Blog - Part 34

Cómo teñir con cochinilla por Textilesnaturales y Anna Champeney Estudio Textil

QUÉ ES LA COCHINILLA Y DE DONDE PROCEDE LA COCHINILLA DE TEXTILESNATURALES?

Dactylopius coccus – la cochinilla – es un pequeño insecto. La cochinilla que encuentras en nuestra tienda online es un producto nacional español, procedente de la isla de Lanzarote donde la crianza de los pequeños insectos ha sido tradicional durante generaciones de cultivadores.

Así que con la compra de nuestra cochinilla apoyas esta actividad tradicional y ayudas a apoyar las iniciativas para re-valorar este producto de excelente calidad y de origen 100% natural.

CÓMO EXTRAER EL TINTE Y TEÑIR CON COCHINILLA

Encontrarás instrucciones sencillas para extraer el tinte y teñir con lana (también sirve para seda aunque no se debe hervirla) incluidas tanto con el kit y el tinte cochinilla.

El paquete de 25g de cochinilla sirve para teñir hasta 350g de fibra. Por ejemplo, se puede teñir 75g de un tono oscuro, otros 75g más claro, y seguir tiñendo o hilos hasta agotar el baño. Con solo 10g de nuestra cochinilla es posible teñir por lo menos 50g de lana con un color fuerte.

Para teñir telas hace falta remover la tela en una olla de tamaño adecuado, evitado que se formen burbujas en el baño para que se tiñe de forma uniforme.

“!No tires la cochinilla después de realizar la primera extracción! Se puede repetir el proceso más de una vez. Entre cada extracción se puede secar y guardar la cochinilla sin problemas” – Truco de Anna Champeney Estudio Textil

FIJADORES (“mordientes”)

Los fijadores aumentan la resistencia del tinte a la luz y a los lavados que suelen afectar a cualquier fibra, tela o prenda teñida (tanto con tintes naturales como con tintes sintéticos). El fijador para la cochinilla más común es el alumbre pero también se puede emplear sulfato de cobre y sulfato de hierro.

Receta para fijadores caseros

Dejar trozos de cobre o hierro en remojo con una mezcla de agua y vinagre durante 7 – 14 días hasta que el agua coge el color del metal. Es preferible tratar la lana con el mordiente antes de teñir con la cochinilla, aclarándola bien, para no contaminar el baño de tinte.

“Mucha gente no sabe que el fijador también cambia el color obtenido – desde colores fucsia (con alumbre) hasta tonos muy atractivos de violeta (con cobre). En caso de usar el fijador de hierro es aconsejable aplicarlo después de teñir la lana, y calentar la lana con el hierro durante unos 10 minutos o hasta que se observe un cambio de tono en la lana” – Anna Champeney Estudio Textil.

¿QUÉ FIBRAS Y TELAS SIRVEN PARA EL TINTE DE COCHINILLA?

En Textilesnaturales y Anna Champeney Estudio Textil especializamos, principalmente, en teñir hilos para emplear en tejeduría en telar. Si quieres teñir telas es importante usar una olla suficiente grande que permite que la tela se mueva libremente por el baño del tinte. Si no, no se tiñera de forma igual. Es importante usar telas lavadas, libres de grasas, aceites u otros acabos que pueden impedir la absorción del tinte.

La cochinilla da buenos resultados en fibras, materiales y telas de origen animal (lana, seda, plumas), pero los resultados en fibras y telas de origen vegetal (lino, algodón, cañamo) son mucho más pálidos y requieren procesos de fijación más complejos, por eso no aconsejamos el uso de cochinillaa para estas fibras o telas.

Las instrucciones que acompañan la cochinilla que vendemos en nuestra tienda online sirven para lana y seda pero no para telas y fibras de origen vegetal.

¿What shuttle to use in my loom weaving?

¿Are you thinking of buying a shuttle for your loom? Here, at Textilesnaturales, your online loom shop and weave course centre in north Spain, we show you 4 different types with their pros and cons.

Comprar lanzaderas

Stick shuttle

The simplest and cheapest shuttle, often used by hobby weavers on rigid heddle and table looms.

Pros

Cheap
Simple to use
Good for thick yarns
You can use on any type of loom
It´s flat – so if your loom doesn´t create a very wide gap for you to weave in the shuttle fits

Cons

Slow and can be irritating to use compared to the boat shuttle as you have to unwind the yarn manually as you weave.
If you want to use finer yarns it takes ages to load the shuttle as wind the yarn by hand

Boat shuttle

The shuttle most often used by craft weavers on table and floor looms. Available in different shapes and sizes, with or without wheels, open or closed on the bottom, in different shapes and sizes (avoid Ashford shuttles in our view as they are very narrow at the tip and it´s easier to make mistakes). You use them with commercially available quills (cardboard or plastic tubes onto which the yarn is loaded with a separate bobbin winder) most most people make their own by cutting ovals of paper and rolling them up and glueing them so they don´t unroll.

Pros

Far quicker and more convenient to use than the stick shuttles.
It´s a pleasure to weave with these aesthetically pleasing wooden shuttles which (see photo of Louet shuttles) are more ergonomically shaped.
Bobbin winders (see photo of Louet winder, at left) help you to make perfectly wound quills every time.
Convenient for fine yarns

Cons

Not that great for thick yarns as you can´t load enough yarn on the quills
Cost – more expensive than stick shuttles especially as you have to buy the bobbin winder as well

Rag shuttle

Large size shuttle designed for weaving with rag or ribbon yarn

Pros

Its size and design make this a great shuttle for weaving rag rugs

Cons

Heavier than other shuttles
Not as suitable for small looms or looms with poor shedding mechanisms

Fly shuttle

Fly shuttle (Textilesnaturales)

The professional craft weaver´s choice for production weaving. This shuttle is still manually operated by means of a system of a wooden knob attached to cords but enables you to weave far quicker than with the boat shuttles.

Pros

Larger than boat shuttles so you can load more yarn. You don´t have to stop to change bobbins as often.
Loom companies such as Louet make kits to adapt their floor looms quickly and easily to use their fly shuttles (see photo).
Manual propulsion – no electricity required.
You can weave quickly
Used with an electric winder (most companies who manufacture fly shuttles also supply winders) it makes loading shuttles far quicker than the manual winders often used for boat shuttles.

Cons

You can´t easily adapt looms that are not designed for fly shuttle weaving to the shuttles and mechanisms available on the market. Sizes are not standard but vary according to the brand. It can be very difficult to source the pirns which go inside old or ex-industry models of fly shuttle.
Require practice in their use.
The fly shuttle requires the addition of a box to the beater so it takes up more space and becomes heavier.

telar spring adaptado para lanzadera louet 400 pix

Telar Louet Spring prepared with a fly shuttle mechanism

Show and Tell: Textilesnaturales´ christmas exhibition of weave by pupils and other lovers of loom weaving in Spain

Here you can see a gallery of work made by some of our pupils and other lovers of loom weaving here in Spain. Many thanks to all who sent us photos.

We hope to see you here at textilesnaturales, Galicia, Spain in 2014 and wish you a creative and inspirational new year, Anna y Lluis

“Textile craft is my passion” – Alicia Galieni, Alicante

Alicia es from Argentina but now lives in Monte Pego, Alicante, Spain

“A few years ago I began to weave on table looms and “Maria” looms. Here are some photos of my work. I began weaing in Argentina and since coming to live in Spain I´ve continued, and follow the blog and facebook of Textilesnaturales. I don´t don´t many other people who weave yet in my area – in Argentina it wasn´t a very common activity either. To create my designs I like to play with colour and different types of materiales. I also like to incorporate other techniques like crochet and knit, applying them to to the fabrics I weave on my loom. I mainly make accessories, with each design being unique and carefully made. I hope that in 2014 I cna visit textilesnaturales and do a course in shaft weaving as I don´t yet know this kind of loom”.

“I love the idea of a virtual exhibition!!!” – Bea Iglesias, Ourense, Galicia

Bea is a pupil of Anna Champeney Estudio Textil in Galicia. Now she´s taking her first steps to create a family business based on raising alpacas for their fibre. Lots of luck Bea, in 2014 and keep us up-to-date on how the project develops!

“This is a summary of my work this past summer with the fibre of our alpacas. The dye I used was elderberry in different strengths to obtain different tones”.

“Merino and bamboo yarn give a texture like silk and wonderful drape” – Maria Guerreiro, Galicia

Maria has already done various courses with professional weavers such as Anna Champeney in Galicia and Helene Loermans in Portugal. She is inspired by the idea of applying contemporary design to weave, and the use of colour.

Textile 1 (on left): Shawl

Technique: Woven on a shaft loom
Materials: Merino wool and bamboo
Measurements: 50×200 cm

Textile 2 (right): Cradle cushion

Materials: Local wool and linen
Technique: Shaft loom, Galician felpa (loop-pile) technique
Measurements: 35 x 35cm

“…. woven with the technique I learned in Anna Champeney Estudio Textil and with wool dyed by hand with natural dyes”

Kathleen McCormick, Dublin, Irland

6 years after doing an intensive 3 week course at Anna Champeney Estudio Textil Kathleen has her own textile studio near Dublin in Ireland. Irlanda. She combines loom weaving with basketry and exhibits in fairs nationally and internationally.

“… an authentic symphony of movement on this flat space which the warp offers” – Estela Sanchez, Segovia, Spain

Title: “Jazz in the Garden”
Materials: 100% silk and hand-dyed natural dyes
Date of creation: Spring 2013
Descripción:

“Sometimes you find a real coming together of the materials. Although you have a previous idea of a design, of where to place colour, the music and dance between the threads of warp and weft – and myself as the weaver – result in a real symphony of movement on the flat plane offered by the warp. This piece is made with gentle champagne tones and lavender. THey remind me of a jazz garden. I listen a lot to jazz when I´m weaving.

The warp uses colours on shafts 1 and 3 and other colours on shafts 2 and 4. This allows me to work with one set or other, changing them them when I want. … Jazz in the Garden.

“Loom woven design as a dance between yarns and structure……” – Anna Champeney, Galicia, Spain

Materials: Linen and supertwisted Japanese wool
Technique: Double weave, collapse weave. 12 ends per cm.
Measurements: 35cm x 180cm
Descriptión:

“This piece is recent and part of a series of scarves woven from linen and wool. The challenge has been to create a linen scarf which doesn´t wrinkle and which doesn´t require ironing. I´ve achieved it thanks to the interaction between special threads and the double-weave construction of the piece. It uses fine yarns but feels quite substantial. Each design requires a process of experimentation and the creation of a sampler to try out different options and choose the best to turn into a final design. I never get bored of weave as there is a constant process of discovering and experimentation”. – Anna Champeney

Scarf, rigid heddle loom, Lluis Grau, Galicia

“Ashford´s rigid heddle looms are new for us at textilesnaturales and this is the sample desin we created for as a first project for clients who buy the loom from us. Rigid heddle looms are far more basic than shaft looms but by varying the colours and yarns you can have a lot of fun and weave a piece up relatively quickly and easily”.

Materials: Anna Champeney 100% lambswool 4/14nm with natural dyes (cochinieal – red, bark – blue, flowers – yellow
Technique: Plainweave and a simple knotted fringe

Textiles naturales

¿Te interesa realizar un curso online de tècnicas del tejido en telar con Anna Champeney?

Cómo teñir con cochinilla por Textilesnaturales y Anna Champeney Estudio Textil

¿What shuttle to use in my loom weaving?

Show and Tell: Textilesnaturales´ christmas exhibition of weave by pupils and other lovers of loom weaving in Spain

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