Natural dye - Hibiscus

Ahhh, another glorious day here, sun, warmth & weekend, you can't go wrong.  So here is the dye I kept talking about.  Its a really nice color - very different from Cochineil or madder.  I got these Hibiscus pedals, dried, from a vender,  www.stonymountainfibers.com  - this is the only dye stuff I have bought from them so I can't recommend others.  

I used about 2oz of the dried pedals - you can see what is left on the papertowel - I always re-dry what I have used for another day - and I think I got good color for the amount of dye stuff.  The yarn used up most of the color on the first dip (heated to a simmer then cooled overnight).  Then I dipped the loose wool (simmered and then cooled overnight).  Its a very good for a type of flesh color.  

Then I put in the felt sheet and silk and wanted a simmer but walked away from the pot too long and got a rolling boil for half an hour (ops! - you should never boil dye stuff) but ended up with a stronger color.  go figure.  The three different color yarns are from the normal batch (first dip) then the more brown color is from the boiled dip and then the purple hued one was from the first batch then dipped in a tin afterwash.  I usually never use tin except for sample colors.  I don't like the heavy metals.

I think my next adventure will be green onion skins and/or nettle.  Both are suppost to give a green...