Homeschooling, farm life and our love of earth

"Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it." ~Polly Berrien Berends

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Natural Dyes

Last week I dyed [left to right]





2oo g with 900g stinging nettle. [mordant - alum] 2 hrs at 90'C and overnight to cool



200g with 500g Slang Bessie [mordant - alum] 1 hr and 90'C and overnight to cool

then I left 100g in the dye bath and added 1 litre of fermented onion skin water [poo - it stank] But the colour is really pretty.




So now I have 400g of hand dyed yarn and cant wait to dye some more!



The stinging nettle dye bath after 2hrs on the stove. I left it over night to maximise on the green tone, and it definitely helped.




Slang Bessie - indigenous plant that belongs to the same family as the tomato and potato. I have no idea of the colour fastness of this dye bath, time will tell...






4 comments:

Tammy said...

Those are some of the most beautiful colors I have EVER seen.

I am drooling here.

Do you sell your yarns anywhere in the US?

Carle said...

Hi Tammy,

Thanks for the compliments! You are so kind

I want to test the fade resistance of the dyes, and if it is good, then I intend selling them on my etsy page. www.NurturingFirbres.etsy.com

Pop over and check the sweet doll blankie I just added!

Carle'

Amber said...

Wonderful post and pics...as always...
So colourful, fresh and creative.
I love it!

Anonymous said...

Wow, those are beautiful colours. That's amazing Carle!


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