Re-Discovering Natural Dyeing Part VI - Madder

With this post, I've used up the last of the pre-mordanted yarn with some madder dyeing which was a new experience for me. This madder was purchased dried from Louet sometime around 1997 - another of those "finds" when I moved. I soaked 4 oz in toe of an old knee-hi overnight in a cold water pot. This yielded the most amazing wine red color, which did not really translate into the dyed fiber. I used the usual method of putting pre-wetted yarn in cold pot, brought to a simmer and held for 30 minutes. In the accompanying picture, these are top to bottom: wool with copper, wool with alum, mohair with copper and mohair with alum.

Rediscovering Natural Dyeing Part V - Red Sandalwood

The red sandalwood was in the form of a fine powder and was purchased from Carolina Homespun around 1996 (back when they were still headquartered in NC). About 4 oz was soaked overnight with pot brought to a simmer before adding the yarn. For this pot, it seemed like it would be interesting to soak portions of the yarn with oil (corn oil) prior to putting it in the pot. The idea was to use the oil as a resist of sorts. It did work in a subtile way as can be seen in the photograph. From top to bottom, the yarns are wool with copper, wool with alum, mohair with copper, and mohair with alum.

Re-Discovering Natural Dyeing Part IV - Osage Orange

For this dye pot, I used 2.6 oz Osage orange (all that I had). It was in the form of a coarse ground bark and probably purchased from Louet in 1994. This time I filled the dye pot, dropped in the osage orange in its sack and let it sit overnight. The water was a fairly deep shade of yellow the next morning. Pre-wetted skeins went directly into the cold dyepot, brought to simmering temperature and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes. Results are in the accompanying photo. From top to bottom they are: wool with copper, wool with alum, mohair with copper and mohair with alum. The colors have a brighter clearer quality of yellow compared to Eucalyptus and the copper mordant renders a color I would describe as old gold.

Rediscovering Natural Dyeing Part III - Eucalyptus

For this particular dye pot, I used the same general procedure as before, i.e. soak dyestuff in mesh bag overnight, add to dyepot next day and simmer a few minutes before adding the fiber. The eucalyptus was picked locally by a friend and dried sometime around 2002 - another one of those finds from when I moved. I used about 8 oz. of dried leaves for this dyepot. The color is a clear, but slightly dull yellow when used with alum. The shine of the mohair really doesn't show through with the alum mordant as much as it did with the copper-mordanted mohair. In the photo from top to bottom the yarns are wool with copper, wool with alum, mohair with copper (my favorite) and mohair with alum. The dyepot smelled very nice on the back porch.