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.

Lovely Goldenrod Flowers

I swoon every time late August arrives because it signals the return of my favorite plant dye flower.

The Goldenrod

The yellow it gives in fields and dye pots is by far my favorite.  I thought I would lay out a few mordant and after dip combinations I have done.  There isn't much a difference in yellows - the ammonia after dip warms it up considerably - but the iron after dip is quite significant.  There is a difference in color depending on the wool/yarn you choose.  Its always important to do your own tests.  When you do your tests make sure you use to correct per portion of dye to weight of yarn.  If you make up your "full" dye pot but dip in test yarns remember that the tests will produce a darker color than if you had put in your full amount of yarn.  

When I make a pot of goldenrod dye I fill my pot full of blossom tips.  The tips are fresh and barely open.  The older the flower the saddened the color will be, but if your going to add iron anyway to get that great green it would be fine.  Plus in November and the last flowers are blooming I grab them anyway.  I have two frozen bags of fresh flowers in the freezer and plan on using them this winter - I'll post the results here in an update to see if they produce anything different.  

I have over dyed goldenrod and indigo and receive the most gorgeous greens you ever have seen.  I also have a great time achieving oranges with cochineal.  Ill try to post that next.

Remember its not the lovely goldenrod that is making you sneeze but the ragweed that grows next to it - so marvel in the beauty of goldenrod and enjoy its splendor of color.

I am also happy to report that I am once again the Handwork Teacher for the Ithaca Waldorf School in Ithaca,  NY.  I start tomorrow and I will hopefully take up this blog to track my comings and goings of teaching this year and future years.

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.

Plant Dyed Yarn

Once again I had the pleasure of dyeing the yarn for the children at Green Meadows Waldorf School.  I was given the yarn early in the summer and finished it just in time.  The colors that resulted from coaxing the dye pots all summer long were exciting, mysterious and hard all rolled into one.  Among the dye stuffs I used were, Onion Skins, Cochineal, Indigo, Black Walnut, Cutch, Wolfe Lichen &  Goldenrod.  If you have a question about the color combinations I will do my best to remember.  I used Cream of Tartar and Alum as the fixative.  All were warm/hot baths except for the cutch which was cold (the tan color).

There were two types of yarn that I dyed.  

Brown Sheep - Lambs Pride Single ply worsted (on the left) 

 &

  BartlettYarn - Fisherman 2-ply yarn (on the right).

Both are in unbleached 4oz skiens.

Now, I have been working with Indigo for many years now.  Natural, cakes, freeze dried, so I don't call myself a novice anymore.  Dyeing with Indigo is always tricky.  Sometimes its just not ment for certain yarns, like the Bartlett fisherman yarn.  The wonderful natural oils that they leave in there just prevent the indigo from biting.  I even presoaked and scoured the yarn with no avail.  It ran clear but when it dried it still crocked off, when from the same pot I pulled the Brown sheep yarn with no crocking.

 Bartlettyarn

 Brown Sheep

Unveiling of Sun Jars

 This is what the jars looked like after sitting all night.  

 I guess I could have waited another day to unwrap it, but the weather was not cooperating and was supposed to be rainy for a few days.  Plus I couldn't wait!

The string does act as a resist - when you wrap the items as dry cloth/wool.  I think I might wrap with thicker string and more of it next time.

The darker spots are black walnut chunks, the orange comes from the direct contact of the fresh coreopsis flowers - as well as the yellow from goldenrod.

 I plan on sewing the long edges 1/3 together on both sides (a space unsown in the middle of the "tube") to make shawl/bolero type cover.

Sun Jar Dye

Sun Jar Dye

What better use of the sun but solar power dye.  Gather ye rose beds... or in my case goldenrod, marigold, coreopsis, black eyed susan and one black walnut cut into pieces, in each jar.

this is a piece of silk wrapped zig zag with tight string.  No rhyme or reason.  Pop it into the jar - had boiled some water and it had been sitting while I strng up the silk so it could cool a touch.   

 I had pre-mordant the silk and bits of wool in my normal alum and CoT.

 This is what it looked like after a few hours.  I plan to let it soak overnight and unwrap tomorrow...

Yellow Goldenrod

I just got done dyeing these window silks for the school.  I used Goldenrod flowers - which are in abundance right now.  Such a beautiful color.  I am drying them now and they go up tomorrow - I will post the finished results soon.  I am busy winding wool and making sample projects.  School starts on next Thursday.