How to dye wool using plant material and alum.

 Our garden produced a good crop of purple passionfruit last autumn, and I made a lovely batch of sauce again.
Since I had had a wee experiment last year with dyeing a little wool with some of the passionfruit skins, I thought I'd do it properly this year. See if I could get that soft pink again. Since pinks and purples are some of the most difficult colours to get from plants.

So here a "basic recipe"which you can use for different plant experiments.
Try it with onion skins, parsley, poplar tree twigs and leaves, dahlia flowers (when flowering is done), coreopsis, marigolds, iris leaves, geraniums, carrot tops, cinerarias, purple prunus leaves, fennel, yellow oxalis flowers, etc. try roots, or leaves, fallen bark or twigs. You will start looking at plants in a different light altogether. (just make sure it is not a protected species)

Needed: *weighing scales,
*pots and pans (to be used for dyeing only), preferably stainless steel,
*measuring spoon and stirring spoon (for dyeing only),
*spare mixing container
*plastic or muslin mesh bag to cook plant material in,
*cream of tartar (potassium bi-tartrate, also used in baking and preserving.),
* alum ( potassium aluminium sulphate, from your chemist.)
*about 100 grams of clean wool, or silk, mohair, alpacca (protein fibres)
* as much plant dye material as you can find, I used 2 cups of cut up passionfruit skins here.

A popular book on the NZ fibre-artisans' shelf.

I have used this book a lot when natural dyeing, it has recipes in it for native plants and those you can actually find in your NZ neighbourhoods' gardens.
Alum is the most common mordant used and nearly always used in conjunction with cream of tartar, usually 3 or 4 parts alum to 1 part cream of tartar. A mordant chemically opens up the fibres to accept the dye molecules.
There are some plant dyes that don't need a mordant, like walnut husks or silverdollar gum , but mostly you want to be sure you don't pour the dye down the sink without first being absorbed by the fibres, right?

*Step 1*  I chopped up the empty passionfruit skins, some of which were quite dry and wrinkly. Any moldy ones were thrown out. I put them in a dyeing saucepan and covered with water, then simmered softly for half an hour.

 *Step 2* Wet the wool gently and thoroughly.
Using a 5ml measuring spoon, mix 4 spoons of alum and 1 spoon of cream of tartar (this is for 100 grams of wool) with some hot water and dissolve. Tip the mixture into the pot with enough water to cover the wool. Place the wet wool in the alum bath.
Simmer softly for three quarters to an hour.
Do not stir the wool, it will felt horribly. You can gently move it once or twice with the spoon.

Cool the wool. Strain it into a colander. 

You now have mordanted wool. You can store this in the dark up to 3 days for peak performance, or use straight away. If you are impatient like me, it would be used in the next 5 minutes!

 *Step 3* Strain the plant material from the dye liquid, but throw nothing away.
Put the plant material in a mesh bag to stop it from getting entangled in the wool. Tie up with a rubber band or string, but not metal. Iron, copper or even aluminium can alter the results of the colour.

*Step 4* Put the mordanted wool into the dye liquid, making sure it is covered. Otherwise add some water. This does not "dilute "the dye; there are still just as many dye molecules floating about in the liquid as before.
Put the mesh bag with plant material back in also.
Bring to a soft simmer and let it do this for half an hour to 3/4 hour. Do NOT stir, but you can gently and slowly turn the wool over a couple of times. Or not if you want to be on the safe side of non-felting.

*Step 5*  Cool and strain the wool. Any vegetable matter in the wool can be picked out after drying or during spinning.
Rinse very gently in the sink with same temperature as the wool (remember heat and friction cause felting), with an optional dash of white vinegar .

*Step 6*  Dry outside in a soft breeze if you get one. 

You shouldn't use pegs as they leave squeeze marks. According to my book, most bad fading occurs quickly but the gentle softening of colour can take longer. 

So far so good with my passionfruit-skin dyed wool!

But I wanted more of the pinkish-ness, although it was a good flesh colour.

I had picked another dozen ripe passionfruit that morning, so a new experiment this time!
Solar dyeing in preserving jars this time!
This involves no cooking. But you need nice weather for some days.
I scooped out the yummy pulp and put it in the fridge for later yoghurt toppings.
The skins were cut into pieces and divided into 3 mesh bags.
Another alum mixture was made; 4 x 5ml. alum with 1 x 5ml. cream of tartar, dissolved in water.
I divided this mordant water over 3 preserving jars.
Then added wet fibre ( wool, alpacca, silk sliver) to the jars so that they were in there loosely, not packed.
 I added the bags of passionfruit skins, making sure everything was covered by the fluid.
Then sealed the jars with lids and cling-wrap and rubber-bands.
And put them in the sun for 5 days! I shook them so now and then and turned them around.
Well, I intended to do 5 days, but I forgot and it turned into a week...

The wool (middle) took the dye the best, although in places more pale peachy with hints of green tinges. The silk was not white anymore, but nothing spectacular unfortunately. The alpacca (left)  was somewhat paler than the wool.

Not a bad set of scientific experiments , don't you think? for a girl who failed her chemistry miserably at high school!

Creative Fibre Festival 2013, non-felted things.

Brightly crocheted collar of the fashion show compere.

In April (which seems a long time ago now) I attended the 2013 Creative Fibre Festival, just for the day.There was the national exhibition and challenges, a fashion-show and special interest group meetings , such as the NZFelters.

Of course in the trades hall, I spent many hours drooling over delicious fibre merchandise and bought copious amounts of (un-)needed raw locks and curls, dyed wool sliver, silk and mohair. 

I tried out new fandangled spinning wheels, chatted to Mr. Ashford (of the international spinning wheel and loom fame) about his wild carding machine, and he let me demonstrate it to other ladies, after tweaking my technique. ( Don't pull on the uncarded fibres when feeding them into the carder, they'll end up on the small drum instead of around the big carding drum!)

I saw several demos on crazy spinning, hugged old fibre friends from around the country, and chatted with new aquaintances. Then I walked the whole trades hall again, in case I had missed something!

In this post I'll show you a few items that caught my eye at the exhibition, and which are not felted.

Small tapestry weaving, very intricate!

Tapestry group challenge, "from the mountain to the sea".

A large humorous wool "painting".

Now I couldn't quite tell, if this picture was felted or just laid down, or needle-felted into place. But the artist used the wisps of wool like they were strokes of oil-paint. Very cleverly done!

Here is the useless dog, made of wisps of coloured wool.

Of course some people wore their own creations.
Here some mind-boggling knitting.

Flower lampshades.

 In another room of the building was a separate exhibition, nothing to do with creative fibre, but it took my fancy, and I sneaked some pics...

These art installations really made me smile!

All made from fake flowers and light. Sorry can not recall the artist, very naughty of me...

red flower wall light.

Pacifica living room.

All the up-cycled furniture was covered with fake flowers from polynesian lei garlands. 

I stood there giggling!

Gone to ground...

The professional keeping it real!

 There now, I'd nearly disappeared...! Nope, yep, everything is fine, just life, you know?
Work and home and all that...
My man is doing Great! Excellent even! Bloody Marvelous!
He is loving his new business, even sub-contracting others!
We can pay for our mortgage and bills and the cupboards are full. So far the winter has been kind, not many really wet weather days on which he can't work.
He's happy and fit.
The universe provides yet again.

Our Fox at 16 years old.

 Home life has had some changes; one of our friends needed a place to live for a while, as she was going through a separation from her husband, so we offered her one of the rooms downstairs. She stayed for a few months while going through some harrowing times, including major surgery.
So N. stayed with us until somewhere in May. And she was a wonderful houseguest.
Immediately followed by our brother T. from the South Island, and it was great to have him to stay, too!
 Then when he left, our youngest daughter also decided to leave, and live in with her boyfriend. Not that we are completely happy with that, but she is 19 and must learn about life in her own way.

And so in June we find ourselves together, just me and my Love in our own house, with our 3 geriatric cats. Just in time for winter, so we can cozy up by the fire at night.
We can have dinner when we want, and eat what we want, and go out anytime, or stay in.
 Utter bliss!

Sick of those dark bricks!

 Just before the fire-season started, in those 4 short weeks of Autumn, after 6 months(!) of Summer, my Love decided that part of those fireplace bricks just had to go! Too much light-swallowing darkness from the 1970's interior fashion statement. We wondered what kind of wall paper might be behind it...

The D.I.Y.Meister in his dust tent.

 After a morning session of satisfying destruction, he found out what was behind it.
Nothing.
 We could look straight past the building studs to the outside wall.

Much lighter already.

Well, at least he could fill it up with some insulation now... And putting on some plaster boards was easy enough.

This will be our last year of wood stove warmth. As we have always had free firewood through his former work, we now don't have that luxury anymore. In this house we also have to lug all the wood up the stairs outside, and there is no easy place to store and season it.

 Our firebox is becoming illegal in 6 months due to it's inefficient clean air workings, and the local council will subsidize newer and eco-friendlier models. Including gas fires. The newest energy efficient, high heat output, with timers and (get this!) remote controls....

No more screwing up newspaper, then putting on bits of kindling and bark, a few firelighters, then placing the dry pieces of wood in strategic places, lighting it all. ( I am very good at lighting fires you know, I pride myself on being able to coax a roaring fire out of a few glowing cinders in 10 minutes without accelerants. )

No more dust and wood-chips everywhere, and splinters in your finger,  and diving into the woodshed with a torch in the pouring rain. Or knowing you still have to do all that when you come home to a cold house from work.

 No more chainsawing, and filling a trailer, and unloading it and chopping it with the ax, then stacking it, in the heat of summer.

And cleaning the ash out of the firebox every week, scrubbing the little window. Or going up the roof a few times per year to sweep the chimney.

A fire place: Romantic... sure.

 But I'm over it.

I really like the idea of that 1 little button!

My turn at show and tell, felting retreat feb'13.

 Somewhere during my 4-day annual felting retreat in February,( to which I took my friend N.), I ended up volunteering as the blog-keeper of the New Zealand Felters' Blog. There seemed to be quite a large amount of techno-angst in our members, and I couldn't bear listening to them all freaking out about it, when it was announced in a meeting that it would close otherwise. So I put my hand up...
Well this felting blog needed quite a bit of tidying up and refreshing. I even prettied it up some. Luckily I am getting some guidance and advice from the other editor.
I guess it was also part of why my own blog was neglected somewhat.
 The felting blog is now getting good traffic from around the world, so that's brilliant!
I'm still having a few issues with the font, but no doubt it will sort itself out at some stage.
I'm just a volunteer.
Go check out the NZFelters blog, it's in my bloglist on the right hand side of the screen.

Kereru in the cabbage tree.

Wildlife in our street.
A kereru is a protected wood pigeon, as fat as a small chicken ( and according to former Maori cuisine, just as tasty! That's why it is protected now). A lot of native plants rely on this particular bird eating their seeds and berries for the plants' reproduction. If the kereru dies out, so will those plants and trees.

Proper Summer Days.

Good-Morning!

Every morning these last 2 months I opened my bedroom window to this exuberant bougainvillea. It has been an excellently hot summer holiday, full of days on the deck, reading books, late afternoons going for a dip in the sea, cold drinks, shorts and skirts, and sleeping under linen sheets.

Like an old-fashioned Hawke's Bay summer.

 Although we didn't go anywhere these holidays, except a couple of days in Wellington to see our daughter, our house still feels like a holiday home, even after 20 months. 

We think that has something to do with eating breakfast at a sunny table, and the deck outside at tree canopy-level, an easy walk into town and cafes, and especially; nice neighbours!

"Virgil" at the movies.

 We stayed in our eldest daughters' flat, and enjoyed having both our daughters together. While there, we took the opportunity (at last) to watch "The Hobbit" at the movies. We saw it at the Embassy Theatre, where the big premiere was held. They have the best screen and sound facilities, and we got superseats. Here my man is showing off how good he looks in the 3-D glasses. Ahem...!
We loved it, and yes, I rather liked the character of Radagast the Brown.
My creative mind loved his hat, and definitely his rabbit-drawn sleigh.

Wellington vintage architecture.

Our daughter loves showing us her favourite things in her city. This building is one of her favourite architecture. I quite agree.
 But I am not sure it would stay standing in an earthquake, all those bricks...
 A lot of buildings all over the country are getting big and expensive overhauls, since the Christchurch earthquakes have pointed out how quick it can all come down. Especially the older brick buildings.
We know all about it here in Napier too.

Window shopping.

I spotted these delightful porcelain lamps in a little gift boutique. At a price I can ill-afford of course, I think they came from France. They look like Fairy-God-Mothers to me. I imagine when they're on, they'd glow with twinkling stars and moons in their skirts. 

 These are really inspiring me to make felt lamps and use the materials' ability to filter light through. Wool is also flame-retardant and could handle the heat of a lightbulb easily.

Tapestry-canvas challenge.

Now that I am back in a fibre-craft club, I have been given a challenge with a square of tapestry canvas. I guess they are for cushions for the chairs at the clubhouse.
 So I tried my hand at locker-hooking.
This is done with a crochet-hook, which has a large eye on the end of it, like a fat needle.
You thread the eye with a thick yarn, and with the hook you hook up either wool-sliver or strips of fabric trough the holes in the canvas. After you have hooked up a number of loops on your hook, you then pull the hook right through with the thick yarn then anchoring the loops of fabric. And providing more bulk as an end result.
 It was super easy and fast, I finished this canvas in 1 weekend, while watching telly.
 It was a very relaxing activity and fun to make my own design.

Locker-hooked cushion cover.

I hope they like it!

New signs on the Man's Truck.

My mans' own gardening business is starting to take shape. He is pretty busy most days, and already has some steady addresses, and has already drawn plans and done consultations.  

In the next few weeks he is having lots of work from an advertising campaign he organized, and hopefully that will lead to more work and more word of mouth. He (and I ) are in good spirits and excited about the whole thing. Although often quite tired from the physical work, he wasn't used to it anymore.

New entrance walkway garden.

Last week he took the opportunity to redo the little garden by our entrance path, using mondo-grass and 2 spiky plants. 3 terra-cotta pots with succulents created a pleasing contrast. They'll do well in this dry area. 

O.K. if you are sqeamish in the 8-legged variety, don't read the next bit!!

Breakfast companion...

Last Wednesday was Waitangi Day, a national day off work for all NZ-ers. I started the day slowly with putting the washing in the laundry down below the house, then breakfast at the sunny table. I put my dishes away and then thought I had dropped some toast-crumbs down my pyjama top and looked down to brush the tickly crumbs away. Instead of crumbs I saw this spider slowly clambering out of my t-shirt.

 Big spider...

 Long creepy legs spider...

A scream started burbling out of my mouth, but I kept it closed ( spider was way too near...) while pulling my t-shirt far away from my face. Then I screamed for my Hero while kind of dancing with my shirt around in the kitchen.

He just gently grabbed the creature.

 My poor heart was pounding wildly and I got the shakes. 

How long had we been having breakfast together already, spider and I?

All cosy and warm on my chest...

I am pleased we didn't hurt it though, it really is a beautiful creature with its velvety body, and completely harmless.  Just don't get so close to me...!

Zoning out and Framing in.

Collaging the cover of my 2013 diary.
My humming-bird girl is humming a tune.

A Happy New year to you all!

  2012 Saw me without a little diary to jot down important dates or places I had to be, at a certain time.

 It felt a bit chaotic in hindsight, so this year the little notebook is back. I also want to keep track of what and how much I make. I forget that sometimes, and it is uplifting to see what you have accomplished. 

 However, those little commercial, plastic covered diaries are very boring to look at. So the first couple of days of this New Year when I had a bit of time, I played with old magazines and colours and glue. Totally zoned out everything, did not listen to the news even.  

 And I do usually like to keep up to date with the world. When I turned the news back on yesterday I realized I had missed out on hearing about murders and assaults, and very stupid drunk people and mysterious fiscal cliffs, with people talking and yet not achieving anything...

Glad I zoned out...

Working in miniature this time.

 I have been doing those collages the size of a fashion magazine page, but this time I had to find little pictures. Her dress skirt was a picture of a crystal goblet. And the clouds were pictures of paper lanterns.
The collages I did last year, have all had words added to them and a layer of glaze paste. This dries up matt, making all the different papers look the same, since some were glossy and others not.
 And it is a good protective layer too.

These words seemed right.

 Treasure Hunt Showcase.

I got more than I bargained for.

Yesterday I popped into town for a walk, and visited one of the only opshops open around this time of the year. Apparently they get lots of cruise-ship tourists in! Who would have thought; you go on a cruise and you visit the opshops in port, hilarious!

We get a lot of cruise ships in Napier now, a lot of Australians and Americans too.

Anyway, I was looking for some frames, as I have 3 things to frame. I took my measurements, but nothing much in the shop. I mentioned it to the op-shop-keeper ( who is always full of jokes) and he said I could have a look in the back, if I bought a hundred... So I got to have a look there. 

Wow!... lots of different rooms , all dedicated to different things, 1 whole room full of discarded toys.

I know that they run a scheme for people who suddenly find themselves in strife or without a roof, clothing, furniture, food even. Lots of ladies were milling about sorting things.

And there were 5 boxes full of frames, with or without glass or pictures. I started sorting through, measuring tape at hand. Found some gorgeous little ones, quite old, with decorative frames, one in Art Nouveau style and a white plaster one, and....then I get a shock!...; snowdrops painted by my Mum.

I went all hot and cold at the same time. 

I hadn't expected to still come across something from Mum after 6 years. 

 Maybe my Dad had donated some more things last year before he left for Thailand.

 I think of both my Mums a lot, but I haven't devoted a particular time of the year to it.

 But sometimes grief hits you totally unexpected.

I took the little painting home of course. 

Actually, I bought 8 frames.

 Not a hundred though.

Kitschy gold frame and faded roses print overhaul.

 A while ago I had come across an embroidery tapestry kit, that had never been made. It dated from the early 1970's. I wanted to give it to my eldest, since it looked really Frankie magazine style, which she adores. But of course in my usual way I didn't explain myself properly, and she looked a bit uncomfortable; she thought I wanted her to make the embroidery. Hahaha!
Nono, I said, I want to frame it as is, with a nice colour frame.
Relief on her face!!

So one of the kitschy frames was a fake gold, no glass. Yesterday afternoon I cleaned it, gesso-ed it, painted it in Resenes' "scandal" blue. ( I love test-pots.)

My favourite colour blue!

I trimmed the tapestry canvas, glued it down by the corners on the black painted background. And popped it in the frame.
 Now I am just wondering, did I replace kitsch with other kitsch......?

1970's Embroidery tapestry without the embroidery.

A very Berry Xmas to you!

Our garden is full of flashy red pohutukawa flowers, and very busy tuis, bellbirds and silvereyes, all having their seasonal feast.
 Our Christmas today was at my brothers' house, not far away.

This is the dessert table, what a summery spread!
Our sis-in-law is such a good hostess, she makes the most wonderful traditional concoctions.

A marvelous trifle with alcohol drenched cake, custard and many different berries. Boysenberry jelly and my contribution were organic Dawson cherries.

A summer bread pudding with boysenberries and cream, beautifully presented.

Oh we all ate too much, especially after the prawn cocktails; roasted new potatoes, kumara and pumpkin; pasta salad; chicken and b.b.q.-ed scallops, and b.b.q.-ed lamb chops with rosemary and mint; and the first sweet corn of the season...
Luckily there was a big break between the 2 courses, and some vigorous games of outdoor ping-pong.

We had expected a proper rainy day, as had been forecasted, due to a nasty cyclone passing New Zealand. And it was a bit moist in the night, but it got quite hot and muggy today, and all doors and windows were open. We all sat outside on the deck, and this was our view:
(Of course I didn't put the new house being built right next to the fence in this picture...)

The light was gorgeous when the sun started setting this evening, and made the landscape look like an old painting.

What a lovely relaxed day we have all had!
I hope you had the same, wherever in the world you are.
Merry Xmas to you all!

Open door...

Heart of a pink lotus.
(I love my camera..)

 We are in need of this Bali lotus tranquility.
 We have had a weird week; my husband was made redundant last Friday. This came as a surprise, as he thought that he would surely get one of the new positions at his work after all the team leader and supervisor positions were made "disestablished".
But, no...

As if a light radiated from within this lotus flower.

We have a breathing space, due to his redundancy money. He has worked there, with a few years break, since he was 19. So a surreal feeling for him at age 47...
Now what?
Well, he knows all about gardening and dealing with staff, paperwork, machinery, grass, trees, sportsfields, dealing with the public, traffic, planning and designing, not to mention his botanical knowledge.
Plan B has sprung into action: Gardening as his own business.
 The pamphlets are looking good, ready for dropping into the right letter boxes; he bought a small truck yesterday, which today was getting an enormous clean; he has been talking to a lot of people; and tomorrow he'll be doing 2 gardening jobs already.

Breath-taking beauty rising from the mud.

We really believe that when 1 door closes, another door opens. Or a window or 2.
 But you have to make yourself go through it. You can't quite see if there is a deep step behind it or if you have to leap, or a soft cushion to land on.
But sitting on the doorstep, looking back and wringing your hands doesn't work either.

Bikeride in the local vicinity.

So moping was not an option he decided.
Sunday was beautiful weather. We grabbed our bikes and headed to our towns' lovely bike-tracks.
Discovered some new areas we hadn't yet been to before.
And grabbed a coffee and a muffin, closer to home.

Hawkes' Bay looking northwest.

Oh, we do live in an awesome landscape, if I may say so, in a completely biased sort of way.

Bird estuary.

You can tell it has been good weather lately, the hills are drying out and becoming yellow.

Looking homewards across the silty pond.

Our house is close to that big pinetree on top, middle-left.

We do hope we can keep on living here, we are getting attached to our house now!