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Post by carole aka craftywoman on Apr 24, 2016 5:03:17 GMT
If you like the idea of mushroom dyeing I highly recommend checking out this talented woman Trisha Gow, a few years back I spent a day with her at her home chatting about her tapestry work and her dyeing. You'll see all sorts of colours on her website: www.dyeingtoweave.co.uk/
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Post by koffipot on Apr 24, 2016 22:02:57 GMT
How's it smelling chookie? I haven't used fungi to dye fibre, but did use common ink caps to make a very nice, but extremely malodorous ink. It smelt so bad that I did little more than a small test sample before ditching it! Keep us informed of the progress.
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Post by koffipot on Apr 24, 2016 22:07:16 GMT
If you like the idea of mushroom dyeing I highly recommend checking out this talented woman Trisha Gow, a few years back I spent a day with her at her home chatting about her tapestry work and her dyeing. You'll see all sorts of colours on her website: www.dyeingtoweave.co.uk/ I love Trisha Gow's work; the colours and designs are superb.
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Post by chookie2 on Apr 25, 2016 0:13:43 GMT
Oh my goodness Judith yes the smell is horrendous and the wool is simply a murky beige as yet. Silly me took the lid off to stir it - big mistake.LOL It has now moved to the back verandah rather than the studio.
Carole thanks for that link - very interesting work. I think my fungi are the wrong type though.Would like to do one of her dye workshops if she ever comes to Australia. Tomorrow I am going to a Spinners & Weavers group that has been going for 45 years I am sure someone will have some good info.
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Post by chookie2 on May 26, 2016 2:55:26 GMT
Final report on the mushroom dye- it hasn't changed after four weeks in the sun- still a murky brown - foul smelling too.So there goes another try down the drain.LOL And I have so many mushrooms in the garden - edible ones ready now.So not a total loss. I still have to try the dried orange shelf fungi but for now have plenty of indoor things on the go - it is getting quite cool here with Winter beginning next week.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 26, 2016 14:33:17 GMT
So sorry to hear about the funky mushroom dyeing. Murky brown and foul smelling…well, there are so many better ways to get nice shades of brown. Like black walnuts. I will send you a link!
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 26, 2016 14:44:49 GMT
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Post by chookie2 on May 27, 2016 0:53:24 GMT
Thanks Cathy. Have you tried acorns at all? I have heaps of them in a bucket here I have two 80-year old oak trees in the garden.
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Post by koffipot on May 27, 2016 7:51:48 GMT
Chookie - Acorns make great dye, yielding beiges and browns and can be modified with copper or iron, to give (respectively) dull greens or dark browns. The leaves give slightly brighter hues. All parts of the oak contain tannins, though it is the oak galls which provide the most tannin. Knopper galls (which are acorns in which a gall wasp has laid an egg thereby distorting the acorn) are also a good source of tannin. Cathy - lovely black walnut dye. I'd love to use it, but we don't have black walnuts in my neck of the woods. I suppose I could buy on line, but I prefer to use locally foraged material wherever possible.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 27, 2016 23:01:10 GMT
I would love to try acorns if I could find them in Chicago in my neighborhood…Chookie, will you send me a bucket?
Instead, for tannin I use ground pomegranate (powdered by mail).
Judith, I rely on Pandagirl for my black walnuts, and that’s only in the autumn…but I feel as you do in that I would much prefer to use locally foraged material. A bit trickier in large cities.
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Post by chookie2 on May 28, 2016 0:19:32 GMT
LOL Cathy wish I could, but Australia to you would cost gold I am thinking - certainly more than a drive into the country to pick some. LOL Yes big cities lose some advantages but then you have museums and art galleries so it balances in the weigh-in I guess.(and all those shops too!) LOL
How do I treat the acorns to get the dye - cook them up?
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Post by koffipot on May 28, 2016 17:57:02 GMT
LOL Cathy wish I could, but Australia to you would cost gold I am thinking - certainly more than a drive into the country to pick some. LOL Yes big cities lose some advantages but then you have museums and art galleries so it balances in the weigh-in I guess.(and all those shops too!) LOL How do I treat the acorns to get the dye - cook them up? You can grind them if you wish, I usually don't as I'm rather lazy! Just boil them up, let them cool in the liquid and strain, but don't throw them out - they can be used again, though the dye will be paler, but it will still be enough for a mordant. We live in a rural area, so good foraging country, though not for Walnuts ! I have a bag of knopper galls from the grounds of my grandchildren's school - Oakfield School, of course!
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Post by chookie2 on May 28, 2016 22:44:43 GMT
Thanks Judith, will try the boiling, have nothing to grind them up with. We have an Oakleigh here in Victoria but as it now a heavily built suburb I doubt the trees remain.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 30, 2016 14:22:35 GMT
Yes, Sue, surely city advantages, except for when foraging. Right now I am stalking Japanese maple trees!
Right Judith, I always save my foraged materials for another use. The walnuts are dried and waiting for another session.
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Post by koffipot on May 30, 2016 14:52:39 GMT
Cities usually have some very nice parks, with a good range of trees. I picked up some nice Gingko leaves in Geneva last week. Shhhh, don't tell anyone that I flew them back in my suitcase.
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