Madder and Inkweed

Monday 13 April 2015

The year is racing and now the days have a distinct autumn feel. My dye vessels on the deck are really cold in the morning although they get quite hot on the sun. I bought some madder and have had great fun experimenting. I used a hot dye method and a cold dye method.I followed the really clear instructions here - well not quite because I put the chalk in too early. Next batch I will follow th instructions more carefully. Photo shows dry dyed wool waiting to be washed.

I have dyed all the wool I can find and finally looked at my stash of wool I used for felting and my spinning wool. The wool was shorn off our own sheep and mixed with cashmere from our own goats - only shorn and carded 25 years ago. But the spinning wheel was broken - Gordon to the rescue and I lumped and bumped my way through a skein. Google to the rescue and we bought some oil, applied in strategic places and what a difference!

In the meantime the berries out the back in the weedy part of the property slowly ripened. I had thought they were pokeberries but (Google again) discovered they were called inkweed in NZ 

                               Phytolacca octandra

So every day I would add several berries to my pot until I couldn't wait any more. I used acid with the berries and soaked my wool in a vinegar mordant.

I have used very gentle heat and all kinds of yarn blends - cashmere , wool, mohair and I am so pleased with the results. I had picked some of the leaves and stalks so I tried them first with acid but very little colour showed. Changed the ph of the water and with a bit of a fizz there was a strong yellow. They dye process is such a treasure chest of discovery.

Tuesday, 24 March ,2015

I have been dyeing all the wool I can get my hands on! I have experimented with the plants in my backyard and special treasures i find on my trips around Auckland.

From the left - berries from the Arum lily - poisonous and Very smelly but so much colour to give

then onion skins and eucalyptus leaves

then agapanthus flowers (blue)

then fennel 

and lastly wild carrot with copper mordant

 My daughter wanted to make a baby rug out of natural colours so with a kilo of beautiful merino MW I had lots of fun. I tried turmeric, eucalyptus, fennel

 agapanthus flowers, different eucalyptus leaves and the bottom two are from the Arum bath

 more tumeric

top was apple bark with a soft fennel at the bottom

I bought some cashmere merino and dyed bootee lots from all the deepest that just did not seem to get exhausted. So now the rug is in progress. Cant wait to see it finished.

Bouganvillea - in the pot and then after 1 day solar dyeing. Have to wait and see what happens.

Wednesday 28 January, 2015

A new chapter

I am trying to avoid the word "retired" I just no longer get paid for working!! So I am learning to dye. I have made haphazard attempts before and the results have been interesting, disastrous and absolutely amazing. So this time I am being methodical, taking pictures and keeping a diary. So this is my first attempt. The dress was knitted by my sister and dyed using bracken from the backyard.The dress was mordanted with alum overnight and squeezed out but not dried. It was added to the dye bath, heated to a simmer for 45 minutes and then left all day and hight. Dyeing builds patience!!!

 Not sure why the white background looks purple but the yellow is fairly true to the actual.