I mordanted .5 lbs of BFL roving in tin and another .5lbs in alum, along with .5 lbs of soysilk. Check out that yellow! That is osage with the tin mordant. A keeper. The lighter yellow is the soysilk, the deep purple/red is a mixture of cochineal and brazil wood with the tin mordant.
While I was burning up the kitchen with the joo-joo magic of plant dyes, I thought I needed some strong orange so I did use a wee bit of kool aid on another .5 lb of merino. What can I say? Sometimes it gives you the results you crave. Then I made fast and loose with some onion skins that I had collected over the past weeks. I didn't even mordant the yarn. Yee-ow! The dye bath was a lovely colour but it wasn't really translating to the yarn so I thought I would add just a touch of iron, which is a mordant that is usually added afterwards. With a look of horror on my face, I watched my golden russet colour change to this:
Holy moly. But all was well when I realized that it was dyeing the wool a greenish/brown colour that is actually really lovely. In fact, it is definitely another keeper. This photo doesn't really do it justice - the colour is quite rich.
All in all, a good morning's work.
2 comments:
Wow your colors are amazing. Helen, oftroy, told me about you. I am starting to get into the natrual dyeing myself.
Go for it! It is like magic. The seduction of colour is a powerful thing.
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