I would like to appologize for not translating the blog at this time. It is better for you to use the translator than for me not writing at all and therefore not having new blog entries! Life in Buenos Aires is too much for me and I don't seem to have time even to work on my pieces like I have when I'm in Austria in the country. This city is a pulsing one, intense and demanding!!!!
I am doing some experiments with dyeing. I used some cuttings of some bush in the sidewalk outside my house (now that I live in the city I can't be too choosy...) and of course I have no idea of which plant they were... I used them though to dye some of the fabrics I inherited from my mother and they gave a wonderful pink colour (I would never have thought that they would give pink!).
My dyeing recipe:
* equal weight of plants and fabric
* cook the plants for an hour in some water (enough to cover the fabric after the process - it will evaporate so that you should add water to it if you notice this...
* at the same time simmer the fabric in an amount of salted water (I used a big tablespoon of seasalt for doing this), just enough to cover the fabric - put it in a small recipient.
*After an hour wring the fabric and sieve the plant material from the dye pot (I used an old aluminium pot) and discard it. Use the water to simmer the fabric for one hour. After this I turned off the heat and left the fabric in the dye bad overnight.
*wring, dry and iron it
*****
For the yellow I used the wonderful jacaranda flower leaves you find in Buenos Aires at the time. They have the most beautiful violet color!!
Forget the jacaranda, it didn't work, haha!!
As I noticed this wasn't going to work I added 1 tablespoon turmenic/curcuma/ to the water and I got a beautiful yellow instead!
Sara, would you give us some idea of what flowers you have had a good result with? I do have a lot of orange and yellow nasturtiums, I wonder if these will work.
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