July 28, 2003
Why I Am Not an Artist...
On the Yahoo natural dyeing group, I read a message about creating leaf “prints.” The exact details are lost in the mists of time (all right, all right, it was only last Friday) but, theoretically, you can put a pigment-heavy leaf between two sheets of paper, apply pressure to the leaf-and-paper “sandwich,” and produce a beautiful leaf print. Well, nothing would do but I had to try this simple, intriguing craft this weekend. I picked a large mint leaf and a large purple plum tree leaf, placed them between two sheets of white paper, placed the paper on K’s cement patio and beat the whole shebang with a flat rock. Needless to say, all I succeeded in doing was riddling the paper with hundreds of holes, thanks to the rough surfaces of rock and patio, and fusing the paper and the leaves into a sticky and fibrous white, purple and green mess. Not exactly the delicate green and pink filigree prints I had envisioned. Still, as a by-product of this experiment, I've discovered there’s something to be said for bashing gleefully away on something with a rock. I felt oddly calmer when I was done, even as I picked up my failed experiment with two fingers, held it as far away as possible from my skin and clothing, and tossed it into the garbage can.
Knitting Knews
Started knitting what I am now calling the "Acoma Sock" after the Acoma pueblo where the piece of pottery that inspired me was made. The stranded knitting is going all right on the flat sides of the sock but I’m still getting puckering when I transition from one needle to the next. Lucy Neatby recommends turning the sock inside out when you knit, to force the strands to be longer and looser. Perhaps I need to try this.
Still, the color combo is gorgeous. It's worth plugging away at. Picture soon.
Dyeing Dyegest
“Ced” from the Yahoo natural dyeing group asked me how colorfast the green dye from the purple plum tree is. Frankly, I haven’t been doing any colorfastness testing but Ced’s email motivated me so, Ced, if you’re out there, this photo is for you. Results in a few days!
Ryan, did you consider trying a gentler, kinder kind of rock to beat your leaf with?
It does help with two-color knitting if you knit with the inside out, because your needle then curves the inside toward you, making the strands become a tad longer. Also, use bamboo needles (or ebony) so that the stitches don't slide too quickly, and before you switch colors, st-r-e-t-c-h out those last few stitches on the needle.
Posted by: Sheila on July 28, 2003 02:56 PMMs. Sheila, thanks bunches for the stranded advice; I know it's coming straight from the horse's mouth (which is not a very nice thing to say about a lady, but you get my drift). I tried doing the inside-out thing a little at lunch but got rattled and gave up after five stitches (so much for my staying power). I'll give it another try tonight while I wait for my new mint-leaf dye to do its magic! I have been doing the stitch-stretching and it's really making a difference. That's why the flat part of the sock is working out so well. I'm pretty excited, yep, I am!
Nope, didn't try a kinder, gentler rock because I think what I really need to do is go find the original message and see what it REALLY said, not just make-up any old method because I'm being impatient.
Posted by: Ryan on July 28, 2003 03:44 PMThanks Ryan. You've inspired me to look at more of the ornamentals around my own place in Maine. -Ced
Posted by: Ced on July 31, 2003 09:35 AMCed, the light-fastness test continues. So far so good. In general, the entire skein has mellowed out to a much subtler color than in the first photo, but it's still a good green, and the light-fastness sample seems to be holding its own after a good 20 hours in the sunlight.
I'm flattered to think that *I* might have inspired *you.* But if there's one thing I've learned it's that there really are so many plants just growing wild that you can just pick and dye with, badabing, badaboom. I'd love to hear what you find!
Thanks for reading! I should be able to post the test results on Monday.
Posted by: Ryan on July 31, 2003 01:22 PM