Monday, April 27, 2009

transient beauty fugitive magic

Im glad I got pictures before the cutting of the grasses

a frenzied weekend

dyeing also

I am especially proud of my alkanna purple
my first attempt was grey.
the yellow is anthemis tinctoria
I will say hello properly later
this was to get it out of my system!
goodmorning

3 comments:

Helen said...

Hi your colours are very good,especially as you say the alkanet. Please tell us more.How did you extract the dye? With alcohol ,meths or acetone or none of these. Thanks for following my blog-nice to meet you.Helen

Helen said...

Hi I realise going back to look at the pictures that your chamomile colour is fantastic too very deep.As you are in Greece would I be right in thinking these are fresh? Or is it too early even there. Here the Dyer's chamomile is just about to be planted out.

Manya Maratou said...

hello Helen, thank you very much for writing! I spent most of this morning reading older posts on your blog, I am learning so much. I have only been dyeing for a short while, not even 2 months. judging from what I see here on the internet I must be living in dyers paradise! I will make a proper post about the colours I posted, but, yes, the anth. is fresh, there are whole fields of it flowering, they are already growing old. there is so much of it that I can be greedy: I filled a 10 lit pot chock full of blooms, the wool was mordanted with alum, dyed 3 batches and there's tons of colour left.
I can get kilos of flowers in a morning- which is the best way to preserve them? freezing or drying? I suppose drying, for reasons of space.
about the alkanet, I gathered the roots 2 days after a rainstorm, the earth was soft, soaked 24hrs in alcohol, 93% but coloured- it has a blue tint and says "terebinth oil added" i hope that is not the colour on the wool!I had run out of the more expensive clear kind. I didn;t let the dyebath (with water) boil, it took a long while for the fumes to evaporate- they where terribly smelly. the wool took up the colour almost immediately. the lighter one cooled all night in the pot.(small pot)
Helen, thank you once more for your comment and your blog, you are a great source of inspiration and information for me.

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