#mordanting

[notquitebilateral]

Fiber shenanigans afoot. Dyeing demo this weekend. Man am I happy plans got cancelled this evening.

[detlillemennesket]

Mordanting wool for natural dyeing for the first time🤩

Think I did it correctly(??) Thou I suppose we'll see once I finally get around to dyeing the skeins later. They did all become much more grey so that's probably a good sign (the light one was complete white before I started, the more grey ones are darker too)

[handweavers]

my mother has asked me to ask “that weaver friend of yours” lol — do you have experience dyeing linen? what does the process look like for natural vs synthetic dyes?

happy to be that weaver friend of yours 🥰❤️ dyeing linen is basically the same as dyeing cotton or any other cellulose fiber, so any synthetic dye that works for cotton will also work for linen. a professional grade fiber reactive dye like procion mx or dharma's procion (here) dyes cellulose fiber without heat, and the process is quick and painless. it just involves a large bucket, water, the dye powder and the cloth you wish to dye. i have little experience with rit dye so i'm not sure if you'd need heat for that, but procion dye is higher quality, comes in a lot more colours than rit, and a 2oz container is like $2 usd and goes a long way

the natural dye process for linen takes a lot longer than the procion dye process and requires several steps. cellulose fibers really don't like to take dyes so you basically have to do a bunch of alchemy to convince it to do what you want (compared to protein fibers like wool and silk which love dyes and only need some gentle nudges)

naturally dyeing linen depends on the dye you'd wish to use, but the process is essentially: scouring, mordanting, and dyeing. it's really important that you scour linen especially because it contains a lot of pectins that prevent dye from penetrating the fiber, so a harsh scouring is best (ie. washing it with hot water and ph neutral soap, even to the point of boiling the cloth. linen can take a lot of heat and is better for it, cotton is more sensitive) you'll probably have to do this before dyeing it with the synthetic dye too for best results

most natural dyes require that you mordant the cloth before dyeing. some dyes don't require a mordant (indigo is the big one, but if you're working with onion skins or other materials that contain tannins this is also true. however mordanting the cloth before dyeing with tannins or even mordanting with tannins is still recommended for better colour performance long-term unless you're working with indigo in which case using a mordant can actually cause problems) but if you're unsure, assume that you need to apply a mordant. you essentially have to simmer the cloth in a hot pot with either a material that contains tannins (tannic acid), a natural bio-accumulator of aluminum (symplocos), or use a metal salt (alum acetate is best for cellulose, but iron and copper salts can also be used. the metal salts route requires more safety precautions esp if you use copper salt, you can't dump that down the drain) your choice of mordant impacts the final colour with different mordants shifting the chemical reaction that happens in the cloth when you dye it

with cotton and linen, after you use the mordant you need to use either a chalk or wheat bran bath to remove excess mordant from the cloth, esp if you use alum acetate, otherwise it can leave a whitish cast over the cloth and also impede dyeing lol. wheat bran baths tend to cause a warmer tone to the final dyed cloth, chalk baths cause a cooler tone. i only use wheat bran baths bc i prefer the warmth and i get the bran cheaply at my local punjabi grocer

only then can you dye the cloth, again unless you're working with a dye like coffee or tea or onion skins OR indigo. linen really doesn't like to take natural dyes unless you do all the above steps, it's stubborn. the dye process itself depends on what dye you use and you can do stuff like solar dyeing if you don't want to simmer it in a pot on a stove. if you plan to go the natural dye route lmk and i can send you some scans of a book i have that contains precise instructions for preparing linen for dyeing

[tanuki-kimono]

Hello! I love your blog bc it helps me a lot with writing and crafting. Thank you so much for making it!

Are there any patterns that deal with poison? Either in the pattern or in the dyeing process?

Even if there's not I'm glad you and this blog exist 💗

(anon continues) Poison in the dyeing process, like when green dresses were dyed with copper arsenite and it was extremely deadly.

Or a pattern of someone being poisoned, like a historical/folktale.

_______________________________________

Thank you for your kind words <3 I tried to keep things organized but the subject is huge so my of the top of my head answer is going in many directions. I hope you'll still find what you need :3

I'll briefly cover here dyes and (pigments), poison motifs, real life and supernatural poisonings. Buckle up we've got a long post ahead!

____ ABOUT DYE

Tbh I had to think for a moment because I don't recall major "poison" stories linked to dyes in Japan, be it fictionous or real (yet that doesn't mean none ever happened, especially considering Japan's history of industrial poisonings...).

Most gruesome details in the fabric industries I know of are about the horrific life & work conditions of female laborers in spinning mill manufactures (as in many countries, Japan industrialization process was ghastly...).

If potters and dyers had excellent practical knowledge, chemistry as a science officially started kind of late in Japan as it was not a local interest, and as rangaku (study of Western knowledge) often favored other subjects like medicine or warfare.

So, until the introduction of aniline dyes (not textile related, but this article about the use of synthetic dyes in ukiyoe printing is super interesting), Japanese worked with "natural" dyes, like ai (indigo) which was the most used during Edo period.

As with any ingredient, being natural doesn't equal safety. Some mixtures could be quite potent/foul, and process could be dangerous. Plants and minerals base ingredients could be toxic (cinnabar and orpiments were then used as paint pigments, and lead could be found in make up), as were mordants used to set colors.

If you want to easily overview which ingredients were used to create colors, I recommand browsing [Irocore] which presents colors with explanation in English in their database (pick a color then scroll down).

Not related to poison, but ai (indigo) is traditionally prepared in aigame/enormous floor set jars I find utterly terrifying:

I don't know if this tidbit can help you, but some dyes and mordants actually damage the fabric overtime, leaving them brittle (silk desintegrates after a while which is a huge issue in textile conservation).

____ POISON MOTIFS

Concerning "poison" themed patterns, none would be actually used traditionally on a kimono or an obi beside novelty items ^^;

For example, many plants can be toxic, but I don't see them set as pattern for this property - they'd rather refer to a poem, be a symbol of the passing of seasons etc. Fuji (wisteria) can be quite harmful, yet it's a beloved traditional motif in Japan.

You have much more chances to find pattern with kujaku (peacock) which are thought to be impervious to poison in Buddhism, than say venomous mukade (centipede) or the horrific ômukade (a youkai I covered in a folktale).

Snakes like the habu and mamushi are dangerous, but if used as pattern snakes are most often auspicious and linked to rain dragons or goddess Benzaiten.

If you squint hard, toxic fugu could count as poison pattern, but such a seasonal delicacy as a motif would mostly underline wealth (as those fishes are pretty expensive as they are prepared by specialized chefs), a kind of carpe diem spirit, or just a fun pattern because fugu balloon shape is cute ;)

____ POISON MURDERS

Poisoning was certainly a thing is Japan since ancient times (see kodoku sorcery). Poisons were for example used in some fishing techniques.

I am pretty sure some kuge and buke were disposed of this way - even thought poison was seen as a coward weapon (hence why its supposed to be only used by shinobi/ninja - even if this "fact" is opened to a lot of discussions!).

During Edo period, such murders made up the news and penny dreadful-like illustrated books favored by city dwellers in need of a fright. But those stories didn't pass to posterity beside cheap ukiyoe plates, and were never as popular as some shinjû (double suicides) or ghost revenges like poor poisoned and murdered Oiwa's:

____ SUPERNATURAL POISONINGS

If your poison is both physical and metaphorical illbeing, mushi could be your guys ^^ This term actually covers everything small and crawling, from real worms and insects, to anything inside one's body causing distress - be it a parasite, an unknown illness, an overboard emotion, a curse etc. If you've read/seen Mushishi you've got what I mean:

In fact any illness-causing being could count as poison-bringer. Hôsôkami (smallpox demon) was truly feared by all before vaccination was introduced in Japan.

Finally, continuing the supernatural poisoning trail, best girl is probably legendary fox witch Tamamo no Mae who among other terrible deeds made emperor Konoe fall sick with poisonous miasma (some version of the story attributes the disease to another monster, the nue). I covered a similar murderous kitsune folktale here.

[to-the-starlit-west]

lolitics is so back. here’s penny mordaunt and angela rayner, drawn after that one debate where they just shouted at eachother and gave nobody else a chance to speak

[caracello]

do you think even english exorcists can have semi-romantic girl best friends that scare them just a little?

[ok2rb, she/her mi/mim/mimicks for mordant (s/i)]

[milkweedman]

dyed a braid and a couple handfuls of locks with some of the red onion skin dye and copper mordant, just to see what i’d get, and it’s so pretty, but i have... no way to take pictures

[eaglesnick]

Private Sector Good, Public Sector Bad? (3)

This is the third part of a look at former public services and utilities in Britain that have been privatised or part-privatised in the name of neoliberal economics and the mistaken belief that private enterprise is ALWAYS more efficient than publicly run bodies.

The National Health Service

The Tory Party and successive Tory governments, including the Sunak administration, vehemently deny they are slowly privatising the NHS.

“Sunak pledges to cut waits with greater healthcare choice but denies NHS privatisation plan."  (Health and Protection: 04/01/23)

Such denials are deliberately misleading. According to the World Health Organisation:

“Privatisation is where non-government bodies become increasingly involved in the financing or provision of health care services”.

The Tory Health Care Act of 2012 removed the "duty of government” to provide NHS services directly, opening up NHS care provision to the private sector. This trend has been further accelerated by the 2022 Heath and Care Act. The Guardian had this to say about the change in the law:

“The new bill will continue the dismantling of the NHS, this time by adopting more features from the US health system. For anyone who cares about the NHS, this should set off alarm bells.” (Guardian: 07/12/21)

What we need to remember when reviewing the provision of public services by private companies is that the first duty of a private company is to make profits for it’s shareholders. The profit driven motive of private enterprise may lead to more cost savings but often at the expense of quality of service

“There is only a small number of studies addressing the effect of privatisation on the quality of care offered by health-care providers, and yet within this small group of longitudinal studies, we find a fairly consistent picture. At the very least, health-care privatisation has almost never had a positive effect on the quality of care." (Lancet: "The effect of health-care privatisation on the quality of care”, March 2024

In 2019, (November 29th) the Guardian reported that private firms had received £15bn over a five-year period for NHS provision. By  2019/20 Health Care Commissioners were spending £10bn a year on services delivered by the private sector. (The Kings Fund: Is the NHS being privatised, 01/03/21)

Despite this massive increase in NHS private provision, we all know the health service is on its knees. Before 2010 multi-year funding of the largely publicly run NHS saw the NHS improve its service provision. 14 years of Tory government, two health care acts later, and we see a total reversal in those trends. By 2014 signs of stress were becoming apparent. David Cameron and George Osborne deliberately starved the NHS of money, NHS budgets rising on average only 1.4% between 2009-19 compared to the 3.7% yearly rises since the NHS was first established.

The NHS is slowly bleeding to death: emergency departments are overcrowded, extended waiting times in A&E are leading to over 200 unnecessary deaths per week, there are not enough hospital beds, staff are demoralised, and doctors strikes continue because the government refuses to pay public sector workers a fair wage. Waiting lists continue to grow, it is impossible to find a NHS dentist and sick people have to wait weeks for a simple GP appointment.

This systematic rundown of the NHS by successive Tory governments is not all bad news as privatisation has benefited the lucky few.

Staff agencies are doing very nicely thank you, the BBC reporting that:

“Companies providing freelance staff to the NHS to cover for big shortages of doctors and nurses have seen their income rise by tens of millions of pounds since 2019.” (24/03/23)

Total spending on agency staff in England was £3bn in 2021, one hospital reportedly paying £5200 to a free-lance doctor for a single shift. It would be nice to say that doctors are not complicit in the gradual privatisation of the NHS but that would be untrue.

“Hundred’s of England's NHS consultants have shares in private clinics.”  (Guardian: 21/01/22)

Over a billion pounds has been generated by these set ups since 2015

But it is not only doctors who profit personally from privatisation. During the pandemic, top Tories were very quick to pass on lucrative contracts to their friends in business. These largely unscrutinised public contracts have drawn accusations of “cronyism” and "chumocracy". Others have been more blunt, the Financial Times  (06/08/21) asking the question: “When does cronyism become corruption?"

The shortage of PPE during the pandemic led to contracts being awarded to companies without competition. Literally billions of pounds were given to private companies to supply gowns, gloves, and face masks.

“But the way these deals have been given to firms has led to concerns over a lack of detail about why particular suppliers were chosen. The government has also been accused of favouring firms with political connections to the Conservative Party with a "high-priority lane".  (BBC News: 20/04/21)

This accusation turned out to be true.

"UK government’s ‘VIP lane' for PPE suppliers was unlawful. High Court rules.”  (Financial Times 12/01/22)

Although Michael Gove claimed that “every single procurement decision" went through an eight-stage-process” the courts found that nearly fifty PPE deals were fast tracked by Conservative ministers, who awarded contracts worth £5bn to companies with political or Whitehall connections.  Four Tory MP’s and three Tory peers were named as “referrers” Michael Gove, Penny Mordant and Esther McVey are said to have personally recommended firms.

Some MP’s have done a lot more than fast-tracking private health care provision. Many of them have actually invested in private health care companies while others are happy to accept financial donations from them.

Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary and the poster boy for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, is said to have accepted “£22,5000 in private donations from private health firms last year.” (VOX Political: 30/04/23) Other Labour notaries are also said to have financial connections to private health care companies. Keir Starmer has received £157,500, Yvette Cooper has received £295,205, and Dan Jarvis has received £137,500. (Labour Heartlands: Selling Out the NHS: The Shocking Links Between Labour MP’s and Private Healthcare Donations: 17/06/23)

On the Conservative side, The Mirror (21/01/23) reports that Penny Mordant accepted £10,000 from care home firm Renaissance Care, while ex-health minister Steve Brine made £200 an hour giving “strategic advice” to drug firm Signa, before resigning in 2021. Publicly available information tells that that at least 28 Tory MP’s and Peers have had ties to private health and medical groups. Even the former Health Secretary Sajid Javid had share options in a Californian tech company dealing in health sector software.

So, while the NHS slowly disintegrates for want of proper investment and strategic planning, individual MP's and private health care providers reap the rewards of privatisation. Should this in any way be doubt then listen to what  former Conservative Prime Minister John Major had to say as long ago as June 2016:

“The NHS is about as safe from them (Tory Brexiteers) as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python.”

Unfortunately, and to its eternal shame, the same can now be said of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

[trevlad-sounds]

Invisible Club 28

28.08.2024

Intro 00:00 Jesse-Motion Klubb 01:17 silentwave-KONJIKI 06:27 Benge-Adam-Age Loneliness 09:34 Aura Safari, Jimi Tenor, Toimi Tytti-My Bluebell 16:08 Red Vortical Stripes-Hypnosis 202 22:36 Autumn Of Communion & Árni Grétar-End (Sunrise For Claudio) [Futuregrapher Mix] 27:24 Scanner, Neil Leonard-Time Code 36:13 Arfon Harry Williams & Laf-Suddenly I See 45:33 Space Dimension Controller-Tiraquon’s Final Quest 49:29 Florian Förster-cellroot 54:09 The Lighthouse-Litmus Test 57:07 Fluffy Inside-Hideaway 1:01:23 Metamatics-Beautiful Mutations 1:07:02 Louie Zong-Hidden Mangrove 1:15:32 Mordant Music-Cloud-Based Cretins 1:17:27 Ardent Chrome-After Al 1:19:01 Outro 1:24:20

[bumblebeeappletree]

Before you comment that I should be using tannins if I want the colors to last in the sun, please check out my newest video:

Mordanting Cotton With vs Without Tannin -

• Mordanting Cotton With...

In this video I use 6 mordanting methods on cotton fabric and then dye the fabric pieces with 4 natural dyes. You will see the mordanting process and the results. I also performed a light/wash fastness test on the dyed fabrics to see how the colors last.

Blog post with photos of the results and descriptions of all mordanting methods: https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Mordant ingredients I used:

Aluminum Acetate - https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Aluminum Lactate - https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Alum (Potassium Aluminum Sulfate) - https://chromaticnatureclothing.com/p...

Sodium Acetate - https://chromaticnatureclothing.com/p...

Soda Ash - https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Calcium Carbonate (chalk) - https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Soy milk & vinegar - grocery store

Synthrapol detergent - https://www.misterart.com/crafts/text...

The dyes I used:

Madder root - https://www.chromaticnatureclothing.c...

Osage Orange - https://www.etsy.com/listing/62246447...

Avocado skins - eat some avocados

Logwood -https://chromaticnatureclothing.com/p...

00:00 - What this is about

01:45 - Soy milk mordant method

04:03 - All the other mordant methods

10:44 - Dyeing the fabrics

12:56 - Light/wash fastness test

14:01 - Soy milk debacle

15:07 - Madder root results

19:22 - Osage Orange results

21:46 - Avocado skins results

24:14 - Logwood results

26:31 - My closing thoughts

[coriander-candlesticks]

I decided to take advantage of the hot weather (100+ F for at least the next two weeks) and dedicated some time to Athena experimenting with solar dyeing. They've gotta sit for a week before I can rinse them & see the results. If they turn out well I'm going to use them to either knit or weave her a shrine cloth.

I'm using the process from Rosemary & Pines Fiber Arts. The jars are, from left to right: dried spearmint; onion skin and tea bags; all tea bags; and lemon peel, dried rose, and dried eucalyptus.

[morninkim]

Rise of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Rito Revolto & Mordant

A mercenary for hire and his accountant who handles his space finances, meet Rito Revolto and Mordant!

Rito was hired by Count Dregon almost a year ago as an extra warrior. His ruthless fighting style, nonchalant attitude and willingness to do almost anything if it means he gets paid proved useful to the Count's cause. However, Rito defects from Dregon when it looks like the warlord will be defeated by the combined forces of the Power Rangers and the Masked Rider, meaning he wouldn't get paid anymore.

Mordant joined up with Rito a few years ago, seeing him as a steady contract that makes him money so he can maintain his cybernetics. He now makes more than enough, but sticks around because he knows Rito would make terrible financial decisions without him.

Shortly following the departure of Dex from Earth, the two are approached by Goldar as a representative of Lord Zedd and offered a deal. Destroy the Power Rangers and Zedd will give him the Power Coins as a reward. Though the Dark Specter would never, in fact, actually give up the Power Coins to a random mercenary, Rito accepts the bluff, despite Mordant's best advice.

Rito then joins up with the growing ranks of Lord Zedd (or "Edd" as he calls him), surprised to see Scorpina also among them. Once again, Mordant is stuck tagging along with his client, against his better judgement.

[youllalwaysfindyourwaybackhome]

I've woken up in the middle of the night and checked the news and would just like to say: ahahahahahaha. Hahaha haha.

[phoradendron]

Some results of my earlier adventures with natural dyes. These are dyed with blue elderberry; I had read how red and black elderberry are not very light- or colorfast, but I dyed these two or three months ago and they are doing well! Could be chance, but maybe blue elderberry is more colorfast?

I want to try changing the PH in the future for more colors. These are alum mordanted wool embroidery thread, one is undyed the other is white. In the first photo, the fibers that were originally white are on the top, undyed on the bottom, and the one weirdo off to the side was white and went in late when I decided there was more room in the jar.

No heat added to the dye bath to keep the colors brighter. I prepared it by crushing the berries, adding just enough water to cover the plant matter, leaving them overnight, crushing again and straining out the plant matter, then left the mordanted fibers in for three days; very simple. Washed thoroughly, dried in the window lol.

The white fibers became a sort of soft raspberry color, the undyed became a sort of rose gold. The weirdo is a sort of Pepto Bismal color? To be poetic

[caracello]

i'm literally thinking abt mordanstantine lore at all times ftr i want to mixthem together like slime. sad to announce though that my insert may have to be british.

[milkweedman]

My phone hates when colors are accurate to real life, sorry. But look ! Left is copper on blackberry, which is a beautiful deep maroon at the moment--still wet though-- (the rest of the willowed wool that had not yet been put on a distaff) and right is the dried wool from last night. It looks like a very pale green. I really want to see what happens when post mordanted with iron--but alas, I had to toss my homemade iron mordant in the move. So maybe I need to get some more going....