The Dye Pot

I've been busy with the dye pot again.

I call them my experiments. It feels like I am a scientist, madly working 
in my lab.

So I had some indigo and white fabric
and I wanted to see what it would 
look like dyed. As you can see from
the first picture, I laid some silk
ribbon and coins on the cloth. Then 
I rolled it up around a copper tube.

Meanwhile in the kitchen I had a 
large pot of water boiling to which
I added turmeric. Love turmeric, it 
is good for you too.

So once I had rolled the cloth around
the copper tube, I tied it on, varying
the spaces between ties. 

I then stuck it in the pot and boiled away for an hour. I turned the pot
off and left it to sit for 24 hours. 
After 24 hours I took the cloth out,
unrolled it and hung to dry. 

I like the lines the silk cloth made
on the fabric and the yellow color.
The copper coins did not show up,
or change the color of the dye. I'm
not sure why, but I will leave that 
to the chemists and just enjoy the
fabric. 

Note: I did run it through the dryer
and I pressed it to heat set the color.

Also, once I removed the fabric 
from the pot, I rinsed it out.

Hope you will try dyeing with 
natural products. It is great fun.

Have a good week. 

Sue

The Crock Pot Revisited, an unusual use

I have found a new use for my crock pot, as you can see from the pictures. I love to dye fabric but, I do not have space for an open fire and dyeing in the kitchen gave me problems with my allergies. So for weeks I have wandered around thinking what I could use to dye.

Recently I had my daughter and her family over for Sunday dinner. I dragged out the crock pot and made
a large batch of bolognese sauce. Unfortunately I was not happy with the results. I have had a love hate relationship with the crock pot. So after Sunday dinner, I decided to put my crock pot in the garage sale pile once and for all.

I'm not sure when it happened but a light bulb went off
and I decided to try the crock pot for dyeing. Why not? It has a long cooking time, I could use it in the garage and I did not have to worry about my allergies or a fire.

The process;


I filled up the crock pot with golden rod.
Added water and then the cotton fabric.
Add a good splash of vinegar to the water.
I added a rusty metal ring to weigh the fabric down.
Put the lid on and set the time for 8 hours.
After 8 hours I laid the fabric on the grass to dry.
When dry, I ran it through the dryer to set the color.
I then washed the fabric by hand and  hung it to dry.
And then pressed it again.

Couple of things, I over dyed some fabric I had so there
would be an interesting pattern underneath. When hanging to dry it will stain the floor. I will not be using the fabric for clothing as I am not sure if it will fade. The crock pot can not be used to cook in after using it for dyeing. If you don't want your hands dyed, wear rubber gloves.

If you would like to research natural dyeing I would recommend the master dyer, India Flint. She has some marvelous books on the subject.

Have fun and experiment!

The Dye Garden

This year my garden focus will be on plants to use in dyeing fabric, paper and yarn. I will achieve this goal using specific plants that when added to a dye bath add color. Along the way I will record from beginning to end my results on this blog. I am going to use seeds and plants to make the dye garden. 

As things stand right now I have used plants I've collected from the fields plus all the flowers my neighbors send over. I do not get fresh
bouquets but rather the dyeing bouquet. I love them all.

Hope you stay tuned, or perhaps try it at the same time!

Sue