This blog records my experiments and successes with fabric and fibers, surface design, stitching, weaving, photography and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy ...
Foraging for ripe buckthorn berries here in town. There are ample sources, now that I know what to look for. Since they are considered invasive, no one minds someone picking the berries because it takes them out of circulation. For collecting ripe buckthorn berries, I recommend wearing a glove of some sort. The berries have some sugar in them, and are slightly sticky, more than they stain your hands.
Warning: Do not eat buckthorn berries. They may look like something good to eat, similar to blueberries, but they'll give you the trots. So save it for ink!
I also consulted this recipe from Threadbourne, which differs slightly from Jason's recipe. Turns out there are multiple old recipes for extracting color from buckthorn berries. I did the usual color extraction by covering the berries with water, and then simmering until the water was a deep rich purple. I did 2 rounds as the mash still appeared to hold some color after the first round.
The lovely purple color left in the pot. This is THE perfect purple in my mind!
I was careful to collect all the spent mash, and any stray seeds, as I did not want them to get loose on our compost pile, or cause havoc in the park next door. I double-bagged it all and put it in the garbage ...
Here's the fresh buckthorn berry ink -- a nice purple color.
This is another one of those "living" inks that change by the minute as it dries.
Theadbourne used alum to modify the ph -- which I also have on hand for dyeing fabric.
One of the goals of this exercise was to achieve the perfect sap green -- which I did by adding about 1/4 teaspooon to about 4 Tablespoons of the fresh buckthorn berry ink.
And this is what I got! It worked beautifully!
It's a bit hard to see the green here, but it's there!
Here they are next to each other --
Sap Green on the left, and original fresh buckthorn berry juice on the right.
Here's another experiment in PH:
Another small jar of the fresh buckthorn berry ink (purple), to which I added some vinegar ...
The vinegar immediately turned the purple juice red!
I was expecting a magenta ink, but that's not quite how it dried on paper ...
The vinegar made it come out more of a teal green.
This ink is susceptible to color changes according to PH levels. You can get colors anywhere from blue and purple to green to yellow to magenta to browns and yellows. Jason Logan recommends adding lye (sodium hydroxide, or Red Devil Lye) crystals, which I have on hand for soap-making and clearing clogged drains. Actually, he recommends adding lye water (1/2 tsp lye in a 1/2 cup cold water) by the dropper-ful until you get the color you want. I did not use lye for these color experiments.
Jason also talked about soda ash -- which is another ph modifier used in hand dyeing fabric-- also on hand from a long history of crafting and color experiments. I did not actually use soda ash for these experiments.
I added about 1/2 cup of water and set the grapes to simmer. When the water got hot enough to bubble, you could start to see the grape skins pop off, leaving naked grapes behind. The color is in the skins! At that point, I mashed them to extract more of the goodness out of them.
After 10 minutes, it looked like this. You don't want to overcook this mash, or I think it gets too thick to use. You may be moving on into jelly / jam - making territory by then.
Here are the leftover solids that were strained off.
I did not bother to remove the grapes from the stems.
There was quite a bit of pulp that I could not push through the strainer
/ coffee filter (not pictured). It seemed like a liquid, but was a bit
thicker. Is that pectin? Is that why you aren't supposed to over
simmer this ink? Otherwise the pectins would make it all gummy? That's
just my conjecture ...
I always like to get a shot of the color left in the pan, knowing that this may not necessarily be the final color.
Here it is after it dried a bit. I like that deep, rich grape color on the left side.
I used a small canning-type jar, which I boiled ahead of time, as you would for canning and preserving food. I also added a clove as a preservative.
This ink is essentially fresh grape juice, and won't keep for long. I added a clove to the jar for preservation sake. This one should also be kept in the fridge.
It makes me wonder if you can use red wine for ink?
I thought this was an interesting shot during the cleanup. The ink color in the jar is more of what you see on the plate -- more magenta. When I started to wash up, the remnants in the jar turned a bluer purple. Not sure if that was a result of the soap hitting it or the "fresh" tap water changing the ph?
What happens if I add a drop of Dawn dish soap to the ink? Would it turn more violet?
This one is sort of an "action" shot showing how the ink changes colors as it dries.
It's pretty amazing to see these "living" inks in doing their thing!
It doesn't show in this photo, but there are some sparkles in that grape-y field. The sugars in the grape juice crystalize and sparkle in direct sunlight.
The colors change according to how fast they dry -- If they dry before they finish oxidizing, that's the color they will stay.
This one is Concord grape with a little sap green mixed in.
I finally decided what project to do on the new 8-shaft loom. I've had a kit for my 4-shaft loom but have not done it because it's really designed for a wider loom that I had. Although it's a 4-shaft pattern, it requires a wider weaving space. This way, I can get used to the new loom without having to use all 8 shafts right away. There will be enough other things to adjust to just with a larger loom.
The following steps happened over a period of several weeks.
This is the project. I think this kit came from Yarn Barn of Kansas.
Earlier in the summer, I pulled out the 8-dent reed needed for this project. The loom came with several reeds -- most of them older and some rusty. I am reluctant to use such rusty reeds, or to take a lot of time to re-hab them. I'd rather be weaving, not re-habbing old reeds. I pulled off the old duct tape, and used a wire brush to scrape off some of the rust and the old dry adhesive. Then I put on a new layer of duct tape and set the measurement markings for the center mark, and then every inch of the reed (green at the 5-inch marks) so that the reed itself can be used as a measuring stick to help keep things on track. If you want to know more, read this blog post.
There is still some rust on the reed, but we'll see how it goes. It it starts shredding my yarn, I'm going to trash it and buy a new stainless steel reed that I won't have to worry about.
This week, I plan to prepare the skeins of yarn for running the warp -- which means, I'll have to find my ball-winder and umbrella swift. This is easy enough to do in the evenings after work. It goes fast. And there's enough room in the new loom room that I can set up and do it right there! What a luxury!
Next wkd, I'll run the warp. I didn't think to take any pictures of running the warp for this project. I used my warping mill. It's only a 3-yard warp, so it went ridiculously quick! Here are the warp chains, tagged and ready to go.
See the separate post about refurbishing the old reed. Here is is centered on the new loom.
I added a little heart to mark the center of the beater, so I have a place to aim when beating. You need to beat from the center so you maintain a straight and even fell line.
Here I've anchored the warp chains at the back of the loom, and strung them over the top of the loom.
I warp them by color bundles, rather than trying to put everything in the proper order at the warping mill.
Here I'm starting to sley the reed, with Tom Kniesley as my guide-at-the-side.
I follow the color threading chart in the pattern as I sley the reed, pulling the top thread from the needed color bundle.
Don't worry! It all works out! Tom K even says so ...
So here it is all sleyed through the reed.
Time to re-install the reed in the beater, and flip the remaining warp chain from the back of the loom to the front. This way, I don't need a raddle. The reed acts as a comb to straighten out the fibers.
I know -- It looks like a tangled mess, but trust me: It will work out!
The next step (another wkd) is to start threading the heddles.
For threading the heddles, I make a color-coded map of what I need to do, working from right-to-left at the back of the loom.
All the yarns are in order because they are already threaded through the reed.
[Yes, it's still chaos on the other side ...]
I decided to use shafts 5-6-7-8 because they are closer to the back of the loom, and not as far to reach as shafts 1-2-3-4.
I have to remove the back beam for this step, otherwise it's just too far to reach. All part of getting to know the new loom!
I thread heddles in bundles of 4. That keeps it manageable, and easier to double-check my work as I go.
I use 2 drawer pulls to hold the other heddles "at bay" so I can concentrate on the ones that need my attention.
Once the heddles are threaded, it's time to tie onto the back beam. I didn't take any pictures of that stage.
Once things are tied on, it's time to wind onto the back beam.
I've learned to use angle wings for this stage to help even out the tension. This is just 4 wooden dowels, sanded smooth. Instructions for this simple tension device can be found at Joy of Weaving.
I usually pull it through 2 or 3 times to even out the tension.
This time, I am using clamps to keep the warp from slopping over at the edges--something I've never done before. It may not matter much on this very short warp, but it would have helped on the coverlet project.
The front end was more of a challenge because I don't have a straight-away out the door to pull a long and weighted warp. Fortunately, that did not prove to be much of a problem with this very short warp. But it was one of the factors in deciding to purchase a sectional warp.
I pull out the angel wings when it's time to start weaving, otherwise they create too much tension when the shafts are also causing stress on the strings.
Back at the front of the loom:
The next step (another day) is to tie onto the front beam.
Because this warp is so very short, I decided to conserve some of the yearn and lash onto the front beam.
I've had problems with this method in the past, but today, it worked beautifully!
All tied onto the front beam, with relatively even tension.
I was a little worried about using this acrylic yarn because it seems to stretchy -- How in the world would I manage to get even tension? Turns out, it's rather forgiving, too. It was easier than I thought it would be.
Detail of lashing onto the front beam.
I am using weighted tent clips for a DIY temple on theis project.
The white yarn is there just to separate the warp. That will be picked out later.
It took a little bit of practice to figure out the beating for this project. It's supposed to be 8 threads / inch, which means basically, you are just placing the threads at the fell line, not really beating at all. So the lesson here is: Be Gentle!
This pattern has a nice texture and feel to it.
It weaves fast, too.
In this shot, you can see some of the first steps in weaving this pattern.
There was only 1 crossed thread -- easy enough to repair.
I decided to use the ski shuttles for this project. It glides across the fibers in the open shed.
So far so good!
Also in the photo above, you can see the treadle beads running across the top of the beater. This tells me what treadles (foot pedals) to push in the proper sequence.
Thanks for hanging in there with me so far. This turned into a very long post.
By the way, the problem I was having with that
sticky shaft seems to have resolved. After cleaning up and replacing
the old and deteriorated bumpers, and re-arranging the shafts, all is
well now. Things move freely and as expected.
