A Wandering Elf
  • A Wandering Elf
  • Blog: My Journey
  • Iron Age Celtic Studies
  • A Wandering Elf in the Woods
  • Classes
  • Resources: Sheep & Wool
  • Resources: Costume and Textiles
  • Resources: Migration Era
  • Resources: Historic Glass Beads

Multi-Tasking

3/18/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
So many SCAdian projects all in one weekend!  In addition to gathering my books to take to the Middle Easter garb class I am teaching next weekend, I got to work on a variety of projects. 

The first thing I started the prep-work to dye with Weld.  Friday night I soaked my wool and prepared the alum mordant.  The yarn and wool was added to that solution and allowed to sit over night.  (To the left you can see some roving and my Icelandic handspun soaking in the water.)

The roving is pure white but the yarn is actually a natural heathered wool, a pale tan shade.  I am choosing to work with some natural colors, rather than just white because I have never seen anyone's experiments dyeing over naturally colored wool. I added the white roving to the bath as well so I can see the pure resulting color.

Picture
To the left you can see the natural, 2-ply Icelandic handspun that is skeined and hanging up as I tie string around the yarn to keep it organized in the dye bath.

Picture
In this jar is the beginning of the Weld dye.  I have poured boiling water over the chopped up pieces of the plant (which I purchased at Pennsic last summer) to extract the dye.  This sat overnight and ended up as a right, warm brown liquid rather than the pale yellow in this photo.


Picture
Saturday morning I poured the dye from the jar into the pot, added some more water and then put the plant material into a nylon stocking to steep a bit longer while I simmered the pot.  After an hour I let the pot cool a bit and then  I added both the yarn, the roving and a small bit of undyed yarn from Renaissance Dyeing to the bath.  You can see how dark the dye became (yes those are bits of plant material that escaped and were still floating in the water).

I was not getting the rich color that I had hoped for, so I let the wool steep in the brew for about 6 hours before removing to dry.  The resulting color is very pretty (and Easter egg yellow) but very, very pale.



Picture
To the right you can see the dyed wool.  The color is pale, but pleasing (and a little more yellow than cream in real life).  I will get a side by side comparison photo of the dyed handspun this coming weekend.

Picture


Picture
I finished the weekend with a lovely class by Marija of Sylvan Glen about Russian and Slavic garb.  Can I just say that I would love to have a set of temple rings???  It was a nice time with fun people, great food and some very lovely books to drool over.

After that I headed home to work a bit on some new garb for my BF, including this linen tunic with some handwoven (not by me) fabric being used as trim.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About Me

    I am mother to a billion cats and am on journey to recreate the past via costume, textiles, culture and food.

    A Wandering Elf participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. 
    ​

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    March 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    12th Night
    14th Century
    AEthelmearc
    Aprondress
    Awards
    Bog Dress
    Bronze Age
    Dance
    Dance Name
    Distaff
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    Fiber Arts
    Flax Growing
    Food
    Glass
    Haberci
    Headcoverings
    Inspirations
    In The News
    Library
    List Of Links
    Machine Embroidery
    Metal Clay
    Mid Month Inspiration
    Migration Era/Iron Age
    My Documents
    Ottoman
    Ottoman Fabrics
    Pennsic
    Publications
    Research
    Rigid Heddle
    Sca
    SCA Camping
    SCA Forestry
    Sca Name
    Sca Newcomer
    Sewing
    Sheep
    Spinning
    Textile Charts
    Tips
    Totally Not SCA
    Viking
    Viking Bead Research
    Viking Costume: Beyond The Myth
    Viking Swatch Book
    Viking Textiles Looking Deeper
    Weaving
    Wool


      Email Updates

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Blogroll of SCA & Costume Bloggers

    Below is a collection of some of my favorite places online to look for SCA and historic costuming information.

    More Amie Sparrow - 16th Century German Costuming


    Gianetta Veronese - SCA and Costuming Blog

    Grazia Morgano - 16th Century A&S

    Mistress Sahra -Dress From Medieval Turku 

    Hibernaatiopesäke

    Loose Threads: Cathy's Costume Blog

    Mistress Mathilde Bourrette - By My Measure: 14th and 15th Century Costuming

    More than Cod: Exploring Medieval Norway

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly