Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Quiet week Hiljaiseloa

Viime viikko jäi väliin värjäysten osalta, kun olin pääsiäisen jälkeen flunssassa. Kipeänä oli aikaa ajatella menneitä ja tulevia värjäyksiä.
Kääpävärjäyksissä olisi paljon kokeiltavaa. Sienipolulla oli viime viikolla hienoja kuvia raidankäävistä saaduista väreistä, ruskeampia kuin minun saamani värit eli kokeiltavaa riittää. Se on todella riittoisa kääpä värin suhteen ja ihmetyttääkin, että siitä ei ole kirjoitettu värjäyskirjoissa enempää.
Myös muita kääpiä odottaa värjäyksiä vielä. Sain myös lisää okrakääpiä kokeiltavaksi, kiitos Karvarousku:)
Postista on tullut muutakin mukavaa: japanilaisen indigon, Polygonum tinctoria, siemeniä Heleniltä ja Emmalta amerikkalaisen neulelehden, Piecework'in lapasiin keskittyneen numeron, jossa oli erityisen kiinnostava artikkeli lapinlapasten kirjoneuletekniikasta ja historiasta. Todella hieno artikkeli, eikä vähiten siksi, että se oli suomalaisen Leenan kirjoittama (siis ei minun)! Kannattaa ehdottomasti hankkia se numero, jos on kiinnostunut lapasista ja neuleista.
Olen myös miettinyt paatsamankuoria ja luulen, että se Saksasta ostamani on orapaatsaman, Rhamnus catharctica, kuorta ja siksi väristä tulee erilaista kuin kotoisella korpipaatsaman, Rhamnus frangula, kuorella. Colorian sivujen kautta löysin Linnen kirjoituksen Förtekning, af de färgegräs, som brukas på Gotland ock Öland, III (1742) ja siellä puhutaan sekä ora-että korpipaatsaaman kuorista värjäyksesta, ja mikä mielenkiintoisinta, sanotaan, että Barken torkas, macereras uti swag lut eller lut och watu, kokas sedan i lut, färgar gult. Eli tässäkin liotetaan heikossa lipessä (hmm, mikä on watu?) ennen värjäystä, ja vaikka aikaa ei mainita eikä lämpötilaa, ja väriksi sanotaan keltainen tai ruskea, niin tulee kyllä mieleen Cardonin mainitsema hollantilainen resepti 1800-luvulta.
Linnen vihkonen on netissä täällä, ja Coloriaston sivuilla löytyy sama nykyaikaisella kirjasintyypillä kirjoitettuna, tosin vanhaksi ruotsiksi sekin:)
In English
I haven't dyed anything last week, I caught a cold during Easter and even though I didn't do anything when I was sick, I had time to think about dyeing:)
In Finnish mushroom discussion group, Polku, there was nice pictures of yarns dyed with the same polypore, Phellinus conchatus, I dyed with a couple of weeks ago. They are browner than the colors I got, but the dyer writes that she was amazed by how much it yielded color, she could dye about the same amount of yarn as the weight of the polypores. She used ammonia when I used woodash lye, so the pH was propably different and of course the water, and all the other little things, but we both wonder why this polypore isn't mentioned more when talking about good dye polypores. It is common in Finland and I think at least in all Scandinavia.
I have other polypores still waiting and I got a lot of nice mail last week: more Cinnamon bracket polypores (the ones that should give purple) from Karvarousku. Then Helen sent me Japanese indigo seeds which I had trouble finding and Emma sent me a nice surprise: a mitten issue of Piecework-magazine. There was a very interesting article about the technique and history behind traditional Rovaniemi- mittens. It is really worth reading!!
I have also thought about the buckthorn barks and I think the bark that I bought from Germany is bark from Common buckthorn, Rhamnus catharctica, which growns better more south than Finland. It is very rare in the archipelago of southwest Finland and you can frow it in the garden in the south of Finland. The buckthorn which grows here in the forest is Rhamnus frangula, Alder buckthorn and I have to try to dye with it more.
I found Linnes booklet about dyeplants used in Gotland and Öland, Förtekning, af de färgegräs, som brukas på Gotland ock Öland, III (1742) in the internet, the original here, and also in Coloriasto, Finnish webpages about color, where there is the original text but in modern letters, easier to read (exept they are in old swedish). Both Common buckthorn and Alder buckthorn are mentioned there and interstingly for yellow it says : Barken torkas, macereras uti swag lut eller lut och watu, kokas sedan i lut, färgar gult. , something like the dried bark is soaked in weak lye and (watu, I don't know what that is), then cooked in lye and the result is yellow. In the other place it says that you can get also brown. But I think what is interesting is that lye was used with this bark also in Sweden as well as Netherlands, which Cardon mentions.


4 comments:

  1. Mukavaa kun kevät tulee, minäkin taas kohta alan värjäillä ulkotiloissa.

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  2. That is a very interesting bit about the buckthorn bark. according to Cardon it is the alderbuckthorn frangula ulnus that gives red on fermentation with woodash lye. I am having a second go with that now.
    I wish I could do a course with you on mushroom dyeing!
    Hope the cold gets better
    bw helen

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  3. Hi Leena

    I hope you're feeling better soon! I don't have much to add about your dyeing adventures, I just keep reading them - they are fascinating to me! How did you get started in this field? I think it is a really interesting mix of chemistry, ecology, and art. I look forward to more of your stories!

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  4. I am fine now, thank you Helen and Thalia:)
    I have done less things worth writing about now in the winter, I guess I am just waiting for the spring, that's why htere are not many posts lately. Anyway today I have something to write about:)

    Thalia, I think life just took me to this direction. I have always been interested in animals = shep, sheepwool, then organic gardening has been my thing even before it was very popular, so natural dyes, and especially mushroom dyes came that way... I used to have two german shepards and walked with them a lot in the forests... then when I was younger I worked for 13 years as an animalkeeper in a zoo and that is where I got the awareness for conservation.. and things just happened so now I do what I do:) And being me, I like to know why things work like they do and even though I really do not know chemistry, I try to understand from books and from other people who do know:)
    And I hope that some of my experiments help other dyers with the same problems, as well as are interesting to read for the people who use my yarns.

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