Osage Orange
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Natural Dyeing

This yarn was dyed with left over osage orange from my class in Helena this summer.  I "had to" dye in my new studio because I needed to move the leftover dyes to put down the flooring.  The yarns on the right are dyed with 100% osange orange and is wool yarn (not superwash). 

The yarns on the left are osage orange mordanted with tin overdyed with dilute cochineal.  The really bright orange one that is superwash wool and was in the dye slightly longer.  The one on the left is silk/wool.  It is amazing to me the difference between the yarns all from the same dyepot.

 

 

 

 I had purchased some osage orange sawdust from Hillcreek Fiber Studio in Missouri, let it sit overnight in a bucket of water and then strained out the sawdust and then dyed with it.  Osage orange Maclura pomifera (hedge, hedge apple, bodark)is a very common throny tree.

Osage orange trees are a common sight on the Great Plains today although they were not a widespread member of the prairie community originally. Found primarily in a limited area centered on the Red River valley in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, they were planted as living fences - or hedges - along the boundaries of farms, and have spread widely from these restricted, linear beginnings.  The trees are easily recognized by their glossy, lance-shaped leaves (see illustration), and their short, stout thorns.

 The name of the tree comes from the Osage tribe, which lived near the home range of the tree, and the aroma of the fruit after it is ripe. The Osage-orange is commonly used as a tree row windbreak in prairie states, which gives it one of its colloquial names, "hedge apple". It was one of the primary trees used in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Great Plains Shelterbelt" WPA project, which was launched in 1934 as an ambitious plan to modify weather and prevent soil erosion in the Great Plains states, and by 1942 resulted in the planting of 220 million trees that stretched for 18,600 miles The sharp-thorned trees were also planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire and afterward became an important source of fence posts. 

The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, tree nails, fence posts, electrical insulators, and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. Additionally, a yellow-orange dye can be extracted from the wood When dried, the wood also makes excellent fire wood. Meriwether Lewis wrote to Thomas Jefferson from St. Louis on 26 March 1804, a few weeks before embarking on the expedition. "I send you herewith inclosed, some slips of the Osages Plums, and Apples.  So enjoy this colorful and historic dye plant.  Linda

Dye studio in progress
Topic: Chemical Dyeing

Here is my dye studio in as it existed a few days ago when I was first dyeing in it.

 

 

 

Since then we had to pull out stove in order to put down flooring and then wait 5 days.  The flooring is down and it is a pretty blue old-fashioned linoleum.  Tonight I'm going to try to talk DH into moving stove back.

 My first dyeing experience was great.  A real stove is wonderful.  In a few weeks when the rest of my finish work (including handles for the cupboards) the carpenters will come back.  Then I can take down the masking tape handles. 

We had a record snow storm this week and unfortunately several of my fruit trees were really damaged.  My cherry tree is toast, my crab apple tree topped, and my pear and apricot missing branches.  I want to get some of those barks simmering to get the wonderful colors you can get from fruit bark, twigs and leaves.  Too wet and messy in my yard right now for that.  But I do have pheasants running around out there right now cheering up my day.  I'll post my first dyeing in my new studio soon.  Linda

I think someone better check on Linda, she hasn't been heard from since her new dye kitchen was finished... I'm picturing a big mountain of a rainbow of colors fiber with just some giggling heard from the depths of the fiber mountain.

Last week, the progress on the fiber cottage was going good, starting on the roof, trying to get it done before it rains.......

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, then the rain came...oh, no, a slight distraction......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was kind of pretty though, especially now that all the electricity is back on.  We were only out about four hours Sunday and half of the house out until today.   It's going to take a couple weeks to clean up all the trees that are down though, lots of firewood....   deb

 

 

Okay I lied but I have a good excuse
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Natural Dyeing

I said I wouldn't start dyeing in my new studio until I finished up some work for my paying job.  Well I broke that "rule" this a.m. and started doing some natural dyeing.  But I HAD TO.  On Thursday they come to put down flooring in my new dye studio and the adjacent bathroom where I've been dyeing all these years.

There was some leftover natural dyes on the floor of the bathroom in jugs.  Most of them are from my classes this summer.  It seemed silly to move them around for the flooring when I could just use them up by throwing them into the dyepot.  That is fair isn't it.  I didn't really cheat did I.   

It is getting taking a little getting used to having such a good setup.  It just occurred to me that I could actually have 2 pots going at a time.  Elementary I know, but after years of dyeing so slow pokey, it is taking me a while to get used to dyeing on a real stove.  So in addition to an osage orange pot, I'll setup a cochineal pot too.  How decadent is that!    Linda

 

Linda, that's so exciting!  I can't wait to see pictures!  DH is making progress on the fiber cottage.  I can't wait until I can move in!

Deb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a kid at Christmas again
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Chemical Dyeing

My new dye studio is done enough for me to start moving into.  I have dyed yarns for years with hotplates, roasters, and crock pots and smashed into a very little bathroom.  But my new dye kitchen is almost complete.  The carpenters took their tools out and I have a functional kitchen.  They will come back again for several finishing jobs and I don't have my flooring yet.  But it is a huge upgrade already.  Imagine a stove, a great big sink and a long countertop just for me to play.

I taught a dyeing class at the Rocky Mountain Sewing Festival this weekend and a kumihimo plate class too.  My dh unpacked the car today and we put the dye stuff in my new studio.  Does it get much better than this.

My studio is part of my home office where I do my accounting work (it is a big room) in my daylight basement.  I gave my dh a small corner for his desk too, but he does his work at his studio. 

 This is definitely the cat's meow.     I'll post pictures soon.  Linda

Rafflesia arnoldii or flowers I will NOT grow!
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Urban Homesteading

I was thinking about blogging today on how this Sunday Danny and I got up the hoophouse green house.  I also thought about telling you all I have a new San Francisco starter and am on the lookout for English Muffin Recipes. Then you stumble across weird things and you have to share:

 

 

This on one of the largest flower species – AND it is a parasite http://www.parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.arn.page.html

 

How can my greenhouse and sourdough starter compete with that!

Diana

 

Making Artist Books

Today I tried a different type of art.  I went to Connie Landis's artist book making class sponsored by the Yellowstone Art Museum.  I have rarely worked with paper and didn't have the slightest idea how to start.  We had a very fun class.  First Connie gave us a large sheet of beautiful mulberry paper.  Then we used inks and acrylic paints on it.  It was quite textured.  While that dried, we learned how to make our rubber stamps.  I had always wanted to do that and thought it was pretty easy.  We learned to cover our book covers.  I even used glue successfully without making a mess of it.  Connie suggested we use an old mail order catalog and each time we glued, we'd turn over a page in the magazine and have a fresh surface to work on and start gluing.  That along with frequent handwashing made this the best gluing experience I'd every have.  A weaver and dyer friend of mine was in the class and both of us hate gluing, but Connie got us to do it.  Then we folded our inside pages so they created a double accordian.  I ran a little behind and didn't have time to finish all my embellishing, but I can do that later.  All in all a very fun experience and learned lots that I could apply to the fiber arts.  Linda

Houston, we have a problem
Mood:  happy
Topic: Urban Homesteading
Since today is International Talk Like a Pirate day, all I have to say is ARRGG! Me bread had 'nough lead in it to sink Cap'n Jacks ship!

I thought there was enough bubble action going on, so I started a loaf of bread the other night. After 16 hours (common as this is wild yeast) it still hadn't risen very much. I decided to throw it in the oven and see how much rise I could still get off of it as it cooked. Not much – arrgg!

That's okay, I am on Plan B. BUY A STARTER. I found a site that I can get a starter from AND she holds your hand via email the whole way through. Just what a Pirate needs. 

 

I was going to take a pic of the bread to post, but my dh pitched it! It did have a nice sourdough bite to it though.

Diana 

 

bread and water can become tea and toast
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Urban Homesteading
There are a couple things in life that I repeat every 5-10 years. One being Philo dough and the other is sourdough bread. We are having wonderful weather, so I decided to take advantage of it, and start a sourdough starter.

 

Whoever said that you cannot live on bread and water was obviously wrong! Bread vies with chocolate in my book of all time comfort foods. There is nothing better than warm bread with butter slathered all over. And I am talking REAL butter, not that oleo stuff. I was about 9 the first time my mom slipped a tub of margarine on the table. I loved that it didn't rip the bread, but that was about as far as my love for it went.

 

If you have never started a sourdough starter, it is pretty easy. I took a cup of Montana Wheat's wheat flour and added a cup of warm water. Stir and place in a warm place. I then take out ½ a cup of the starter and add another ½ cup of wheat flour and warm water. I do this every 12 hours. This will continue on for about 4 days to a week – or whenever my starter starts to bubble. I just use the wheat bread while I am getting the starter going. It has more micro organisms that white flour. Once it is bubbling and has proven that it can make dough rise, I will be using white flour.

 

In about a week I should be pulling my first loaf of warm sourdough bread out of the oven. Starters always taste better after they have had time to age, so in a month, if anyone is interested in a starter, let me know. Not like this is really aged – some starters are thousands of years old!

 

Can't wait for a bowl of stew with some warm bread! I need to check out the Marketplace and see if they carry those reed basket for baking bread in. I always wanted to try that.

 

Diana

PS – Philo dough has another 5 years before I forget how much I hate trying to work with it!