#yarnmaker

[jessylostherpen]

I’m taking part in a make-a-long with @jillianevefa ’s discord server where we’re challenged to spin plant-based fibers and make something from them. I’m sure this is not how you’re supposed to spin #seacellyarn, but I’m still amazed at what can be made from algae and how well it resembles both cotton and silk. It’s surprisingly heavy and a little stiff, but I can already feel it softening. Smokey gives a sniff of approval. #yarn #yarnmaker https://www.instagram.com/p/CoijhZbOUKa/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[fiber-art-studio-tour]

Hello, it’s US! The people you’ll meet on the @fiberartstudiotour We are the proprietors, artists, farmers, workers, creators, indie-dyers, producers, makers at each of our stops and shops on the tour. (R to L) MEET: Lisa @flyinggoatfarm in Frederick, MD Marc @withers.wool in Woodbine, MD Karen @avalonspringsfarm in Mount Airy, MD Linda @colorstorms.yarn in Highland, MD Wae @colorwae_fiberarts in New Market, MD Dalis @dancingleaffarm in Barnesville, MD In keeping with the #februarychallenge we offer a warm and welcoming Hello! Come see us soon for the February tour 02/11/23 from 11am till 4pm. #fiberartstudiotour #fiberartists #yarnshop #yarnproducer #yarnmaker #yarndyer #flyinggoatfarm #witherswoolfarm #avalonspringsfarm #colorstorms #colorwaefiberarts #dancingleaffarm https://www.instagram.com/p/CoKcAGprUfz/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[spin2knitdesigns]

Green tweed singles. 🧶🧶🧶 #spin2knit #handspunyarn #wool 🐑🐑🐑 #yarnmaker #chicoca #chicocalifornia https://www.instagram.com/p/CoDL-L8PJQH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[unidentifiedmammal]

Alrighty so this is the post on lichen dyes!

this particular bath of lichen dyes was originally started over a year ago scraping a tentatively-ID'd lecanora and/or ochrolechia genus lichen off of a fallen branch (remember, don't gather lichen when it's still growing! it's very slow growing and easy to overharvest)

to start off, this particular type of dye is made through the ammonia-fermentation method, also known as ammonia maceration. No actual bacterial fermentation occurs though. Rather, the compound orcinol (and precursor compound to orcinols) react with ammonia (N2) and oxygen to form the compound orcein (also called orchil/archil) which is what makes the final dye!

this process takes anywhere from 3 weeks to 16+ weeks depending on the lichen species, its constituent acids, the temperature, and the frequency of aeration.

This batch was set aside for several months and neglected a good bit, but it still works. I strained out the crumbled lichens (which i set aside for later) and diluted it 1:4 as instructed by a very good book called Lichen Dyes: The New Source Book by Karen Diadick Casselman. This book is basically omnipresent everywhere you see lichen dyes mentioned, especially the orcein-based dyes. I also used several websites/videos/papers and such that i've hunted down over various internet crawls.

I use an old coffee pot for this as it's both a non-reactive material (glass) and is built to withstand heat. Ironically i also scraped the lichens off the branch using a tool i made out of a metal band from the broken handle of this same coffee pot!

I decided to dye some eri silk cakes that i fluffed up and scoured. these have been very good at absorbing dye in the past so i would hopefully get a good result from them. As lichens are a substantive dye i don't have to put a mordant on them, but i did soak them in an alum solution just before adding them to the dye bath to hopefully maximize dye uptake as well as improve fastness as lichen dyes are also fugitive and can fade in sunlight.

Substantive dyes contain mordants already embedded in them; fugitive dyes are a bit fuzzy to me but my understanding is they end up trapped in the fiber instead of actually bonding to the fiber in a stronger way. Mordants are used to help the dye "bite" onto the fiber better, improving both fastness (the ability of a due to resist fading from sunlight/washing/time) and the brightness of a color. Alum is useful in that it typically doesn't affect the end color of a dye more than simply making it slightly more strong!

it was pretty successful i'd say! i warmed up the dyebath, added the silk, let it simmer for a few hours, let it cool down overnight, and then warmed it back up the next day for a few hours; then, when it cooled, i took it out, let it dry, then rinsed it, and let it dry a second time. At that point, it was ready for spinning!

It was a lovely pink color that's not fully captured by the camera like most dyes, and eri silk is lovely because you can spin the clouds directly and easily without carding and make lovely relatively threadlike yarn

this was the first skein i got! i love how shiny the silk is. Some dyes can get really purple or even magenta-like!

next, i had the leftover lichens that i had set aside. They were a crumbly texture and dark black and i dried them out, crushed them up more, set them back in a jar, added more ammonia and water, and did the ammonia fermentation method a second time! this was after reading about the method for making french purple, and while this is definitely a very pale imitation of the method, the double-soak is the key feature here

here it is (on the left); it was already way darker purple than an in-progress lichen dye i had yet to crack open and use

speaking of which, heres a shot of various test lichens i had while working on this, you can see the blue-capped jar that has the second-soaked lichens. the foam will often give a preview of whether or not the dye will be red/purple or not!

Here it is, i forget how long i let it soak but i think it was a bit over a week. i strained the material out, diluted it, and then repeated the same warm/cool/warm/cool/dry/rinse/dry method with more eri silk

And below you can see the difference, it's definitely slight but still cool!

the left is from the original dyebath, the right is the second-soaked one. the first one is more salmon-colored while the second is a tad more blue-purpled!

I'm extremely excited about this, these dyes have such a fascinating history and have multiple historical uses everywhere from florentine orchil to norwegian korkje to scottish cudbear and more, and it was often used in tandem with the roman murex/tyrian purple dyes that come from a mussel. Some folks used the lichens to pre-dye the fabric before dyeing with tyrian purple, both to stretch the expensive tyrian purple and to make the end color more vibrant. It's all such a great topic that's mightily confusing and could take up a post of its own, same with the underlying chemistry of what makes these dyes work in the first place!

Anyways that's all for this post, i have more i'm working on involving actually turning these dyes into paint that i'll hopefully turn into a post on its own soon! I've also got other lichen dyes I'm waiting to get through the ammonia fermentation process that will hopefully give other colors, whenever that may be!

[luminessdoodles]

i'm still thinking about a name for my yuu btw :0 it might make more sense to give him a word name bc he's a monster like grim, but if i do decide to give him a japanese name i think it'll be yuubou with the 紡 kanji for the second half!! might also end up never naming him and letting him be yuu forever lol

[theriverbeyond]

How many crafting hobbies ya got so far?

it's honestly easier to list the things I don't do (yet), which are uhhhhh metalworking or yarnmaking. what else. I have never made a shoe. Pre-COVID I used to volunteer at an art center thingy that let me take 4 free classes a year... I miss her.

I tend to cycle through which craft I'm doing the most depending on my current project, but my most active arts & crafts hobbies rn are:

Cosplay (big umbrella hobby! clay sculpting, foam stuff, painting, propmaking, sewing, wig stuff, photography/photo editing etc)

Sewing (normal clothing, mending/alterations, and also silly little guys/plush)

Bookbinding (and also typesetting)

Leatherworking (newest hobby! shoutout to the nice worker at the craft store who gave me a ton of scraps for FREE)

Doodling/drawing/painting

I have a ton of other hobbies I've done in the past but don't do rn due to lacking equipment/supplies/studio access (pottery and woodworking are the biggest, I've also dabbled in flameworking, flat glassworking, screenprinting, printmaking all of which require studio space I just don't have access to rn).

Then of course there is the purgatory graveyard of hobbies that I have lost interest in but sort of keep all the supplies around for bc maybe inspiration will strike someday or I can repurpose the supplies for something else (crochet, knitting, cross stitch, embroidery, felting, whittling, shrinky dink earrings), and also all the other random crafty things I've done once or twice but unsure if I can qualify it as an actual hobby (like papercraft and model making). Probably forgetting stuff but yeah

I am not necessarily good at all of these hobbies but doing art is sort of the same as being alive for me so that's kind of not the point. My biggest wishlist crafting hobby is shoemaking, because all the startup/materials and class costs for that are just really high. I REALLY want to make my own boots someday..... I think that would be a really fun and also hot thing for me to do.

[spindleanddye]

Hello fellow yarnmaker, I hate to possibly ruin your day, but I wanted to give you a heads-up that the tumblr famous French llama-and-donkey girl is a raging TERF. Like, shockingly extreme transphobic. She used to blog under @/ sespursongles and @/ oikabooks and produced incredibly vitriolic rhetoric against trans women that was very elegantly written, so she had huge pull. Her writing is still being passed around and lauded by TERF tumblr, and everything points towards her still holding these beliefs, but not talking about them on her main blog. You can still see TERF tumblr talking openly about how great it is that she's now basically undercover and getting away with it.

As I said, just a heads-up - make your own decisions about her. Nobody seems to really talk about it much, so I just wanted you to be aware of this.

Omg :( ahh thats terrible, thank you for the heads up!!

For everyones information: TERFs are NOT welcome on my blog, im a queer; trans-celebrating spinster and I am not here for that bullshit one bit. Im here to spin fiber and say fuck TERFs, SWERFs, and all others who are spending energy to create hate 😔

[avalonspringsfarm]

Made some yarn this week. I was reminded of my Thunderbow series I used to do. I enjoy making those, so I made some more. Pictured here in Pendragon yarn, DK weight. #avalonspringsfarm #makingyarn #ilovecolor #yarnlove #colorlove #yarnmaker #handdyedyarn #yarn #marylandartist #marylandyarnshop #yarnyarnyarn #knitknitknit (at Avalon Springs Farm) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChNB8GdLwQn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[yarningelephant]

This right here is my new obsession 😍 . My Dearest bought me an Electric Eel Wheel 6.0 from @dreaming_robots and it’s is one of my favorite things ever!! My obsession with yarn is only deepened by me being able to make it 😍 . #knitting #knit #knittersofinstagram #knittingaddict #knitgeek #knittersofwhidbey #spin #spinning #electricspinningwheel #spinnersofinstagram #yarnmaker #yarn #yarnaddict #yarningelephant (at Freeland, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSxx66JH-dH/?utm_medium=tumblr

[thetwistedpurl]

Handspun yarn! In the middle of a big shop update. #handspunyarn #yarnie #yarnmaker #thetwistedpurl #fibergoodness #yarnlife #buyhandmade #handmadeyarn #yarnporn #spinnersofinstagram #handspinningyarn #artyarn (at The Twisted Purl) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuwhcItldFu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15dm3neuw9j4m

[alpacafarmhand]

I'm back! Here's a little peek at what I've been working on 👀

[fiber-art-studio-tour]

Thanks to everyone who came out this weekend for our October tour! Photo credit is from Withers Wool. Pictured are woven, knit, free-form, crochet, mixed media wearable pieces made by Kathy. We thought it was a good time to remind folks as we head into the greater holiday shopping time frame that each stop always has tons of yarn, but we all have lots of other fun things at different stops too. Scattered among us you may discover: • Hats, scarves, gloves, cowls • Art pieces, needle felting • Notions, bags, lotion, socks • Patterns, kits, samples • Advent & multi-cultural ornaments • Handspun, top and roving Ya kno what else…. You get us! We’re always happy to help, find a color with you, answer your questions, or share in your accomplishments! See you next month! #fiberartstudiotour #localartist #fiberartist #yarnmaker #creative #creativeholidays #madeforyou #marylandsmallbusiness #yarn #marylandartist #marylandyarnshop https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjgj5Aupknv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[placesyoucallhome]

Ah... that's a bad omen for the day isn't it?

[kinfolkyarn]

Spinning some beautiful 50/50 silk/Merino dyed by #westcoastcolourandcarding #handdyedsilk #indiedyers #fibreswest #peacearchweaversandspinners #handspunyarn #handspinning #yarnmaker #spinninersofinstagram

[mxmaxknix]

AYYY what's got two thumbs and just got their Electric Spinning Wheel? 👍😎👍

Is me... Cha'boi. It's been. A metric fucklong time.... I had to order a cord separately because mine didnt come with I guess? But it spins nicely and I'm psyched to get to relearn on a wheel. My poor shoulders. They can know rest, at last.

Electric Eel Wheel Nano, made by Dreaming Robots

[jessylostherpen]

Working on something fun today. #spinning #ashfordkiwi3 #spinningwheel #weekendproject #yarnmaking https://www.instagram.com/p/Che_ZO8sd65/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=