{"id":10390,"date":"2021-03-31T08:51:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T15:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=10390"},"modified":"2023-03-26T14:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T21:00:32","slug":"preparing-for-dye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2021\/03\/preparing-for-dye\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for dye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dyeing projects continue. I am interested in using soy milk as a plant-based alternative mordant. I think the soybeans I have were homegrown! The recipe I follow just takes 1\/2 cup of beans, soaked overnight. Then I whizz them in the Vitamix with some water and drain the milk using a nut bag. I did this to the bean crumbles two more times until the milk that came out looked pretty thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used this baking tray to soak some linen squares (that I forgot to scour, oh well). I let the squares sit in the soymilk for an hour or so, then removed them to dry. I didn’t rinse them. After drying the squares had a lot of body, like they had absorbed the protein from the soy milk. I left them to cure for a few days before using them to dye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Linen square in soy milk bath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Linen squares after soy milk bath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, I’m still working on the Maiwa garments, taking my time. These are the two cotton garments, a pair of pants and a shift. The shift is luxuriously light. I think I will dye them with avocado, adding iron to the dye for the pants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maiwa Weaver Pant and Wiseheart Shift<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I scoured these properly following Maiwa’s directions using synthrapol and soda ash. Everything is recorded in my dye journal, so organized! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mind is moving slowly, either that or there are a lot of steps to preparing to dye. Next step is the tannin bath. At first I drew a blank and it took me awhile to realize that the woodland pools were now thawed out. So off the garments went to their overnight excursion in a vernal pool. There is something about doing this that seems outrageous. It’s just shortly after the Worm Moon, so that adds to the romance of the activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at that brownish color in the pool! I made sure to choose a pool where the garments would not be visible from the path, and I carefully memorized the location of the pool so I could get back to it. It took some time and attention to study the natural features of the area and choose good landmarks. Initially, everything looked the same. After awhile, I was able to pick out a fallen log, a lump in a trunk, and a spar that would lead me to the spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garments in vernal pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There’s a piece of ice floating on top of the pants. Not easily visible. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The garments are just visible in the center of the photograph between the two largest tree trunks. They are well camouflaged. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The next morning. Cloudy and cold, but the garments were just fine. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, I located the garments without a problem. I did get a little lost trying to find the path again once I’d retrieved them. Once home from their tannin bath, I put the garments in the washer for a rinse and spin cycle. Then the shift went into the leftover soy milk. The shift stayed in the soy milk for about a day and a half. It got rained on a bit. Then I pulled it out and let it drip dry. Now it’s curing on a plastic coat hanger. The pants are just hanging out, waiting their turn for probably a traditional alum mordant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have four more heavy linen garments to scour and get in the tannin bath. I need to do this before the pools dry up. There are a lot of timing considerations in dyeing, and I find it absorbing to involve myself in the process. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dyeing projects continue. I am interested in using soy milk as a plant-based alternative mordant. I think the soybeans I have were homegrown! The recipe I follow just takes 1\/2 cup of beans, soaked...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[413,492],"class_list":["post-10390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eco-prints","tag-maiwa","tag-soy-milk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12440,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10390\/revisions\/12440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}