I have been dyeing a long time now and I am still finding new to-me dyes that are exciting. Bloodroot is the new one for me this Spring. Its an old Native American dye and has been used for centuries.
What took me so long? Its orange - bright beautiful orange.
The rhizomes are ugly and quite frankly they look like bugs lying on the counter. The leafs are up right now and have a white flower that is just about to die out if they haven't already. You can find them on a shady road sides & in the shadows of the woods (please be responsible if you dig them up). They are easy to dig as the rhizomes are shallow.
I diced the fresh rhizomes up and warmed up the pot to just below boil.
I also have a few drying and I am also putting this jar in the sun to see if a slow cool seep changes the color.
The upper left corner is after dipped in washing soda and I didn't see a strong color change in the wool. The silk however you can see a change in the top part (washing soda) a more yellow orange, the bottom is just out of the pot. I plan to do a light test next to see the color fastness but I have high hopes given the history.
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