Almost forgotten about...

...but it was probably for the best as now I am very tempted to open it up and see what (if anything) has been occuring in the jar for nearly two months!
Since we moved it had taken a very sunny position on the patio amongst some pots and has had a variety of weathers to contend with - a very sunny patio has at times been wet and gloomy, and I do believe we had frost at the beginning of May too. I'm hoping these four seasons in two months have produced some interesting marks on the piece of silk inside!

Maybe I will open it before the weekend is out.....

For those of you who have never seen this stuffed jar before you can find previous blogs here and here about the piece of silks journey so far.

Should I open it yet?!?.....

A New Glow

I have been rummaging through my stacks of experimented fabrics recently trying to find things I can make some use of. I came across this long leafed eucalyptus printed piece of silk and thought I must make something from it!





However as you can see the print is a very subtle shade of green/brown and in some areas of the fabric looked dirty, though I know it isn't, it's part of the print, I'm not sure how a potential buyer would see this. I then remembered that I had bought a jar of turmeric spice powder to experiment with and it was still sitting in the cupboard untouched. So i decided to boil up a pan. I let the turmeric simmer for about an hour before straining the powder from the water and then adding the silk. (Again, my patience was not used in this experiment as I just tossed all the fabric in at once thinking about the spontaneity of it all!)


The fabric simmered gently for about an hour, and once dried gave a startling glow...



It is a lovely shade and great for summer, but I just feel it is too bright for my collection?!


So I decided I would cut a sample to experiment colour modifying with...
And so, out came the cups! I decided that if you're going to test something then you might as well test it thoroughly, and with a bit more caution than I sometimes do; so i mixed up five solutions as below...

From left to right - Copper & Vinegar Water; Copper Water; Vinegar Water; Soda Water; Iron Water.

You can see above after 15 minutes of soaking there was significant colour changes.

I compiled the results in my notebook next to each other so the variations can be seen clearly, ranging from bright yellows to murky beige and green....

I am leaning towards the duller yellow (copper modified) as I think it would sit nicely in with other colours in my current stock collection.

Though I can't decide for sure on which method to use for the full piece of silk yet, or if I should just even leave it the bright yellow as it is?!...would love to know your thoughts on what colour you would most likely want to wear....

Contents = silk + foliage = unknown

In a recent post I showed a photo of silk sitting contently in a jar of eucalyptus dye, well below is that very piece of silk!

As I explained in the post it had been experimented with for a compost dye technique and I hadn't been patient enough to leave it long. The marks on the silk are from the compost dye which had various leaves folded in with the fabric. The dye the silk has been sat in has been exhausted as it would normally be showing a deeper orangey-tan colour having stewed for so long. And so I decided I would experiment further....


I collected foliage from out and about outside my home. In the picture above you can see Ivy, Bracken, Laurel, Rhododendron and dried leaves from autumn, plus the odd flecks of purple are Crocuses that have seen better days.

They were all spritzed with water them folded tightly and squeezed back into the jar.....



I'm very curious as to what will emerge differently this time, if anything, and for how long I can wait before opening.....

I must be more patient....

Last week I added a good metre or so of silk to this jar of eucalyptus dye along with a few onion skins squashed in between. The silk had previously been experimented with a 'compost dye' technique where the fibre is wetted then dye stuffs (i.e. leaves, petals, vegetable skins etc) are folded in with the fabric and left in a tied plastic bag to do as they please.
Unfortunately, I was very inpatient and opened it only after a week or so and therefore not a lot had happened! So, now I know I must be more patient!

The silk has now been soaking for 7 days sitting on a sunny window sill which can be called 'Solar Dying' but I don't think it has been warm or sunny enough. I am thinking of releasing it from the jar to heat in a pan for an hour then straining the liquid and returning the fabric to the jar with some addition findings....

I will post the results in a week or two...depending on how long i can wait!

Experimenting...

Yesterday I decided that I would make time, I have been trying to make time for the past few weeks mind, to conduct some fresh colour tests for future dye projects.

I wanted to start basic with what I know best - Eucalyptus dyes. I used a secondry dye that had been brewed a few weeks a ago and stored, and began by warming it gently. I then cut up several sample pieces of silk and threw them all in the pot (below) and set the timer rolling.

(Please note that the flash was used and therefore the liquid dye was not quite as bright as this photograph is showing!)

The silk swatches were removed every 15 minutes. There were 5 batches of swatches so the longest time soaked totalled 75 minutes. The results for solely Eucalyptus dyed swatches can be seen below with the various times marked.

The remaining swatches were then divided into three ready for their next stage of experimentation, which was to add them to colour modifiers to see if any changes would occur.

The modifiers I had prepared were a Soda Water Modifier, a Vinegar Water Modifier and a Iron Water Modifier as below...

(All three modifiers were prepared by me, but the Iron Water is marked as home made as this was solely prepared from re-claimed rusty nails rather than a powder bought solution.)

The next step was to prepare all the various water modifiers to all the individually timed swatches. So out came the plastic cups. Each were marked as to what their contents would be, then a teaspoon of the specific modifier was added along side half a cup of cold tap water.

The swatches were then added and photographed after 15 minutes to record any changes...

Already at 15 minutes soaking time I could begin to see colour changes.

Then they were photographed at 30 minutes....

Then again at 45 minutes...

And finally at 60 minutes....

It is clear from the photographs that a lot of the colour changes occur within the first 30 minutes of being added to the colour modifier.

The swatches were then chopped in half, leaving one half in the pots to soak for a further hour with an additional teaspoon of modifier.

The results from both tests were then recorded beside each other to compare for additional changes and to store for future records and dyeing times.

Soda Water Modifier Results

Vinegar Water Modifier

Iron Water Modifier

And that is just a few tests from one leaf source! I have plans to test a lot of different plants and flowers, and hopefully it won't be too long before I find the time again!

I hope you have enjoyed this post and found it quite interesting, would love to know your thoughts.