Dyeing with acorns

 A few weeks ago, a friend gave me 4 buckets of acorns. Most of them will be treats for the squirrels this winter. I was more interested in making dye! I needed some brown tones for a needle felting project I am developing for a class I'll teach later in the spring. The acorns did not disappoint!

I soaked the acorns overnight and then simmered for an hour, leaving them to cool overnight. After removing the acorns from the liquid, I added wool and slowly heated to just below a simmer. It took color, but I wanted a wee bit darker.

 After adding 2 iron pill tabs to the pot, the wool turned much darker. The picture doesn't do it justice.

My finished felting project:

The center is the acorn + iron dye. Very VanGogh, don't you think?

Natural dyeing: coreopsis

 I am thrilled with the colours I am getting from the Dyer's Coreopsis that I grew this year.  I only planted one small packet of seeds and have already added more to my order list for next year!

Back to natural dyeing

My houseplant really needed a haircut! The plant was reaching the floor and I kept finding dried leaves all over the place.  Why did I let it go so long?  Maybe so I'd have enough to cook up and dye a piece of fabric?  

Back to dyeing / avocado, my favorite!

My container of avocado skins and pits was finally full enough to cook up a pan of dye.  I decided to use just skins this time and ended up with some unusual colour.

The linen thread began as a very light pink.  The cotton fabric is what I am used to getting when cooking up an avocado dye pot.  The light blush colour always makes me smile

The next day I added more fabric to the dye.  I wasn't sure if there was much colour left.  Both the hankie and aida cloth took much colour.

This fabric was my big surprise.  It began as gold on white. The "white" is far darker than I've ever had avocado dye the fabric.  Is it because of a finish in the aida cloth? I don't know.

These all came from the same dye bath, just on different days.  To my surprise, the darkest pieces were on the third day.  The pot is still sitting on my stove....  What shall I add today?!?

 

Matpe bean dye

This little dye project actually began as a cooking project.  I was cooking beans to use in a salad and the water became so thick and dark and yummy that I strained out the beans and added fabric and threads!

The fiber I added was some linen that a friend gave me.  This picture doesn't show it well, but it was baby yellow - something I probably would never use.

I also had a small piece of fabric that had been soaking with rusty nails for some time and decided to throw it in the pot, thinking that the iron may work as a mordant with the bean juice.

After a good long simmer and washing, I must say that I am very happy with the results!

Eco dye: red day lilies

A few months ago, a girlfriend dead headed her red day lilies and gave me a bag full of dried flowers to use for dye.  I'm finally getting around to using them.  Yesterday I rolled them up in some muslin fabric and tied them with string. They then went into a pan to simmer in a shallow amount of water.  Now I play the waiting game for as long as I can stand, or until they start to smell!  Hope to leave them for at least a week before unrolling the bundle.

Acorn cap dye

Funny story....  I wanted to try acorn caps for dyeing.  My dear sweet girlfriend gathered  a bag full.  Plenty to make a wonderful pot of dye.  But I got greedy.... This past weekend my son and I went hiking and found a nice stash of caps lining the trail.  I gathered another bag to make ink and dye all winter.  Problem was - chiggers!  I didn't wear bug spray (tons of sunscreen, but really didn't need it in the woods).  So now I am covered with itchy bumps.  I should of been happy with the gift acorns. 
Silly me.

Used the dye on silk and cotton threads.  I feel that the silk must have a finish on it as it should of taken the dye better and darker than the cotton.  Still a nice colour.

quilting on natural dyes quilt

My goal was to have the machine stitching done before leaving on my trip.  Surprise - didn't happen...  I am very close, and maybe a 2 week leave from it will make it easier to finish. By the way... leaving for Sweden this morning.

making ink: flowering crab blossoms

My flowering crab is in full bloom.  The bees are all over it, being such happy bees.  To enjoy the delicious scent a little longer, I cut a few branches and put them in a vase inside the house.  This morning the petals were starting to drop on the table, but instead of running the branches out to the compost, I decided to make ink!

I used a ratio of 2 to 1,  water to blossoms.  I simmered the blossoms for about 2 hours with a tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. (Trying to somewhat follow directions in Make Ink by Jason Logan.)

After straining, brushing some ink on watercolour paper, and letting it dry, I had a big surprise!

Yes! my lovely flowering crab ink dries green. But it is a lovely shade of green!

Natural dye: avocado

I save all my avocado skins and pits.  When the bucket is full, it's dye time! The nice thing about cooking up a pot of avocado dye is, it doesn't need a mordant added to the mix.  There is enough tannin in the pits to self mordant.  Or at least that is what I read.

Natural dye: Dandelions

Last week when I did my natural dye presentation for the library quilt group, one person asked how much plant matter I use for a pot of dye.  One lady said, "probably as much as her pot will hold".  How true that is.  Yesterday, I set out picking dandelions (between rain showers), and picked every flower in bloom in the yard!  Not enough to fill my cooking pot, but enough to cook and make a lovely yellow colour.  I did not use a mordant, but believe there is enough colour left in the pan to simmer another piece of fabric today and add some alum to the mixture.

Natural dyes: Stinging Nettle

My first reaction was disappointment with the colour of my stinging nettle dye.  Then I remembered how much I enjoyed the process.  I'll just over dye the piece later in the season.  Maybe the leaves were too young?