Sunday, September 29, 2024

Dye Recipes 2024

It's the end of September and I just want to share my dye notes so far!
I'll keep adding to this as we play around more during the school year...


My previous blog posts on dyeing wool & wool yarn:


Note that there is no blog post called "30 Days of Dyeing: Days 16-30." That's because I ran out of steam. Didn't we all think we'd have oodles of free time during COVID?

Now, as part of Fibers & Clothing 2024, I'm once again taking a crack at natural dyeing, and the plan is that the children and I will dye ALL OUR YARN for the school year. Here are photos and my notes on making colors!

PLANT DYEING DIRECTORY - ACID DYES, METAL MORDANTS OR SOY MILK



Patons Classic Wool Roving Yarn, Aran
our bulky weight yarn


Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool Yarn, Natural
our worsted weight yarn


For saving a dyebath to use again later, I like these 1 gallon kombucha jars.


LIGHT YELLOW

    Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

    turmeric root, thawed from frozen
    + white vinegar

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    1:1

    crockpot

    chop turmeric root and add to pot along with yarn, put crockpot on Low for 4 hours, then turn off and let cool overnight

    turmeric makes a lovely clear light yellow but is not lightfast (we put our yarn in the sun to dry and it immediately began to lose its color)

    this is called a fugitive dye

    Turmeric

    the side of the yarn facing the sun is on the bottom; the underside (closer to the original color) is on the top


    Goldenrod (Solidago)

    fresh flowers gathered in September

    yarn mordanted with alum & cream of tartar vs. unmordanted yarn

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    10:1

    stovetop

    in the morning put flowers in a mesh bag and simmer 1 hour, let cool until late afternoon, remove dye bag and add fiber, simmer 1/2 hour

    Goldenrod

    this was the perfect dye bath to demonstrate the difference between mordanted and unmordanted yarn; it's a very dramatic difference!


    other things we could try:
    carrot tops
    fresh pomegranate peels


GOLDEN YELLOW

    Goldenrod (Solidago)

    yarn mordanted with alum (12% WOF) & cream of tartar (6% WOF)

    227 g Fishermen's Wool Yarn, 28 g alum, 14 g cream of tartar

    180 degrees F for 45 minutes (I used an old candy thermometer)

    How to Mordant Animal Fibers
    botanicalcolors.com

    Goldenrod

    unmordanted yarn on left, mordanted yarn on right

    I'm going to use the unmordanted yarn as my Light Yellow and the mordanted as my Golden Yellow


    other things we could try:
    annatto seed


ORANGE

    Beet (Beta vulgaris)

    fresh chopped beetroot
    + white vinegar

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    10:1

    crockpot

    chop beetroot and add to pot along with yarn, put crockpot on Low for 3 1/2 hours, then turn off and let cool overnight

    Beet

    2nd round with the "used" water (this is called an exhaust bath)

    we had so much potency still left in the beets that this yarn came out almost the exact same color! the exhaust bath yarn is on the right


    Yellow Onion (Allium cepa)

    yellow onion skins
    + white vinegar

    no mordant is needed for onion

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    I forgot to weigh this! but the recommendation is 2:1

    crockpot

    the onion skin gave a very different orange -- a kind of tawny tan -- and had a mottled look where the onion skins lay directly on the yarn

    Onion Skin

    the children very much liked this effect, and thought this yarn would be very good for a lion (they suggested in the future to use less water in the crockpot, and to make a sandwich of onion skins / yarn / onion skins so that there would be a lot of variation in the yarn color)


    other things we could try:
    sassafras bark
    osage orange


RED


LIGHT PINK

    Avocado (Persea americana)

    avocado pits, thawed from frozen and quartered

    no mordant is needed for avocado

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    4:1

    stovetop

    an avocado pit weighs approx. 25 grams

    simmer 1 hour, do not let boil, let cool overnight (repeat 3x for a total of 4 days of heating/cooling), add washing soda to the dyebath to make it more alkaline, pH of 9, test with pH paper strips

    let the dyebath stand overnight to cure (we found that this gives a more even dye color), prewet wool yarn in warm water, add to pot, heat over VERY low heat for an hour then remove yarn, cool

    Avocado

    plain avocado dyebath on left (peach), washing soda added on right (pink)

    rinse avocado yarn thoroughly and immediately or the avocado pits will leave a strong residue that gets darker and darker over time


HOT PINK


PURPLE

    Blueberry (Vaccinium Sect. Cyanococcus)

    frozen blueberries
    + white vinegar

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    4:1

    crockpot

    put bluebrries in a fine mesh bag, cook on Low 4 hours in crockpot and let cool overnight

    Blueberry

    blueberries on left (purple), exhaust bath on right (lavender)

    I also tried overdyeing some of the avocado yarn in the blueberry exhaust bath, for a more pinky-purple


    other things we could try:
    logwood (do not use cream of tartar in mordant)


DARK BLUE


LIGHT BLUE

    experiments with corn


    woad


    alkanet

      resources:

      http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/alkanet.html


GREEN

    Pomegranate + Iron (Punica granatum)

    whole pomegranate peel, thawed from frozen

    iron afterbath

    no mordant is needed for pomegranate

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    5:1

    stovetop

    simmer pomegranate peels in water for 1 hour until broken down, add wet yarn to pot, leave overnight to cool

    I wasn't happy with the dull color I got from the frozen peels, so in the future I will be sure to use fresh! We used this yarn as a chance to practice color shifting with iron (Earthues Natural Dye Starter Kit)

    Pomegranate + Iron

    place a tiny pinch of iron powder in dyepot, add hot water, stir to dissolve, submerge pomegrante dyed fiber, takes only a few minutes

    original pomegranate color is on the left, pom + iron is on the right

    note: you can also use pomegranate peels as a mordant (30% WOF)


    other things we could try:
    fresh mint + iron
    carrot tops, iron afterbath
    privet berries (pick when ripe and store in freezer)


BROWN

    Acorn (Quercus)

    fresh acorns & caps gathered in September

    no mordant is needed for acorn

    ratio dyestuff:fiber
    6:1

    stovetop

    bring pot to a boil in the morning, turn off heat and let stand, return pot to a boil the next morning, turn off heat and let stand all day

    this gave us a really strong deep brown that we can also shift to grey with ferrous sulphate crystals

    we could also strain the dyebath and simmer it longer and add some tragacanth gum to thicken it and make ink for stamping on textiles

    Acorn


    other things we could try:
    brewed coffee
    black walnut


GREY

    Acorn + Iron (Quercus)

    acorns, iron afterbath (6%)

    measure 6% WOF (weight of fiber) in ferrous sulfate crystals and add them to a large glass canning jar, pour in some of the warm acorn dyebath plus the acorn wool, leave for 5-15 minutes, remove & rinse

    acorn on bottom, acorn + iron on top

    do not leave your yarn with iron for too long or it will get crunchy!

    Acorn + Iron



Not all dyes are sun-fast, so I came up with a way to safely store a sample of the yarn colors we got along with their recipes. I got a 4x6 card file box and white 4x6 tabbed index cards.

I like to tie the hanks with the same yarn that I'm dyeing, and then save those little ties as the sample of the color I got from the dye bath. I simply staple those yarn scraps to an index card and then write on it what we did.

I can write the name of the dyestuff on the tab (different mordants will give different results for the same dyestuff). The file box also keeps sunlight from getting to the yarn and affecting the color swatches. It works really well!

Do Natural Dyes Fade? Try This Simple Test


A training I may take in the future:
1 year online Professional Natural Dyers Course
appleoakfibreworks.com


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

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