveries here! And I don’t think there is any good chances for that, as the Natural Dyeing existed long before all of us. Hence, most of the innovations talking in this field may sound similar to

“I invented the Bicycle!” sort of things…

But in this  Fascinating Field of the Natural Resources for Dyeing there are so many rewarding opportunities for the artistic application, not to mention the joy of communicating with the Nature!

And These I am determined to explore and describe! 

Hope you all are enjoying the change of seasons! xoxo

 

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Мое шелковое дерево –

я посадила около 7 лет назад. Наш климат примечателен очень жаркими летними температурами, еще более жаркими  в последние годы, и относительно мягкими и бесснежными зимами. Однако, зачастую пару недель в феврале может держаться очень низкая, до -23С температура, чего достаточно, чтобы заморозить насмерть нестойкие виды растений.

До недавнего времени мы прикрывали наше дерево на зиму, покуда оно не разрослось до 3-х м ввысь! Стоит мое дерево, все в цвету, источая аромат, меня радует! А где-то ленкоранская акация считается инвазивным видом!

Безусловно, я не могу не испытать цвет моей акации в части натурального крашения.

Беру: медную трубку, хлопчатобумажную ткань, розовые пушки*;

Варю/ тушу в алюминиевой посуде около 2-х ч и оставляю на 10 дней не открывая. Известное дело, есть очень терпеливые экспериментаторы, могущие ожидать до 3-х и более недель!

Я же боюсь не успеть сделать все намеченное на сезон.

См. Выше фото с результатами.

Честно говоря, яркость окраски меня потрясла! При том, что это хлопок и протравы никакие я не применяла. На фото –только что открытая ткань, все еще влажная. На последнем фото – ткань через несколько дней, проглаженная и сухая.

Однако, что стало с пушками!

Я разумеется, сомневаюсь, насколько эта моя информация может представлять интерес для опытных в натуральном крашении красильщиков! И уж тем более, не тянет она и на научное открытие. Сомневаюсь вообще в возможности таковых в области древнего ремесла натурального крашения, где всякое новаторство сродни изобретению велосипеда…

В данном случае я не преследую иных целей, кроме как описательно-повествовательных о Cвоем, ошибочно-пробном, в Натуральном Крашении, которое предоставляет столько возможностей для художественного приложения!

Надеюсь, всем по душе смена сезонов!

Рада комментариям!