Testing..testing...

Testing fun : hemp fibres with angora bunny

Last weeks busy schedule and not much communicating was totally obliterated by this weeks events: There was a totally insane rush on my nr5 luxury blend and angorino and wooshy clouds for the Bristlecone-Ixchelbunny Outlander a long on Ravelry and on a negative side, no communication (meaning no phone , no land line, no mobile reception!) due to the fact that Telstra decided to do something inexplicable to their tower and in one swoop we were in a black hole: no phone at all! For some idiotic reason I still have internet/wifi, but apart from typing , Im not talking a lot..lol

I’m at the end of my rope really but it’s like walking into a brick wall. Anyway, life goes on even without phone. Just on that note: if you do want to contact me: email me or message me on ravelry or facebook. Sending me text messages or calling me has absolutely no effect whatsoever…..I will not hear you….it’s like living under a dome here at the moment….

Last week was all about dyeing with red cabbage. Well, this week I thought I would “talk” (hahaha) a bit about dyeing with Rheum Rhaponticum…..sounds kind of like Rapunzel but its ..Rhubarb !! yes, you can dye with rhubarb! It’s a very versatile plant that tastes nice in jams and compotes but if you use the poisenous leaves of the rhubarb plant you can create pale yellow and green colours. In all it creates these woodland like colours ranging from yellow to green, bronze and copper. If you want strog deep colours you do not use the leaves, but instead use the roots, fresh or dried! What is also very nice to know is that Rhubarb leaves, you know the poisenous ones, make so called oxalic acid, if you simmer them for about an hour or so. This oxalic acid you can ten use on your fibre after mordanting and dyeing, to make the colour more green. Always nice to kow that you can use this as a modifier.

Rhubarb test skeins

Rhubarb

Do you need to use mordants? Yes you do. The type of mordants you use has a huge effect on what colours you get. I tend to stick to alum but what is so magical about natural dyeing is that its not only the mordant you use, but also how you can manipulate the colour with so called modifiers.
Mordants: with alum you will get nice ochres and yellows that you can modify into greens; with chrome you get a deep red, copper , iron and tin will produce nice woodland greens .


So, here is the recipe:
100 grams of hemp fibres or cotton fabric
50grams of rhubarb root (dried and in a powder is best)
about 4 liters of rainwater (yes, rainwater is best, because the chemicals added to drinking water will change the colours or have different effects on your natural dyeing)
alum as a mordant...20grams and 10g of washing soda
rhubarb leaves that have simmered for an hour gets you oxalic acid…add this to the exhaust bath as a modifier to get greener shades

make a paste with the dried rhubarb powder,, add to water and simmer for 1 hour before you filter it and steep over night!
Add your yarn or fibres to the dyebath and simmer it on low for an hour. Never let it boil!
Do not take the fibres or yarn out of the dyebath. Let it all cool down naturally or, until you like the depth of colour in your yarn or fibre.
Take it out, rinse it all in luke warm to cool water and dry in the shade. Voila! Your own woodland hemp recipe !

Next week I will delve into some other dyeing magic and tell you another secret ! shhhhhhhhhhh ;-)

Welcome to the magical world of natural dyeing !

Dates to Remember:

The black and coloured Sheep breeders Associations of Victoria 2013

Sunday 29th-September 2013 from 9.30am to 3 pm

I will be there with heaps of new fluffy stuff !!

Cranbourne Public Hall (near KFC….),

Join me in all the fun ! There will be a huge amount of new blends and fibres to choose from. Here is the flyer with the information:

And now: drumroll!!!!

Here is the special fibre update of this week ! Enjoy!

Hand dyed IxCHeL Lush Bunny Tops
100+grams     AU$24
a unique IxCHeL blend of Angora Rabbit , Super fine merino 17micron, tencel and cashmere !
It spins like a dream, is super soft and fluffy and felts beautifully as well ! and it has that pearlescent glow of the tencel that just cant be beat !

UNIQUE to IxCHeL !  you will be hooked once you have tried spinning this blend!
 

baby wants to play

Zen

Dusky Heather

honey bear

Green Pastures

Ice Sun

Mermaids and zombies

Rainbow

Retro bunny

Sunset party

Waterfall rocks

Hand dyed IxCHeL Hemp Tops
100+grams     AU$18

Outlander

Through the Stones

Undyed pure hemp tops

Hemp Fibre
50+grams     AU$5

pure Hemp fibre

IxCHeL embroidered Aprons

A one size fits all 100% cotton apron, embroidered here at the farm! In some funny bunny designs. You can choose white, red or green embroidery on a red or black apron. The apron has two big pockets at the front as well. A great gift for any lover of bunnies, alice in wonderland, spinning or knitting !

 

Rabbit on ! aprons AU$29.95

 

Alice in Wonderland themed aprons with an intricate embroidery design $39.95

Rabbit on! Apron

We are all mad here

if you don’t know where you are going…

follow the white rabbit…

 

Happy bunny patchwork kits 

three gorgeous fabrics, a bunny button and pattern

only AU$9

Happy bunny kit

How To Order:

You can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.

Thank you so much for your help and support !

 RABBIT ON !

((hugs))

Charly