Nature will never cease to amaze me, amuse me, confound me and impress me. So when a friend mentioned she was learning how to eco-dye (to be written blog!) I followed the research threads to learn more and came upon information about artists extracting dye from natural materials. Of course! Before today's world of chemicals how else would clothing be colored? (Did you know that the modern dye industry is one of the largest corporate polluters all over the world?)
Anyway, one experiment led to another and in addition to spending some quality time at a friend's farm foraging and printing, I decided to make some dye the natural way and see what emerged.
Again, I won't bother you with too many details or instructions, they are all over the internet and after a while they start to contradict each other with formulas. Some of the best in my opinion are India Flint, Cassandra Tondo, and Wendy Fe.
That said, lets see what I brewed up (the image of a witch and her cauldron is not lost on me!)
Being the optimist, I got ahold of 5 generous skeins of undyed wool. Several pairs had similar spins so I had about 3 different weights and (sheep) types to work with. I was already drooling.
Wool (and most anything to be dyed) has to be gently washed to remove oils and impurities and then soaked in a "mordant" (in this case alum) to prepare the fibers to receive color. With wool you have to be very careful of the water temperatures as a drastic change (hot to cold or vice versa) promotes "felting" (a bonding together of the fibers) which is wonderful if you are making a solid mat but not helpful in keeping the thread textures.
Meanwhile....
one prepares the dye liquor. For my first attempt I had gathered walnut hulls (a delightful day in the woods) and let them sit, covered, for a couple of weeks (some book suggested that!). Then I brought them inside to the dye pot and boiled the entire mess for a couple of hours. My husband hated the smell! One book described it as "earthy." I let the pot sit overnight and then strained off the liquid and dumped it back into the cleaned pot. (a pot used only for dyeing mind you)
I added the mordanted, wet skein and turned on the heat. Have you ever tried to maintain 180 degrees on an electric stove? near impossible. It simmered for two hours and again, I left it overnight hoping the little fibers were turning color (a previous experiment saw the color all wash down the drain when rinsed).
Let me tease you by saying: I was not disappointed! Spurred on by success I started boiling red cabbage. I had read that by altering the pH of the liquor one could affect the color. Well, pH values were a bit over my pay grade but I researched and did my best to understand that vinegar is acidic and ammonia is alkaline and that the gradations in between were critical but not to me. I decided to punt.
Separating the red cabbage dye into two pots I added ammonia (some precise amount) to this pot and the whole mess began to turn a greenish shade. Magic!
My litmus paper said the cabbage was already a little acidic but I added a dash of vinegar to be certain (made me feel like a chemist) and look what is happening?!
Again,I brought both batches to a simmer/boil for two hours and again, I set them aside and left soaking overnight.
Whoo-hoo! Color!!
Most dyes dry slightly fainter than the pot water shows and these are no exception. They emerged a gentle soft color that will look cool knitted together.
And the brown? ready?
Luscious, no? It reminds me of my Brownie uniform back in the day.
Two more colors on the stove as we speak (solidago which is goldenrod and turning yellow, and avocado pits and skins which are looking brownish gold altho professed to make salmon).
I know my husband is ready to have real food coming out of the kitchen as opposed to these cauldrons full of recycled compost. Lately I have thought about our foremothers having to do this exercise over and over again (after having raised and sheared the sheep and then spun the wool) all the while tending babies and food cooking. I feel silly getting a thrill out of what was drudgery for them. But it does make me feel a connection...not only to the earth and the hidden colors of nature but to the men and women who first experimented to see if they could add some color to their lives. Amen.
DYEING FOR MORE,
Cindy
p.s. I suppose this means I will need to learn to knit? @%#!*&
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