Mood:  a-ok

 I hear the rumor that my carpenters might be back this week now that all the parts have arrived. Although I'd like the last of the trim done and the doors back on, I'm perfectly content as is with the studio.  I do have a complaint about blogging, however.  I do not have a complete friendship with my camera or my photo editing software.  The camera and software work fine, but the operator is unsure and makes lots of mistakes.  So although I like documenting my fiber art, I hate this picture stuff.  It took me 2 hours to take pictures of studio and various yarns I've dyed and then get them on computer and cropped etc.  I'd so much rather be dyeing, spinning, washing wool, knitting or even doing accounting work (gracious I'm sinking low) than messing with these photos.  I did it, but I'm complaining.

My studio is marvelous, I have this great area plus 2 cleaned-off tables that I use to either do fiber things or my "paying job".  It is great.  An artist friend of mine says my fiber art will change now that I have this studio.  We'll have to wait and see.  It certainly was nice this weekend when friend came by for yarn she wanted to buy for a weaving project and I knew immediately where it was.  To get everything somewhat organized, I have had to buy a zillion see through containers, but it is nice now that is done.     Linda 

Mood:  a-ok

Faux Lace Shawlette

Triangle Version

Fingering weight dyed with indigo and osage orange

I finished knitting this shawlette this summer and have worn it a lot, but yesterday I blocked it better and dh photographed.  This shawlette and shawl pattern is not really lace, but looks like it and is easy and mindless--my favorite kind of knitting.  I dyed it first with osage orange and then overdyed it with indigo.

Mood:  surprised

I taught a beginning spinning class last week and one of my students came all the way from Boulder, MT to take it which was quite an ego boost.  In my chemical dyeing class last week too a woman drove from Stanford, MT to take it.  But anyway, one of my students was quite interested in natural dyeing.  She came to my house and bought some fleece I had natural dyed.  It wasn't carded, but in the class I had shown them the dog brush method of combing.  I really hadn't thought people would buy natural dyed fleece that wasn't processed.  I just don't have the patience to card or comb fleece for sale.  But selling natural dyed fleece for them to process that is a different story.  I love fleece and I love dyeing.  So I guess I sell natural dyed fleece now.  Linda with a crab apple natural dye pot going right now.

Mood:  a-ok

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.

Mood:  celebratory

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

Mood:  a-ok

Once you mordant yarn or other things, it is chemically attached for all time.  Often I dye with some plant and when I get done, it is a puny color.  Then months or years later, I will overdye again with something else.  Usually for my overdye, I use cochineal  or indigo.   If I do that, I do a quick dip in the indigo vat.  If I use cochineal I'll use a very weak solution.  Cochineal dye pots never completely exhaust.  I use them 10-12 times getting less red and more pink as we go.  So I keep the weak solution in gallon milk jugs for months and use them to spice up other colors.

If the cochineal is turning more purple or magenta as you dye, then add a little cream of tartar or tartaric acid to make it more

PS bring milk jugs for Saturday for Prairie Handspinner's dye day so you can take the left overs home.

Linda

Finally back to blogging after all this traveling and hamstring sprain last week. In July I gathered some wild flowers in the Beartooths for natural dyeing. I picked 2 species that are prevalent on disturbed land.

Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) Balsam root has about 4 inch bright yellow flower heads growing at the tip of an almost leafless stalk. The Balsamroot has large silver gray leaves covered with felt-like hairs coming from the base of the clump of stems. The leaf blades are 12 inches long and 6 inches wide with a leaf stalk of the same length. They were almost done blooming on the 4^th of July in a mountain meadow at 5200 feet above sea level.

I picked the blossoms, leaves, and stems.

The sample on the bottom is mordanted with alum. The top sample is mordanted with tin.

I mordanted the green skein with tin and dyed in indigo. Later I overdyed with Arrowleaf Balsamroot.

According to the US Forest Service, site this plant has edible and medicinal value: Native Americans would peel and eat raw the tender inner portion of the young immature flower stems. They also ate the large roots and seeds. The roots are tough and woody and taste like balsam. To make them more palatable, the Indians would bake them several days in a fire pit. Medicinally, the Indians used the large coarse Balsamroot leaves as a poultice for burns. The roots were boiled and the solution was applied as a poultice for wounds, cuts and bruises. Indians also drank a tea from the roots for tuberculosis and whooping cough.

Feeling good enough to start back cleaning up for my dye studio. Hurray. Linda

Mood:  bright

Here are most of my students and a lot of their yarn from our class in Helena.  We spent 1.5 days natural dyeing.  One student isn't pictured and all the green and most of the blue yarns are still dyeing. We used indigo last and many of the blue and all the green skeins were outside drying.

I had premordanted eight  100 yards skeins for each person.  A few brought more skeins we mordanted and I brought some more to sell.  We used cochineal, black walnut, osage orange, indigo, cutch, apple leaves and twigs, pine needles, cottonwood leaves, and a couple other I can't remember.  We had lots of fun.  Our indigo experiences with instant indigo went very well.  We added a little Rit Dye remover (about 1/8 a teaspoon) several times.  These students really listened and did an excellent job of minimizing oxygen into the indigo pot.  We only had to mix indigo 3 times and have a lot of yarn you don't see in these photos. 

I LOVE dyeing and it was exciting to see my student's beautifully colored natural dyed yarns--I count them as grandbaby yarns.  Linda

Mood:  happy

I've finished mordanting more than 11,000 yards to take to MAWS for my natural dyeing class.  YEAH.  Not as bad as I imagined, but I'm glad to be done.  I used tin for about 2/3 of the skeins and alum for the rest.  The alums are out drying on my funky clothes line I have near my outside dye pots. 

DH was mowing the lawn today and I asked for some of the clippings and have them cooking away to see what colors I get.  I'm not sure I'll blog until I'm back from MAWS.  By the time I get my pickup loaded up with everything for my classes--Novice Spinning, Spin Your Own Stripes, Punch Needle Embroidery and Natural Dyeing, I'll be in a faint.  Fortunately dh is staying home and so don't have to deal with all the gardening and pet issues when we are leaving together.  Really looking forward to MAWS.  I haven't taught at MAWS in a long time and it is surprising how many of my students I know from before.    Linda

Mood:  rushed

I'm busy mordanting skeins for my upcoming workshops in Helena at MAWS.  I love teaching.  It stimulates me, forces me to get things done, and I learn more than my students.  Plus I get a lot of seeing lightbulbs go on in students head--very fun.  But I DO NOT LIKE WORKING SO HARD TO GET ALL THE KITS READY.  Anyway.

Mordanting wool, silk, and other protein fibers.  There are five common chemicals used for mordanting protein fibers:  alum, iron, chrome, copper, and tin. Alum sulfate is the most common and least toxic. Many people also mordant with iron, a non-toxic mordant, but it is very hard on the wool. I do not use iron as a mordant but do brief afterbaths to change the color of some goods. I do not use chrome although many natural dyers do due to the environmental and health concerns. Carol Lee gives a quite good explanation of the change in chemical properties of chrome and how they are safer than many perceive.  I have a lot more to explore before I need chrome, so I just play it safe.  I use tin, however, which is not near as risky and creates very bright colors. I have also only used copper as an after bath.

How much mordant is the right amount.  There are two schools of thought on how much mordant is sufficient. The more mordant you use the harsher feel to the wool.  I follow the Trudy van Stralen school of mordanting which subscribes to less mordant.  Many others use the Carol Lee/Carol Leigh formulas which are more traditional.

                             Van Stralen—                                                  Lee/Leigh

Alum                     Alum 10% WOG--2.5 Tbsp per #                    Alum 4 Tbsp per #

                             Tartaric acid 5% WOG 1 Tbsp per #                Tartaric acid 1 Tbsp per #

Tin                        Tin 0.5 %WOG                                                Tin ½ tsp per #

                             Tartaric acid 5% WOG 1 Tbsp per #                Tartaric Acid 1 tsp per #

Iron                       Uses as afterbath only                                       Iron 1 tsp per #

Dissolve the mordant in very hot water and add. Dissolve the tartaric acid) in very hot water and add.

3.  Add wet fiber Bring fiber up to 175 degrees for silk and 200 degrees for wool. Cook for 1 hour. Cool for one hour or overnight (not necessary if cook more than 1 hour). Rinse fiber in water.  The rinse water should be the same temperature as the fabric or yarn to avoid felting. So if goods are still hot you need hot rinse water. Avoid agitation at all stages to prevent felting.

Back to tracing punch needle patterns for kits  Linda