100% wool yarn, natural/ecru, no mordant (lichen is a substantive dye). Cameo by indigo fingers 😅
I've done this at 10% WOF before and got a pretty OK tan, kind of a paper bag color. Who knew this was hiding in the higher percentages??
I wanted to make stamping ink from alder cone dye. I managed a thick paint. I carved some stamps using the easy cut carving blocks that can be used as stamps. I hardly need any of the ink on the stamp to get a print on fabric (cotton) and too much creates a blob. Thickener is gum arabic...a lot of gum arabic.
Dye: soaked the cones overnight. Simmered 2 hours. Cooled then soaked overnight with the cones in the fridge. Simmered again for an hour then strained the liquid using cheese cloth, then coffee filters. The cones got a nice color from a second batch of water and simmering too.
To get the ink I mixed in easily a cup of gum arabic (a bit at a time) in the blender with some of the dye that I reduced with heat. The best consistency I got was thick paint. To get the ink on the carved block I used a foam brush and dabbed it on. It would probably make a great paint.
That was fun.
I was inspired by large mouth bass. Handspun herdwick and stricken lonk wools dyed with buckthorn leaves and an iron after-bath. One picture against white to better show the color and then the aesthetically pleasing photo 😅.
Hi all, I did some eco prints recently with a group that lowkey failed and I’m not sure why. I mordanted cotton bandanas with High Yield Aluminium Sulfate from an agricultural supply store, 20% WOF, and scoured with soda ash and dr bronzers Castile soap beforehand. We wrapped up the prints and put them to simmer/boil for an hour. Ideally I would like to do 2 hours but this is a test for a much larger festival based class where I will only have the time to simmer each workshops prints for an hour.
We used a mix of things to try printing with, the golden rod, marigold and wet calendula came out fine though pretty blurry. Basically nothing else took. Hopi red dye amaranth didn’t really show up, the coreopsis didn’t show, strawberry leaves only kind of showed and they have tannins so I’m not sure why. Any guesses? All help appreciated!
Do I need to add tannins?
Hello! Trying my first reduction vat with powdered indigo, date sugar for fructose, and washing soda. I reduced in a mason jar and everything looked exactly right at first. I transferred that to a larger pot (metal) for the actual dye bath and things seem to have gone downhill. I figured I’d need to continue reducing a touch once transferring - I added more fructose and let it sit over night. Nothing seemed to have advanced this morning so I checked the Ph and realized it was too low. Then I added a touch more washing soda and I’m sitting at a Ph of about 10–11 now. It has been consistently warm and everything else seems right but I haven’t gotten the bloom to reappear. Now, the liquid in the vat is clear and pinkish. Nothing comes out on fiber doing a dip test. What am I doing wrong??
I am interested in learning to dye my homespun wool with natural dyes. One of my flower beds has been overtaken by birdsfoot trefoil. I can find off hand remarks online about dying with it, but no instructions or cautions (irritant, toxic). Is it safe to dye with? What kind of colors does it produce? Is it lightfast? What am I not considering?
Thanks.
TL;DR: Just my question in bold below and also...what's your step by step process for finishing after the dipping is complete? Picture is of my clearest rinse water from last time doing this. Both skeins were dipped 5x 30m. I forget how many rinses it took, but I want to say 10?
I'm dipping some wool yarns in an indigo sig vat, and it's going well. I've done it before and that went well too. I could just do what I did before, but I'm just curious what others do because I'm on my own learning this. No guild or dyers to chat with in person.
Specifically, I'm wondering:
On a scale of 1-10, what is your definition of "rinsing until the water runs clear"? 1 would be like tap water, and 10 would be solid color. (edit: and I'm curious about this for natural dyes in general, not just indigo. If I can get the rinse water to a 2 or 3, I call it done).
I have read about several different ways to finish your indigo dyed textiles. They all involve the same steps but sometimes present them in different orders. Some say to let the items dry, MAIWA says to let it sit in the dark for two weeks, everyone says to neutralize it with vinegar, Catharine Ellis says to boil (cellulose) or heat to appropriate hot temperature (proteins) for 10 minutes with "a small amount" of neutral soap.
What I've been doing with this round of dyeing is letting the skein dry after its final dip then doing an overnight soak in the neutralizing bath--figuring I can accomplish an overnight soak and the neutralizing in one step. Then I'm taking MAIWA's advice (because why not) of letting it sit in the dark for two weeks. Then repeated rinses (fill plastic tub with enough water to cover the yarn, squeeze the yarn several times, dump the water in the garden). Most recently, I did this rinse process 8 times for my 2x12h dipped skein, and the rinse water was still at about a 5 or 6 on my scale mentioned above. I might do a couple overnight soaks in plain water or just rinse it eleventy more times. Then do Catharine Ellis's heating thing.
Last year, I'd do an overnight soak in acidic water, an overnight soak in soapy water, let it dry, then several rinses. Usually eight or more.
I'm been messing around with botanic dyes again. This time I took a pair of my old 45rpm slim straight jeans, and overdyed them in a vat of black cutch extract. On white fabric, this gives a rich coffee color. These jeans were vintage faded, kinda light-blue with a white-ish weft (see 2nd pic. for original color), so I got a more muddy-brown effect (which is what I was aiming for). I need to darn some wear and holes near the leg openings, then these will be good for another five years at least. (Belt is from the wonderful Mr. Lentz).
Please help!!!
I'm a 4th year student doing my thesis/feasibility study using a plant based pigment for lip products. And we are already done with our pre-oral defense, and I realized too late that our product has a lot of problems like water+oil is not compatible so there is a tendency it will separate though we use emulsifier but as a student that my course or program isn't related to science, we lack of knowledge and expertise about our feasibility study. Though my countless efforts to search for a possibility on how formulators solve their stability of their natural pigment/formulation on their product. I didn't find a single clue on how they prolong its pigment, since its plant based there is a tendency it will fade. Though I know not all pigment won't fade because upon watching a luxury bag its color will likely fade if you leave it in high temperature or direct sunlight. So anyway back to the topic, I need your advice on how I make or solve our feasibility study. Because I need to graduate this school year. And I'm already stressed and overthinking that I might not graduate this year. And I need your opinion, Whoever reads this is it okay that your product in feasibility study is not perfect? Because as a scholar student that has no resources for this kind of feasibility study, I felt helpless and I don't know what to do. I hope those natural plant based formulators will read this and guide me on how to make our study successful. Thank you and God bless! And God please help me and guide me on how I make my thesis successful or at least I graduated this year so that I could help my parents! AMEN!🙏
I have a ton of it growing near my property. I was planning on removing it because it’s invasive, but as I pulled one flower it stained my hand an indigo color.
Can you use it as an indigo substitute?
So, I have a family member I am gathering some marigolds from to dye clothing. Thing is, I’m ordering the powder you need to soak clothes in so the color will hold (I’m failing to remember the name at the moment, I know it starts with an S), but it won’t be here for another few days. Will they be okay to dry out a bit for a few days before I steep them for coloring? Or, alternatively, will I be able to steep them and just hold the dyed water until that powder comes in? TIA!
Hi! I am new to natural dyes (as in, I have never dyed anything). I recently came across this jacket, and I love the way that the indigo peeks through the charcoal. I was curious if I would be able to achieve the same effect on these two wool Pendleton sweaters.
I know that charcoal, which they used on the jacket, doesn't necessarily make the best dye, and also may have a different effect on wool than denim. Is there a better alternative? Logwood with an iron modifier? I definitely want to do a natural dye.
I plan on using a sweater from a thrift store to test whatever I decide to do.
I recently dyed a sweatshirt using Mulberry Leaf powder dye and would really value your thoughts on how it’s turned out — photos attached.
For reference: the sweatshirt was sold to me new as 100% cotton. I mordanted with aluminium acetate and calcium carbonate, then after dyeing stored it folded in a wardrobe, away from light, for six weeks.
As people here have far more experience than I do, I’d be grateful for any thoughts on what you’re seeing in the photos, and any advice on process or storage going forward.
It’s been suggested that it the mordant that has migrated and potentially the garments was not completely dry and had some humidity left in the fibres?
Dyed with peach leaves and iron
In the second pic the top swatch is just peach leaves and mordanted with alum
I am extracting indigo powder from Japanese indigo. I fermented in water for three days, aerated, raised the pH with calx, aerated some more, and now the indigotin won't settle out of suspension. Any advice? It's been sitting for more than 24 hours.
I picked up a pair of Rudy Jude pants used, and did not know much about them until I made a stupid mistake. on my second (yes second) day of wearing them I spilled some beets on them. panicking, I rushed to the laundry room and spritzed on some spot cleaner (I know, never again). Because these pants are naturally dyed, they immediately bleached in the are that was sprayed. I think that the only way to remedy this is to re-dye them. The bleach spot is about the size of a tennis ball on the leg.
The pants are a beautiful gray-brown-taupe colour. I am very sad to dye over it, but I would rather that than have a big bleach spot. I am open to a darker colour if that will work better.
What would people recommend for this? I have done a bit of dyeing, but always on light/white materials.
Very happy with this orange, mordanted with tannin and alum and dyed with plains coreopis