Friday, March 25, 2016

Lichens by the sea Jäkäliä rantakallioilla



Kävimme eilen mieheni ja siskoni kanssa kevätretkellä Hankoniemellä. Siellä kaikki lumi oli jo sulanut toisin kuin kotipihassa, ja oli hyvin keväistä pilvisestä ilmasta huolimatta. Rantakallioilla huomasin yht'äkkiä erikoisia jäkäliä ja jollen ole erehtynyt, niin nämä kuuluvat napajäkäliin, joista on ainakin parin tuhannen vuoden ajan saatu punaviolettia väriä fermentoimalla niitä käyneessa virtsassa eli ammoniakissa.  Niitä kerättiin ja vietiin tonnikaupalla Skandinaviasta mm Brittein saarille. Ne ovat minulle hyvin mielenkiintoisia tuosta historiallisesta näkökulmasta, mutta nykyvärjärin ei niitä kannata kokeilla. Jäkälien keruu ei kuulu jokamiehen oikeuksiin ja jäkälät uusiutuvat hitaasti, eivätkä nämä ole yleisiä jäkäliä. Lisäksi niistä saatava violetti väri ei kestä nykyvaatimusten mukaan valoa, vaan haalistuu nopeasti (tosin jäkälävärjäystä paljon tutkinut Karen Casselman sanoo kirjassaan että valonkestävyyttä voi parantaa värjäysteknisesti). Samantapaisia violetteja saa kuitenkin muista kestävämmistä luonnonväreistä helposti: kokenillista ja sen yhdistelmistä indigon kanssa.
Joka tapauksessa tässä muutamia kuvia eiliseltä meren rannasta ja näistä jäkälistä niiden luonnollisilla kasvupaikoilla. Olipa kiva päivä.

IN ENGLISH
Yesterday me, my husband and my sister went to the most southern point of Finland, Hanko, for a day trip. It was spring already there, all the snow was gone unlike in my garden, and it felt like spring though it was a cloudy day.
In the rocks by the sea I noticed some not so common lichens and if I'm not mistaken, these are rock tribe lichens (Lasallia pustulata or related to it). They are very interesting to me from historical point of view as they have been used to dye red-violet at least since the iron age, or even longer!  They were exported from Scandinavia to Britannia in very large amounts.  Today it is forbidden to collect lichens from other than your own land, unlike herbaceous plants and berries which you can collect anywhere here.
As a modern dyer I don't use them and I don't recommend using them. Firstly they reproduce slowly, and  these are not common lichens. Secondly the colour they give does not have the light fastness required for modern use to yarns which are sold, it fades quickly (though lichen dyer specialist Karen Casselman says in her book that the fastness could be improved by dye technique). It is easier and more sustainable to get the same kind of colours from cochineal, and combinations of cochineal with indigo. Anyway, it was very interesting to find them and see how they look in their natural habitat. Here are some pictures of the places they grow in nature by the sea. We had a great day.





Here are me and my husband looking at some sea birds, my sister was a paparazzi:)


12 comments:

  1. I am always reluctant to take lichens, even the very common ones, because they take so long to grow and also have an impact - slow and tiny - on their environment. But a recent windstorm brought down many lichen-covered branches, and I am thinking of possibly picking some loose pieces from the ground for an dyeing experiment.

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    1. Also here sometimes the storms take down lichens from trees, and I've used them.
      And I have collected lichens from the trees which we are going to use for firewood, the common kinds which are in almost every tree here:) They give browns and yellows, but they smell nice, and the colour is fast.

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    2. Thank you, that is good to know!

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  2. Ihana tuo yhteiskuva, harvinaista herkkua blogissasi, jota kuvitat yleensä itse.
    Nuo suuret jäkälät ovat kyllä upeita, mutta minäkin varon vaurioittamasta niitä kallioilla kiipeillessäni, kun olen kuullut tuosta hitaan uusiutumisesta. Jonkinlainen jäkälävärjäys kyllä kiinnostaisi, onneksi on omaa metsää jonne voi mennä keruuretkelle.

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    1. Kiitos:) Vaatteita piti olla paljon päällä tuulen takia, mutta muuten oli tosi kiva retki. Sulle tuo saaristoluonto on niin tuttua, ja varmaan siellä teilläkin on just näitä samoja jäkäliä. Hankoon on meiltä vain tunnin matka ja kyllä joka vuosi yritetään ainakin kerran siellä käydä, ellei sitten useamminkin, jos vaan ehtisi.
      Polttopuista ainakin minusta voi hyvällä omallatunnolla kerätä jäkäliä, ja ne eivät tarvitse edes mitään puretusta, vain pitkää haudustusta useampana päivänä lankojen kanssa samassa padassa.

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  3. I have used Rock Tripe here in Canada. I collect from the ground in the spring when they have been knocked off the rock face by ice. I did get good pink, but I didn't test light fastness. I think Indigo and Coccineal is a good alternative.

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    1. Hi, thank you for sharing your experience! The fastness may be good when you use the yarns yourself, I am perhaps too careful what to use for yarns to sell:)

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  4. leena, i harvested rock tripe (with permission from the land owner) years ago and have been using it. it's the sample that appeared in the big book by cordon.

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    1. Hi Velma, I looked up your picture in Cardons book, it was lovely pink yarn and the picture was very nice with lichens and the yarn! I wish rock tripe wasn't so rare here so I could try it, but it is. We have lots of other lichens which grow on trees here, those I can use easily as you know we have all of Finland covered with trees:) Anyway, I use even those lichens only from windfalls or trees we fell for firewood.

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    2. leena, i don't think i would harvest a grocery bag full of lichen ever again, but i was very young and had permission and a helper...who spotted fresh black bear scat (fortunately i didn't see it). the sample got into that book totally by chance...

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  5. i had never seen that kind of lichen before. might be native to colder climates.

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  6. i had never seen that kind of lichen before. might be native to colder climates.

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