http://www.eclectica.org/v3n3/lefcowitz.html
A lovely and inspiring piece of writing. I do seem to have a predeliction for reducing things to'nothing'. Devore = devour. giving away things. paper shredding. Hmmm..
Monday, 29 September 2008
A wee bit of an experiment
OK. So I followed instructions to clean fleece with lots of tubs of water.It was OK, but still had to do a final rinse in washing machine.
So I am now trying a different approach.
"At Convergence 2000 in Cincinatti (The giant Handweavers Guild of America conference) I took a seminar from a lady whose name I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember. However, her talk was on Pee, Piddle and Whiz. It was about using urine in your spinning and dyeing processes.
She told us to "get over the yuck factor." Urine is not some acid that will eat through your hand. It is pH neutral and sterile, which is more than you can say for your water supply.
Urine was used in ancient times to wash wool. Yes, wash wool. She did an experiment. She put some grease wool in a ziploc baggy and poured urine over it. She sealed the bag and waited a few days for the wool to completely absorb the urine. She opened the bag and let it air out and dry out a bit. Then she touched the wool. Soft and very easy to spin. Maybe the ancient folk were on to something. Of course, she washed her finished yarn, so no urine actually was in the finished product.
Dye recipes also used urine. However, old recipes don't mention it. It was like water. They took it for granted that you were using it. Also, stale urine has different properties than fresh urine. "Stale" being urine that's been sitting around in a vat waiting to be used. I read somewhere that men on their way home from a pub on the Shetland Isles would stop by the dyers house to donate to the vat. Don't know if that one's true or not. I do know that old indigo recipes used urine. It's got to be safer than alot of chemicals you can buy."
She told us to "get over the yuck factor." Urine is not some acid that will eat through your hand. It is pH neutral and sterile, which is more than you can say for your water supply.
Urine was used in ancient times to wash wool. Yes, wash wool. She did an experiment. She put some grease wool in a ziploc baggy and poured urine over it. She sealed the bag and waited a few days for the wool to completely absorb the urine. She opened the bag and let it air out and dry out a bit. Then she touched the wool. Soft and very easy to spin. Maybe the ancient folk were on to something. Of course, she washed her finished yarn, so no urine actually was in the finished product.
Dye recipes also used urine. However, old recipes don't mention it. It was like water. They took it for granted that you were using it. Also, stale urine has different properties than fresh urine. "Stale" being urine that's been sitting around in a vat waiting to be used. I read somewhere that men on their way home from a pub on the Shetland Isles would stop by the dyers house to donate to the vat. Don't know if that one's true or not. I do know that old indigo recipes used urine. It's got to be safer than alot of chemicals you can buy."
So now I pee into a pot in the garden. Then zip lock it. This is the 1st one after 4 days. Looking good. I am going to dry out a bit today, then rinse in machine on wool setting.
I have also tried adding some plant stuff to see if it will dye whilst cleaning.
Waste of 1 beetroot
5 fennel heads
10 blackberries
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
cleansing
Cleaning: two bags ready to go - 1 soaking in my fresh wee, the other to be washed in granny's soap flakes
Fleeced
Am about to embark on the fleece project! The poor thing has been sat in a bin bag for 2 months. I am now about to clean it with advice from Lime and Violet's blog!. It is an amazing shape, and sooo thick. Waiting to hear back from Danae's mum who it was from and what breed she is.
Friday, 19 September 2008
Click here! for Quebec piccies
Back home again - missing the Montreal art lifestyle. Be back soon....
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Monday, 18 August 2008
Really really free
I would really like to start a 'Really really free market' here in Cardiff. Coming sooon!!
"About the RRFM
Because there is enough for everyone
Because sharing is more fufilling than owning
Because corporations would rather see landfills overflow than anyone get anything for free
Because scarcity is a myth constructed to keep us at the mercy of the economy
Because a sunny day outside is better than anything money can buy
Because "free trade" is a contradiction of terms
Because no one should have to do without food, shelter, entertainment, and community
Because life should be a picnic, but it only will be if we make it happen
Because there is enough for everyone
Because sharing is more fufilling than owning
Because corporations would rather see landfills overflow than anyone get anything for free
Because scarcity is a myth constructed to keep us at the mercy of the economy
Because a sunny day outside is better than anything money can buy
Because "free trade" is a contradiction of terms
Because no one should have to do without food, shelter, entertainment, and community
Because life should be a picnic, but it only will be if we make it happen
Have you ever picked up something you found on the sidewalk? Or saved your neighbor from throwing away something useful?
A Really Really Free Market is like a potluck for whatever you want to give or take away. Have you ever brought one dish to a potluck and gone away with a full belly and a balanced meal? Everybody brings something and goes away with more.
We all have skills, ideas, objects, smiles, talents, friendship, excitement, discussions, and many other things to share. If we bring them all together at the Really Really Free Market, we can provide more balanced and full lives for everyone.
As a community we have many more resources than we do as individuals. If we share our resources we won't need to buy as many new ones. This uses fewer of the Earth's resources, and fewer of our working hours, leaving us more time to devote to ourselves and our communities.
Would we all work forty hours a week at one job if we didn't feel we had to? What if instead we worked at improving our individual skills and talents and shared them with each other? We would all spend more time doing things we enjoyed."
A Really Really Free Market is like a potluck for whatever you want to give or take away. Have you ever brought one dish to a potluck and gone away with a full belly and a balanced meal? Everybody brings something and goes away with more.
We all have skills, ideas, objects, smiles, talents, friendship, excitement, discussions, and many other things to share. If we bring them all together at the Really Really Free Market, we can provide more balanced and full lives for everyone.
As a community we have many more resources than we do as individuals. If we share our resources we won't need to buy as many new ones. This uses fewer of the Earth's resources, and fewer of our working hours, leaving us more time to devote to ourselves and our communities.
Would we all work forty hours a week at one job if we didn't feel we had to? What if instead we worked at improving our individual skills and talents and shared them with each other? We would all spend more time doing things we enjoyed."
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