Here is Linda's recipe for natural dyeing:
You will need: A dye pot (She got a stainless steel one from the thrift store), wooden spoon and sieve or strainer. These are not to be used for food consumption. You will also need fabric for dyeing, a good amount of plant material, water, soda ash and synthrapol or Blue Dawn dish soap. 
Scour the fabric: The method to scour the fabric is slightly different whether you use wool, silk or cotton. The following instructions are for scouring cotton....Bring water to boil in the dye pot. Stir in 1 tbsp soda ash and 2 tsp dish soap, Stir to dissolve. Add fabric and simmer 1-2 hours to remove contaminates. Cool slightly. Using gloves, rinse fabric well. Fabric can be added directly to dye liquid or dried to be used later. 
Prepare the dye: Collect plant matter to be used for colorant. Put plant matter into the dye pot with water, simmer 1-2 hours. Let cool. This mixture can be left for a few days. Strain debris from liquid (debris can be added to compost). Return liquid to dye pot. Bring to a simmer, add 1-2 tsp of mordant (see below) and stir to dissolve. Add recently scoured wet fabric, OR scoured fabric that has been soaking in water a minimum of 1 hr or overnight to dye pot. DO NOT ADD DRY FABRIC. Simmer 1-2 hrs (or longer for a deeper color). Cool. This mixture can also be left in pot for a few days. Wearing rubber gloves, rinse well. Air dry or use a dryer. Press as desired. Mordants are minerals that are added to the material before dyeing or into the dye pot. They react chemically with the dye and enable the material to absorb the dye. They also improve the lightfastness and wash fast properties of the colour. Using different mordants can produce variations in colour and shade. The mordants most commonly used are alum, chrome, copper, iron and tin. Alum was used in our workshop. You can find it in the spice section of the supermarket.
Instead of plant matter, you can also use food stuff out of your kitchen (spices, tea, coffee, fruit)
WARNING! results may cause a need to explore and experiment further.
Resources:
//pioneerthinking.com/crafts/naturel-dyes
Wikipedia.org - naturel dyes
Both of the above websites have a list of colors and what plant materials create those colors
maiwa.com - They sell products you can use for dyeing. They also have some information.
Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr
Natural Dyeing by Jackie Crook
DVD: In search of Lost Colour - MAIWA productions (We will be watching this DVD sometime during the year)
Pinterest - Natural Dyeing
Now that you know a little bit about naturel dyeing you are ready to create the "E" block of your project. You can either try dyeing your own piece and incorporate that into the "E" block or use the pieces you were given at the workshop.
See you next month when Cathy, Mary and Cath will present the confetti technique.
 |
| Naturally dyed wool |
