Wednesday, April 29, 2009

all my colours


until now

:-))
lower left is onionskins
lower right is anthemis tinctoria. The larger skein is the first bath, the three smaller ones are the second. to their left is 1st: ironwater afterbath, 2nd vinegar afterbath. right over the three 2ndbath skeins is the ammonia afterbath
the other long skein, a greenish yellow or yellowish light green if you prefer are the flowers in the header of the blog
we call it moloha
upper left, 3 small skeins are the new twigs and leaves of pistachia lentiscus, we call it schoino, (schinus)the dark grey-green is ironwater afterbath, it changed in seconds- i pulled it out immediately.
the next two are 2nd and 1st bath.
next to the moloha is salvia.
all dyed by boiling the plantstuff first, straining then adding mordanted yarn
in the middle, on top of the others is eucalyptus bark collected on the beach, soaked in alcohol (clear) and then boiled- no mordant
the purple and lavender are from alkanet, soaked in alcohol, mordanted wool, various dyebaths, no modifiers-
the pink is from a spice bought in Athens called sumak
the man said it has nothing to do with the tree
it was dark red, i heated it up with water, and popped the wool in it (premordanted) the water was pink with yellow underneath, kept it simmering lightly for about twenty minutes and then let it soak until morning
the lighter pink is in the same bath, I just put the wool in and let it soak for four days. the temp here is between 15 and 20 degrees these days
the browns and ecru are tea, just to see what happens
I definitely need reds and blues, I havent found woad or indigoferas wild, still looking
I am amazed at the variety of yellows, the shades all look great, especially with other colours
a yes, I forgot the one which I called cousin of weld, it is reseda lutea and not luteola- giving a horseradish smell
it is next to the onions under the schinus

5 comments:

Helen said...

I am so impressed not only with dyeing you have done but also with the number of dye plants you have growing wild and which you have identified too.I am not sure I would have recognised Rubia peregrina even if I had fallen over it!
Enys and I dry Dyers Chamomile - Enys puts it on trays on the back of her Aga and I put the flowers heads on a sheet of kitchen paper which is quite absorbent on trays in a sunny bedroom. However I think you could freeze it just as well. According to Dominique Cardon Natural Dyes R.Lutea does not contain the same dye as Reseda Luteola . She says the chemical composition is quite different but does not say what it is. She also says as a dye stuff it is inferior too, which is a bit disappointing.Still you have so many other lovely dyes perhaps it is not too disappointing

Manya Maratou said...

helen, thank you for your comments- the r. lutea gave a light yellow which looks quite solid- like a tempera with white in it, it could be a good base for indigo which I'm going to try in the summer, when the temperature is right
I'll try the drying too, my freezer is already filling up!

τηλεμαχος said...

xexe poly astio xexe de ksero pio alla xexe poly astio

Ladka said...

I'm interested in the colour you got with salvia but couldn't identify it in your heap of colours and nuances and Greek names, sorry. Can you point it out somehow or explain which skein is dyed with salvia please?

Manya Maratou said...

Ladka, the salvia is 5th from the left in the top row, next to the longer skeins. I used the flower stalks whole, with the flowers on them, yarn pre mordanted with alum, the flowers were boiled, the colour is yellow with a faint hint of green it seems strong. I have dried lots of flowers from the salvia and I will try again with different afterbaths

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