Sunday, December 7, 2008

Color from spruce cones Kuusenkäpyväriä

Kuusenkävyillä värjäyksestä on reseptejä Terttu Hassin kirjassa ja myös Alina Hellenin Kotivärjäyskirjassa vuodelta 1919. Käpyjen pitäisi olla ylivuotisia, niitä pitää keittää pitkään ja niistä saisi alunalla purettamalla himmeänpunaisenkeltaista Hellenin mukaan. En ole nähnyt mainintoja ulkomaisessa värikirjallisuudessa käpyjen käytöstä värjäyksessä, joten mitään tietoa niiden sisältämistä väriaineista en löytänyt.

In English
There are recipes in Finnish dye litterature about dyeing with spruce (Picea abies) cones, in Terttu Hassis book from 1977 and Alina Hellens book from 1919. The cones should be old, at least one year, and boiling them for several hours and using alum as mordant they should give reddish yellow mat color. I haven't seen spruce cones mentioned in other dye litterature, and I couldn't find out what the dyestuff would be.
Viime talvena keräsin ämpärillisen käpyjä (2kg) ison kuusen alta, ja kun epäilin, että kävyt eivät olisi olleet tarpeeksi vanhoja, ajattelin vanhettaa niitä lisää ämpärissä ennen värjäystä. No, kaikenlaista tekemistä oli ja vasta keväällä sain pilkottua kävyt ja laitoin ne veteen likoamaan. Pilkkominen ei sitten ollutkaan mitään ihan helppoa, kävyn ydin oli vielä tosi kovaa, mutta oksasaksilla ne menivät palasiksi. Kesällä siirsin likoavat kävyt kasvihuoneeseen ja lisäsin veteen hiukan tuhkalipeää, ajattelin että jospa emäksinen liemi irrottaisi paremmin väriä. Kesäkin sitten meni.. ja syksy.. ja vasta marraskuussa sain keitettyä lionneita käpyjä. Liemi oli punaruskeaa ja hauduttelin käpyjä kahtena päivänä hiljaisella tulella useita tunteja, liemen pH oli neutraali tässä vaiheessa. Liemen väri muuttui oikein kauniiksi hyvin tumman punaruskeaksi.
Siivilöin kävyt pois ja lisäsin liemeen 120g valkoista alunalla ja viinikivellä esipuretettua lankaa ja haudutin niitä väriliemessä kolmisen tuntia, lisäksi langat vielä jäähtyivät liemessä yön yli. Väriliemi oli edelleen kauniin tummaa, mutta väri ei ollut tarttunut lankaan kuin melko vaaleana. Lisäksi väriä lähti vielä jonkun verran pesussa ennenkuin lopullinen väri jäi jäljelle: tavallaan kaunis vaalean hohtava kellertävä beige, ehkä siinä voi nähdä hyvällä mielikuvituksella myös punerrusta, mutta pieni pettymys, niinkuin minulle on ennenkin käynyt näiden puuvärien kanssa. Liemi on tummaa, mutta väri ei tartu lankaan. Alla olevassa kuvassa valkonen lanka on vierellä vertailuna.
Liotusaika oli nyt ainakin riittävän pitkä :-), ja itse asiassa kaadoin väriliemen takaisin samojen käpyjen päälle. Ehkä kokeilen uudestaan joulun jälkeen. Olen myös lukenut Sandra Rude'n ohjeita, että värit irtoaisivat puuaineesta paremmin alkoholiliotuksella, mutta käpyjen peittämiseksi Sinolilla sitä olisi kulunut aika paljon eli ei ihan halpaa puuhaa. Pieni kokeilu voisi kyllä olla paikallaan.

In English
Last winter I collected a bucketful of spruce cones (2kilos) from under a big old spruce near us. I suspected that the cones were not old enough and s0 I thought to let them age more before dyeing with them. Well, all things got in the way and it wasn't until spring when I got around to cutting them up and putting them to water to soak. Cutting wasn't so easy, the core of the cone was very hard. In the summer I put the soaking cones to the greenhouse, where it was warmer, and added some woodash lye to the bucket, hoping that maybe the high pH would help releasing the dye.
Summer went... and autumn.. and finally in November I took the soaking cones and started to boil them. The liquid was then nice reddish brown and after simmering for several hours in two days, the liquid had turned to dark reddish brown. The pH was neutral at this point.
I strained the bath and added 120grams of white premordanted wool (alum and CtT) and simmered them for three hours, then let them cool in the dyebath overnight. The bath was still very dark color, but the yarns were much lighter color, which became even lighter after washing:( The final color is kind of nice light shining beige, but beige nevetherless. With good imagination you can see some reddish in it. It is a disappointment to me, like most of the colors from woods have been. The baths are very dark and sometimes reddish, but I can't get that color to attach to the yarn.
In the picture below there is also a natural white for comparison.
The time these cones had been soaking was long enough :-), and I even poured now the used dyebath back over the cones and let them soak even more. Maybe I'll try again after Christmas.
I have read from Sandra Rudes' web pages that dyes from woods would be better extracted with alcohol. Covering this much cones with even rubbing alcohol would be expensive, but perhaps I could eperiment with a smaller amount:)

10 comments:

  1. Muutama vuosi sitten aloitellessani kasvivärjäystä oli pakko kokeilla kaikkea, myös käpyvärjäystä. Ihan samat kokemukset kuin sinullakin: käpyjä on kauhea saada pieniksi ja väri tuotti pettymyksen. En ole toista kertaa kokeillut. Beige on kaunis väri, mutta sen saa helpomallakin! Langassasi on kyllä ihan selvä punerrus! Tsemppiä sinulle joulumessukiireisiin!
    Larisa

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  2. I like the color that came out of the pine cones. its so soft. like a warm breeze in the forest, in the spring.
    but it will be so fun to soak it in vodka! I hope you try that.
    the idea of pine cones dye made with vodka is super cool!!!! and so festive.
    :-)
    I hope you try it soon!

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  3. I definitely can see a reddish tone to that "beige".Guess I am getting used to the subtlety of the beige world lol...like being in the desert...
    I am surprised that resin doesn't come out of the cones and make it sticky...so glad to hear it doesn't . I will try cedar bark, the cambian layer soon, and see if I can get another tone of beige...lol

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  4. Leena,
    That's the same color I got from my spruce cones here in Montana USA. Additionally I let some yarn sit in the red bath for weeks outside and it was slime by the time I rinsed the yarn and it also was a nice beige. Finally dumped the red dye. The yarn was still nice and soft even though the bath was pretty gross. The next step would hopefully be the alchol extraction. Looking forward to your results.
    Justine

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  5. Kiitos Larisa:)

    Thanks again for your comments:)
    Cedar, I woas wondering about the resin, too, but there was none in the bath, even though it did smell like spruce trees.

    I am going to try the alcohol soak, it's not a waste of alcohol, right:)

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  6. It is a very nice beige! Whether it is worth waiting a year is another matter.:) Nice experiment though.

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  7. firstly, i cannot tell you how enspiring i find your site.. it is just wonderful.

    i once read that dying can only take place in either an acid or alkaline environment; i wonder if you have found this to be true.

    i read it in an article written some twenty years ago about a woman living in paris who was experimenting with dye techniques mentioned in the bible.

    susan : ]

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  8. Hi Susan,

    I dye almost all my dyeings in neutral environment, indigo is the only exception, it needs to be alkaline. And indigo (woad) dyeing has been done even in biblical times:)
    I do extract the dyestuffs many times in alkaline bath, sometimes acid, but when I dye, I change the pH of the bath to neutral, that is because I sell my yarns, and I have to be sure that the colors stay the same, when the customers wash them (usually in neutral environment).
    Some natural colors change depending if they are in alkaline or acid environment and thus you get different colors in different pH, but I don't mostly use these colors.
    Many plants yield their color better in an alkaline environment (but the dyeing isn't necessary to do in an alkaline bath), perhaps this is what you read?

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  9. How do you dye with vodka? I tried to dye with pine cones but no luck

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  10. After reading your article, I decided to check some of my older ressources. I didn't find anything about using spruce cones, but there was mention of using spruce bark and resin in my 1933 book from Québec, Canada. I did however come across a French knitting blog in which she used spruce cones and vinegar to obtain a yellowish beige. The cones had fallen, but were still fresh. She also mentionned that the color was very colorfast in the wash. Here is the link and translation;

    http://forum.tricofolk.info/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14105

    Spruce cone tincture (Picea)
    2 Kg of Spruce cone, remove the scales and put them in water with two glasses of white vinegar added. There must be 1 kg of spruce cone scales, avoid putting those that are dirty and full of resin. Fill with water until everything is submerged, cook for one hour and let cool, then filter and put the wool to simmer without boiling for one hour, let cool again and rinse the wool,
    The wool used is German sheep and the color is medium beige, tending towards yellow.

    Greeting from Northen Ontario, Canada

    Renée

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