Wednesday, August 12, 2009

more natural dyeing results

i inadvertantly let a whole bag of onions go bad, so before i threw them out i pulled off all the outside skins, threw them in the dye pot and cooked for a bit. i left the yarn to soak overnight. got a lovely golden yellow.

i picked all the black-eyed susans from my garden. i had about 35 blossoms perhaps. i cooked them for about an hour, then saved them for further solar dyeing. put the first, alum mordanted skein in the pot. after about 20 minutes i pulled out this amazing green. it is absolutely lovely. i then added a new skein since there seemed to be a fair bit of color left.

after a three hour soak (without continued cooking) i got a soft green that was much less yellow then the first skein.

finally i cooked about a quart of peppermint plants for an hour or so. i was expecting a buttery yellow since that's what i got on silk, two years ago. i was hoping for a little darker yellow so i cooked it for an hour, then turned off the heat and let it sit overnight. in the morning i pulled out this amazing green-y brown.

i'm loving the results.

6 comments:

Thea said...

They look lovely. I especially like your first black-eyed susan green!

Anonymous said...

The greens are gorgeous, but that yellow is incredible! I'd never have guessed that was what onions would produce as a colour.

mrae said...

I am loving your results too!!!!!

Sowing Clover (Emily) said...

I love these colors! I have been wanting to natural dye for a long time and would like to dye with black-eyed susans. Could you give me more specific instructions? My e-mail is on my blogger account. :)

evergreenknits said...

oh WOW! I have always gotten greenish-tinged yellows from Black-Eyed Susans, so I am very impressed with those greens! Beautiful, beautiful colors.

Dori said...

Oh my gosh! I love these, so pretty, and love your blog!