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.

Plant Dyeing Workshop

I have finally taught a 'proper' workshop on plant dyeing.  I have had many dyeing sessions with friend, and at work, but this one was the first attempt at an organized event.  Thank you Craftstitute for creating space here in Ithaca where artists can come and have a space to teach a class.   I think it went off very well and I hope my - newly addicted to color friends - agree.

We started off by putting plastic labels on the skeins, then pre-soaking the fibers in water.  I had already mordanted the skeins prior to class in Alum & Cream of Tartar.  After adding the dye stuff which was - Sage brush ( I collected some branches when I went out west a few years ago), dried Marigold flower heads, Red Onion skins, Madder and then a lichen I had soaking in an ammonia bath for a month - after about 45 minutes of hot soaking we then strained the bath thru mesh and cheesecloth.

The marigold turned out to be a really strong yellow and everybody loved it.

The red onion skin didn't turn out a greenish as it had in the past.  Its a wonder to get get color from nature and its always a surprise.

The madder had been soaking in my kitchen for days and the red (on the orange side) that we got was very impressive.

Stunning results - thank you nature.

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)

_____________________________________________________________________

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.

______________________________________________________________________

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.

_________________________________________________________________

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 --- 

Marigolds

So, I picked the last of my marigolds today - the weather is just right for this time of year and I almost think its still October with its bright blue sky, crisp mornings & sunny days. The birds are scurrying around the bird feeders and the squirrels are burying nuts in the garden soil (which I will have to dig out later in the spring when they don't find them all). I might have to go around and see if I can pick the last of the goldenrod today - it was a very bad year for this flower, wonder if it had anything to do with all the wet weather we had in early Fall? Most of the leaves are down and I can just feel everything starting to shut down for the winter. I will be happy with my spinning wheel and wool that I got at the festival and will hunker down myself.

The Day Before

Ok so I have my final list of pot colors for tomorrow.

* Indigo - blue , 2 - because the freeze dried Indigo oxidizes too quickly so I will switch off pots as one re-deoxidizes.

* Alkanet - blue/purple - if I mixed it properly, we will see tomorrow. I am currently soaking the roots in rubbing alcohol and will boil up first thing tomorrow with a full pot of water. Its my first time doing this one so I am excited

* Henna - yellow

* Flower heads - yellow , lots of different flower heads ( Marigold, black eyes susan's, some mystery yellow flower head that looks like queen anns lace, and then I have "booster" yellows. Small jars of color that I will pour into the pot as the day goes on.

1 small pot of yellow onion skins and 1 small pot of calendula

* Madder - orange red, a very strong pot that I use the coffee grinder to chop up small roots that I purchased last year. Sadly my patch of madder I started last year did not come up this Spring.

* Cochineal - red/pink, I might add madder to this and some soda too to make it a deeper red.

They will get a variety of greens and purples when they overdye with two colors.

I have my tent all ready to go up and I will have out my spinning wheel & of corse all my dye books. Unfortunately I think I will be the most excited one there tomorrow so I might look like a freak but that is ok with me. I love color.