Jude Tupman
NORTHAMPTON, australia
LEYDEN 97: Another (Procedure)
Grind some walnuts with some alkanet of good quality. This done, place them in some strong vinegar; grind again; add some pomegranate bark to this; lay aside three days; and after this, plunge the wool in it and it will be dyed cold .... It is said that there is a certain acanthus which furnishes the purple color; moistened with some natron of Berenice in place of nuts, it produces the same effect.
INTRODUCTION:
My growing knowledge and experience in natural dyeing helped me make the decisions I made for the quantities and methods I used. Given that there are so many possible variables I decided to keep this recreation simple and note questions arising during the process for future research. From a previous recreation of a Stockholme recipe that appeared to reverse the solubility of Alkanet, when water was added to the soluble brew, I did not want to add water to this recreatio, so I took a risk and added more vinegar than common sense tried to dictate because I wanted to have enough liquid from the listed ingredients to be able to easily work the recipe brew into the fabric.
Reading, research and discussions with experienced dyers and practical experience informed my questions.
To use ingredients grown or purchased locally to combine with Alkanet (Anchusa Tinctoria) in order to explore and interpret this method; and
To combine the modern, the ancient with my contemporary knowledge of natural dyeing to generate research questions..
After some initial experimentation, the following is the interpretation of the recipe that gave the results that I was most pleased with. It would be interesting to repeat this recreation of L97 using pistachio nuts pH between 6.4 and 6.8, with almonds which have a pH between 6 and 7.5.
Put 100 g Alkanet in a glass jar
Add 150g walnuts
Mix them together well
Add 20ml vinegar and mix again until an oily consistency is reached
Add 10g tannin
Leave to mature for 5 days
Put the mix into a clean denier stocking.
Rub a tannin and AA mordanted linen sample at 8% WOF around the stocking containing the dye mix and work it in, squeeze, roll, rewrap and continue until the linen is well soaked and the dye colour is absorbed.
Rub a mordanted silk sample at 15% WOF around the stocking containing the dye mix , squeeze, roll, rewrap and continue until the linen is well soaked and the dye colour is absorbed.
Dry both samples.
Wash the samples.
Rework the linen and silk samples sample, using the same dyeing process, and hang them out in the shade to oxidise for 24 hours.
Rinse the samples.
Wash the samples in synthropol and dry them.
Boil the samples for 10 minutes.
Photograph each process
The ingredients for this recipe were environmentally sustainable and satisfying to work with. I would like to explore different dyes in my own practise using ingredients that are as safe and environmentally sustainable.
Stockholm 88: The Dissolving of Alkanet
Alkanet is dissolved by oil, water, and nuts. The best of all dissolving mediums is, however, camel’s urine. For this makes the alkanet dye not only fast, but also durable.
introduction:
Having had some success with fermented human urine to obtain botanical prints, the ability to access purple from Alkanet, using camel urine to make it soluble and to see if a fast durable dye could be created from this fugitive plant proved tempting. In 2021, after an extensive search I found two male camels. That formed the first part of the project. The camels were relocated and in order to continue the research, it was necessary to try and find more camels in Western Australia.
In 2022, after almost giving up, I found some Camels at Camel West Tours near Perth and was able to collect urine from three female and two male camels. The males again proved difficult, but it was easy to catch the frequent passing of urine by the females. This formed the second part of the research conducted in 2022.
Questions:
How will Alkanet react to the camel urine immediately and over time?
Will 50% WOF Alkanet in camel urine achieve a good colour on silk?
What colour will 50% weight of fibre, the pre and a post treatment with 20% SodaAsh be? Will it create a purple?
Can water be added to the Alkanet and camel urine brew without affecting the solubility of the Alkanet dye?
Will Potassium Aluminium Sulphate in water at 10% WOF make a difference to the result of the brew?
How will a change of pH, using Soda Ash affect the colour of the dye?
There was an expectation that more than the initial amount of camel urine obtained would be collected at a later date. This proved extremely difficult because the camels, located 60km away, stopped urinating as soon as any further attempts to catch urine in a bucket were made. Unfortunately further planned attempts, and a much longer period of my time spent with the camels, patiently trying diversion tactics, did not occur because the camel owner’s temporary residency permit was not extended and the camels were relocated 600km away. The scope of the exploration had to be simplified, and with it the realisation that the results would generate questions requiring much more extensive research.
Add 20g Alkanet camel urine, which is enough to leave it covered and to allow for expansion of the root matter. Soak for as long as is necessary to make the Alkanet soluble and achieve a good colour.
Record the pH of the brew and put two five cm squares of scoured silk, into a small jar of the brew. Remove them after 4 weeks. Rinse and dry the samples.
Add 20g Soda Ash to the brew to raise the pH to 9. Return one sample to the brew and observe the colour. Compare the two samples
Due to the difficulty of obtaining urine and the small amount of urine available, I added water 2:1 to the camel urine and Alkanet brew to determine it the solubility of the brew would be affected.
