Cochineal.. Experimenting with Natural Dyes

After a research project I completed on the Oaxacan Rug weaving, I became very interested in the use and process of natural dyes.  It amazes me that prehistoric people were using these techniques and materials that laid the groundwork for the current dying processes.  With something so natural, why use synthetic?

First I unwound my balls of yarn, wool on the left and cotton on the right, and rewound them so to get a more even dye.

Alum is the metal binder that is used to help adhere the natural dye to the yarn fiber.  The yarns can be soaked in this first or it can be added to the dye pot and done all at once.  I added mine to the dye pot.

This is a batch of the cochineal dye.  Cochineal is an insect found on prickly pear cacti.  They are picked/harvested from the cacti and dried.  We placed a handful of the little insects in a cheese cloth to keep them from floating all around.  The dye is slowly brought up to a boil and is kept at a long simmer to get a nice color, then cooled down.

Then we added the yarn.  We slowly brought it up to a simmer and kept it at the simmer for about an hour.  Since we didn't quite have enough dye we had to stir it constantly to make sure it got an even soak.  After the hour we turned off the heat and now we are letting it sit.  All will be uncovered Wednesday!

try something natural.

peace&love

Rebecca