I've been hesitant to use natural dyes because it seems to involve so much work! And, I am a tad bit lazy and a lot impatient! Collecting dandelions, making an osage orange dyebath, finding a dye recipe for logwood, choosing a mordant (alum, iron, tin) or not (walnuts), soaking overnight in a muslin bag dipped in rubbing alcohol (sandalwood), phew! See what I mean!?
All that said, I am making an effort to connect to the environment and use resources around me, or within reach, to create eco-friendly handmade items. It's so inspiring to see other fiber artists design and create with natural dyes that I want to do more of it.
I have explored dyeing with natural plants a bit, but I wanted to expand my dye horizons. I took the plunge and purchased some logwood dye. Logwood is extracted from a Caribbean tree and has a long history of use as a dye for purples and blues.
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Yes, I know logwood dye extract looks red; however, it creates beautiful blues and purples. |
Batch #1: Alum as the mordant. I pre-soaked handspun yarn, roving, wool fabric, and scarves in the mordant in hot water for an hour.
Batch #2: Iron as the mordant. I created a dyebath and then directly submerged yarn, roving, wool fabric, and scarves into it. The items were removed, iron added into the bath, then the items returned for approximately 30 minutes.
I purposely layered, folded, and stacked items as they went into each dyebath so that I could get variation in color.
The Results:
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Natural-colored Clun Forest wool dyed with logwood and alum. The alum causes the dye to lean towards warm/reddish purples. |
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Top: wool roving dyed with logwood and alum. Bottom left: wool roving dyed using exhausted logwood and iron dyebath. Bottom right: wool roving dyed with logwood and iron. |
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Close-up of silk scarf dyed with tea, coffee, and logwood (iron mordant). |
LOve the look of the natural dyes! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteI am loving the colors, too. It's fun (and good) for me to get outside of the commercial dyer's box!
ReplyDeletewhat colors did you get witht he dandelions?
ReplyDeleteI never did find out about the dandelions because I didn't collect enough. My trusty book said yellow. I will try again next year along with some hollyhocks.
ReplyDelete