I'll keep adding to this as we play around more during the school year...
My previous blog posts on dyeing wool & wool yarn:
- 30 Days of Dyeing: Days 1-15
July 2020 - Natural Dye Recipes and Photos: Days 1-15
July 2020 - Crockpot Dyed Wool Instructions & Photos
April 2019
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
the side of the yarn facing the sun is on the bottom; the underside (closer to the original color) is on the top
- resources:
Crockpot Dyed Wool Instructions & Photos
DIY: Dyeing with Turmeric
wonderground.press
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
this was the perfect dye bath to demonstrate the difference between mordanted and unmordanted yarn; it's a very dramatic difference!
- resources:
Making Dye From Goldenrod Flowers
cedardelldesigns.com
Dyeing with Goldenrod
saltinmycoffee.com
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
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
- resources:
Annatto Seed Dye
appleoakfibreworks.com
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
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
- resources:
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
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)
- resources:
Dyeing with Onion Skins
cedardelldesigns.com
other things we could try:
sassafras bark
osage orange
-
resources:
Natural Dyes - Osage Orange
folkfibers.com
RED
-
madder
citric acid?
- resources:
Madder, in Many Ways
seagreenandsapphire.wordpress.com
cochineal
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
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
- resources:
How to Make a Dye with Avocado Pits
YouTube video - Myra Made Color
HOT PINK
-
frozen cherries
pretreat yarn with salt
- resources:
Dyeing Fabric with Fruit
seamwork.com
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
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
- indigo
soya milk?
- resources:
Beginners Guide to Indigo Dyeing
thecrucible.org
Organic Indigo Dye Recipe and Process
muezart.com
Stirring Up an Indigo Revival Where Slave Cabins Still Stand
The New York Times - Sep 19, 2024
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)
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)
-
resources:
Wild Color by Jenny Dean, p.115
Make a Natural Dye Using Pomegranates!
YouTube video - Myra Made Color
Pomegranate
wildcolours.co.uk
Pomegranate Extract
shepherdtextiles.com
Pomegranate Natural Dye DIY
cedardelldesigns.com
other things we could try:
fresh mint + iron
carrot tops, iron afterbath
privet berries (pick when ripe and store in freezer)
- resources:
How to Make a Green Natural Dye with Privet Berries
YouTube video - Myra Made Color
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
- resources:
How to Naturally Dye with Acorns
YouTube video - Wildcraft Dyeing
love her paint strainer bag idea! I have several different sizes of dye pots so I got 1 gallon and 5 gallon (5 bags per set)
other things we could try:
brewed coffee
black walnut
- resources:
Black Walnut Season
blog.ellistextiles.com
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!
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
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