Thursday, June 23, 2011

the dyeing so far...

so far

while the dye pots have been mostly quiet this week (except for a hopefully fermenting indigo vat), i do have some recent dye stuff that i wanted to share. above you can see the sum total of all my dyeing to date. it feels like a lot to me in that big stack, but really it's not very much. makes me want to go dye some other stuff though. it's funny too to see my non-uniform fabric pieces, folded haphazardly in a pile. much of the silk and some others i have been using are odd-shaped scraps from a dressmaker.

dyeing with rosemary

above is a page from the dye journal, showing my recent attempt at dyeing with rosemary. i tried to follow Sonia's dyeing of the same, but of course there are so many factors and variables with dyeing that my results did not end up quite the same. i do like the wool and silk, but the cotton and linen left something to be desired and i will probably overdye with something else. i've also been advised that some pre-mordanting might be a good idea if i try again next time.

dyeing with lupines

the dyeing from the lupines came out with great results. the soft green fabrics were dyed with the (purple) flowers of the plant, and the yellow is from the (green) leaves. i definitely like how these turned out and may try again, despite learning something else while dealing with lupines: they make me very sneezy. whoops.

dyeing with yellow onion skins

and lastly is my most recent dyeing, that with yellow onion skins, and i am loving the warm, saturated orange. funny thing: despite enjoying most foods and nearly all vegetables, onions have never been on my "like" list, so are never in my house. i asked my mom if she would save some skins for me to try dyeing with, and she did me one better. she happened to come upon the produce man at the grocery store dusting off all the loose skins as he put onions out, and knowing him well, she asked if she might have them. so i ended up with a big bag of yellow skins, and another big bag of red skins which i will dye with soon. thanks mom!

things have been quiet on the stitching front this week, but busy elsewhere. i feel good after my boat trip monday, a nice paddleboard session with A on tuesday, and a solo trail bike ride through the forest yesterday, but tonight i need to get some stuff done at home. the weather is cooperating in a sense too, with cooler temps and intermittent rain. so i will stay inside and work on the list. i've got a big idea brewing though, so hopefully i will dive into that this weekend.

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i'm liking today:

• regina's bird stitching
walking through the forest with annie
• abigail brown's new swans

8 comments:

Margie Oomen said...

can't wait to see what that big dive discovers for you

Dawn Suzette said...

Lovin' your dye experiments.
Can't wait to see what you make!

julie schmulie said...

that's a beautiful stack of dyed goodies....nice work!

abby said...

Really fun to see your results here. I did some dyeing with onion skins some years ago, and as I am also not much of an onion eater I decided to ask a friendly looking produce guy at the local natural market. He found it intriguing, and maybe a little amusing, why I wanted onion skins, and I came home with a big bag full! I should try this again. There are always things that could use some natural color. Also, whenever we have extra coffee leftover in the pot, we dye a thing or 2. Just today my guy soaked a few t-shirts and let them bake in the sun.

Being sensitive to metals, I am leery of metals as mordants, so if you come up with some alternatives I will be interested to learn about them.

Maggie said...

Beautiful. I love the results of your lupin dyes--I never would have expected those results, but they are subtle and lovely. Looking forward to seeing what you create with them!

lynda Howells said...

oh l wish l was as organised as you! I just get so carried away with bundling things...no patients that's my problem!x My supermarket saves red and yellow skins for me! lyndax

Tara said...

Beautiful results, k. I can't wait to see what the big dive is.

arounna said...

I too love the glow the onion skins gives to the fabrics
can't wait to see more.