To Dye For.. purple basil and mint

This week I experimented with herbs as my source for natural dyes.  I had read that different herbs produced different colors so I thought I would give it a try.  At my local farmers market I found purple basil and mint and decided that was a good start.  Just like most natural dyes the plant material needs to be chopped up and simmered for 20 to 30 minutes.  After I added the chopped herbs to the pot I realized that it would be a good idea to contain them in a cheese cloth. Oh well, maybe next time.

Purple Basil.

Mint.

As the herbs simmered I cut my samples.  I love seeing how the dye reacts to different materials.  Most of these samples are cotton but some are blends.  The instructions say to presoak the fabrics but I never do, I will have to experiment in the future to see if it makes a difference.  Most people presoak in soda ash.

I made four sets of samples for the two dyes. Half way through I took out one of the samples out of each bath and added a mordant, alum, to see its effect on the dye. 

The final results produced a very subtle color. I really enjoy these soft colors, but it just depends on the application of the color. Not everything needs to be bold, and I'm a sucker for subtle shades of gray.

As you can see, the alum made a difference in the purple basil dye, enriching the purple. It's remarkable the similarities between the rest of the dyes. I would be interested the results in mixing herbs in the same pot to see what colors emerged.

Be Inspired. Be Bold. Be Natural.

peace &love

Rebecca

To Dye For.. red cabbage

Recently I've been really curious about natural dyes and after some research in have been amazed at the variety of natural resources that produce a wide range of colors.  Most of the natural dyes can be grown and most are probably already in your garden.  Others are compost dyes which are usually the skins or peels of different items, like onion skins, avocado skins and even coffee grinds.

I found this great head of cabbage at the local farmers market and thought this would be an easy dye to get started with.

With some research I learned that red cabbage dye does best with a mordant to keep the dye colorfast.  A simple mordant is alum and can be found in your cabinet, or the grocery store.  I also learned that modifiers could be used to alter the colors.  So I decided to do two batches, one with a modifier of salt and one without.

So I chopped up the cabbage into 1 inch chunks and filled the pots with water, I wasn't really measuring, just what looked like enough. I let this cabbage soup simmer for about 20 minutes, until the cabbage started loosing its color.  Towards the end is when I added the alum, about 1 1/2 tsp for each pot.

I then assembled my samples.  I was curious how the dye would react to different fabrics so I cut up a bunch of strips.

For my next project I want only the tips to be dyed so I rigged up this contraption with clips and string so the fabric pieces could be suspended in the dye.

After the dye is ready your supposed to strain out the cabbage but I left some in, to lazy to strain it out.  I suspended the fabric for about 20 minutes then turned of the heat and let it sit for a while.  At about the 15 minute mark I added the salt to one of the pots.  The salt was supposed to turn the dye more blue, but I did not really see a difference.  If citrus is added it should turn the dye more pink.

After I got to my desired color I took the fabric samples out the cool off then rinsed them out.  I was surprised to see this brilliant purple color emerge.  I almost didn't want to rinse it out, knowing most of the color would leave.

This is the final results, a beautiful lavender and tips dyed perfectly just as planned.  It's amazing that a simple produce item can produce such delicate blues.  I can't wait to see what colors other items in my garden can create!

Be Inspired. Be Bold. 

peace&love

Rebecca

The Art of the Onion Skin Dye

It's been a while since I've done some hand dyeing, the last time was in the fall during my weaving class.  I had learned about natural dyes and instantly fell in love.  When I found out that something as simple and readily available as onion skins made a natural dye, I began collecting them immediately!  It took a couple months and a lot of cooking with onions (good thing I love onions and most of my recipes start with an onion) and I finally had a collection.  Once I had enough, they just sat there.  I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to use this dye, as it took me so long to collect.

In the past couple weeks I have been in full design mode for my new apartment down in Savannah.  For it to be the perfect space it has to be well thought out and designed but more to come on that later.  As a result of moving I have been cleaning out and going through all of my stuff in my current home.  I came across tons of fabric that I had bought in the past (I'm a fabric hoarder) and decided to learn how to properly make a pillow to finally use some of that fabric.  I couldn't find the perfect color piping so I decided to dye it instead.  Since I was going to go through the whole process of dyeing, I wasn't just going to dye some strands of piping, so I added a couple yards of fabric to see what happened.  I'm so glad I did because this is what came out and I can't wait to turn them into more pillows!

I started with a couple bags of onion skins.

Filled a pot with water, added the skins and simmered it down.

I added some alum, the binder, and it boiled down for about an hour.

I added the fabric and let it simmer for about another hour.  I wanted the dye to really soak in and become a rich hue.

I also had another packet of dye laying around, so I decided to do another dye bath.  This time it was an acid dye so a slightly different process.

It started with water, dye and a splash of vinegar.  Throw in the fabric and let it simmer and soak in.

I left it in until it got rich and saturated.

This is the final product.  I'm very happy with the results and very surprised of the rich golden hue that the onions produced.  I cannot wait to turn these into pillows, stay tuned!  

Be Inspired. Be Bold. Be Natural.

peace&love

Rebecca

Cochineal.. the dyed yarn

After a lot of rinsing, washing and laying out to dry for days, here is the final result of the natural cochineal dye.  The wool and cotton fibers took the dye differently but they both make for some beautiful light rustic red colors.

 The wool yarns.

 The cotton yarn.

Now to decide what to make with this yarn beautiful yarn.  

Lets see if I remember how to knit!

Be Bold in your Designs

peace&love

Rebecca

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