The dozen skeins of golden brown silk thread hung out in the sun every morning in front of the house attracts a lot of attention. They seem to be absorbing the sun and toasting slowly as the weeks go by. The color, shine and crispness is like cinnamon toast and a drawer of warm socks from the dryer.
It is impossible to get an even dye on skeins of thread with persimmon dye. I dyed the 140 cm skeins 6 times and then re-skeined them to 110 centimeters effectively scattering the light spots that were resisted from the sun's rays by the protective threads.
You can see the light parts here.
The skein on the right is the original size. I re-skeined the other two and re-distributed the light spots to get a proper random dyed variegation to be dyed over six more times with the persimmon tannin. A lot of work. A lot of work.
This makes me appreciate the persimmon-dyed silk that I purchased so much more! Thanks for sharing the process.
ReplyDeletelots of work. is it worth it for you? that's all that matters-unless you're making your living doing it!
ReplyDeleteIt is worth it. Morning sun. And in the winter with snow on the ground a box of sun soaked summer golden silk.
Deleteyour descriptions are just lovely.and speaking of love in love w the itomaki and its winder.
ReplyDeleteThey sound as good as they look! When you are over for coffee we can listen to them.
DeleteB
wow, a dozen skeins - what a lot of winding and re-winding. I'm re-skeining 2 skeins of handspun ramie and it's not fun with an umbrella swift and ball winder. seems our hot sun is disappearing.
ReplyDeleteJean,
DeleteThe thought has crossed my mind a dozen times, (one for each skein)"Jean could make use of this thread better than you." I am in agony. It has taken me so long to dye it it deserves a better home than what I have to offer. Or I start a few more 'Jean skeins'. We still have some horsepower left in the sun here.
Bryan
you will do a fine job of the weaving, I am experimenting with my kakishibu dyed ramie now - I love it so-o much but weaving with wire is difficult. like you, I feel like so much time has been put into it and so many years of history and workmanship has gone before that I need to make a good effort and respect the past. I just can't believe all the time and work you are doing.
ReplyDeletethese are stunningly beautiful! i've never woven pure silk before...much less such fine threads. wool/silk blend in a thick yarn for a scarf. tapestry weight wools in...well, tapestries, of course! ha! cotton cloth strips in rugs. i can only imagine the delicacy of these toasted treasures!
ReplyDeleteIt's a quite interesting post.
ReplyDelete