Greens and all the Rainbow Glory

Natural Rainbow Glory

Left to right strips: Goldenrod/Indigo(4), Indigo(4), Indigo/Cochineal(3), Logwood(1), Cochineal(2), Bloodroot(2), BlackWalnut(3),OsageOrange(1), Marigold(1), Goldenrod(2)

I always have extra yarns around when I simmer up this many colors and dye bits and pieces.  I have finally knit up a little swatch to show them off.  

Greens are everywhere in nature especially in summer but it is really hard to achieve in natural dyeing without over dyeing (combining two colors).  Indigo and goldenrod have to be my favorite color combinations - they greens I are given are spectacular and I like to leave the finished color all around the house so I can just look at it as I pass by.    

I was dyeing two different yarns - Bartlett and Brown Sheep - both produce wonderful greens but spectacularly different even pulled from the same pot at the same time.

Here are the finished custom naturally dyed yarns for Green Meadow Waldorf School.  You too could have spectacular color just drop me an email by stoping by my Etsy shop, I dye yarns, loose wool and some natural cloth.

Brown Sheep Worsted: OnionSkins, Marigold, BlackWalnut, Logwood, Blackwalnut/Logwood, Cochineal/Indigo, Bloodroot, Cochineal 2ndRow: Goldenrod, Mint (Iron), Indigo/goldenrod, Indigo, Indigo/Cochineal

Bartlette Yarns:  OnionSkins, Goldenrod, Goldenrod/Indigo, Indigo, 2nd row:Bloodroot, BlackWalnut, Cochineal/Indigo, Cochineal

Used the Indigo pot to dye some cloths for the obligatory Family Beach shot - I think its going to be great this year.

Natural Dye Chart

I have been doing a  lot of Natural Dyeing this summer already.  These are some samples I kept.  If you have any questions let me know.  Different wools (breeds and there for yarns) soak up the dye differently.

Winter Plant Dyeing - Peach to Yellows

Finn and Shetland wools

 Here is a lovely Finn sheep from my friend Erika's family farm - oneearthpermaculture.

The top (unrolled) wool is from these lovely finn sheep.  I treasure Finn wool - its perfect for needle felting,  It had a beautiful loft and is always soft.  The other is wool (white and grey) are from shetland sheep that I got from Roc Day this year.

The Finn wool roving goes into a mixed yellow dye, made from my gardens dried flowers from my garden this past summer.  

Marigold, coreopsis and cosmos (on the right)

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Avocado

Avocado skins that were saved for 2,3 years?  You have to de-skin the avocado and then rinse the skins under water to get all that green flesh away before drying them.  They were easy to crunch up in your hand, into littler pieces, so more dye is able to be released.  

The color turned a lovely shade of peach - lower right is the finn wool - its just beautiful and just what the Dr. ordered for this cold part of wintertime.

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Coreopsis

This was dyed with Dyers Coreopsis and Madder root.  Left is white finn roving and Right is the grey Shetland.  I so hope to get some madder plants going this year for my garden.  I still have some left over dried roots from a farm up in Maine that I went to this summer.

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Osage Orange

This is the difference between yellows from Osage Orange, dip one in a weak bath of ammonia water (top), brings out a warmer yellow.  Below is the Osage Orange on white and then grey shetland wool - When you use yellow dye on grey wool - you usually get green shades.

--- Just some more shots of the warm colors ---