starting a dye journal...

with my new ventures into natural dyeing, it seemed like it was a good idea to keep track of my experiments and results. inspired by a couple others, i have started a dye journal to record what comes out of the dye jars, as well as what doesn't (err, or rather comes out with no change - the leopard's bane was very disappointing). i only have a few pages filled so far, but i'm feeling like this could be a really good summer for natural dyeing.

it is always so interesting to see what comes out of the dye. below on the bottom right you can sort of see my avocado skin results. the cotton and linen turned soft pink as expected, and the washing linen that was a medium beige to begin with became a bit darker, a bit pinker. but the unexpected was a bit of gauzy fabric (i'm not even sure what it's made of) that i threw in the jar at the last moment. it was unmordanted, and yet it seems to have reacted to the dye the strongest, turning a very dark pinky brown. the dye journal is going to be useful to refer back when i want to repeat results, but it is also fun as a record of experiments that went completely different than planned.



i hope to continue playing around with dye stuffs found outside - the yard, garden and beyond, but i also ordered some indigo and madder today with plans of attempting an indigo vat like eva's. in future i might try some other bought natural dyes, and if i'm lucky, may attend one of maiwa's fall dyeing classes. we'll see. at the moment i'm watching what unfolds as the weather warms (i'm personally really excited about dyeing with salal berries).

what about you? anyone else playing around with dyes?