Dyes

[TeeDee]

Dyes - Found this on a social media feed - is it realistic from the experience of those here who know?



What else can be used for dyes and what colours does it produce?

 

[bobnewboy]

Walnut husks. Lots around this time of the year. Items usually end up brown to very dark brown, but quite nice. Don’t get any on your hands though. See:

How to make walnut dye

 

[Broch]

A few others from my database:

Birch – yellow and green from leaves
Hornbeam - yellow from bark
Juniper – shoots olive/brown
Meadowsweet – deep yellow or green
Perforate St John's-wort – red and yellow from flowers
Rowan – black from bark, blue from fruit
Tansy – yellow from flowers
Agrimony – golden yellow
Nettle – green

To be honest, most natural dyes are 'subtle' rather than vivid - but I rather like them. Many plant dyes will change colour dramatically depending on the mordant being used.

 

[TeeDee]

I think it would make an interesting project to collect and dye a collection of swatches - maybe to be sewn together for something more subtantial.

 

[slowworm]

It's one of those things we hope to get around to at some point. Lichen is interesting as it seems to produce pinks and purples and I've been collecting a fair bit that blows off the trees or is on firewood. The only thing we need to sort out really is something suitable to die.

It would be fun to have a thread on what people have dyed and dyed with.

 

[TeeDee]

. The only thing we need to sort out really is something suitable to die.

It would be fun to have a thread on what people have dyed and dyed with.

I think thats a cracking idea.

As for a material - I think any cheap base white fabric from a haberdashery ( great word... ) would provide a nice test bed sample. Then if one wanted to actually dye something larger and functional you at least have a starter idea of how the colour and process will work.

 

[Toddy]

This is a fairly representative set of colours obtainable from British dyestuffs.

It doesn't include the fungal or the lichen dyes. Those plants are often under threat, and these hoops were made to demonstrate in public. I didn't want to encourage the use of rare plants.

These are all on wool, if I use linen or cotton then I need to change the mordants, and mordants are all toxic to a greater or lesser extent.
Again, I was demonstrating in public so all of these dyes are simply alum, iron and copper mordants which are the least toxic and safe to be disposed of, with care, in the sewage system.

I know that if I used Chrome (which causes feminisation of the invertebrates at the lower end of the aquatic environment, and the concommitant damage, etc., ) or tin, which creates organo-metallic toxins that are persistent in the environment) then yes, I can get brighter, sharper colours.
But, to be honest, I don't think anyone can call themselves a 'natural dyer' and routinely poison the environment when I can get this range without doing so

That range of colours shown in TeeDee's first post is very do-able, very realistic, especially on cotton/linen.

M

 

[Toddy]

Actually, looking at those hoops again, there's a whole range of berry dyes missing. No idea where I put those photos.
Long story, but if you ferment berries, like elders, for months on end, and leave them to stew peacefully until they go mouldy, then the dye that is extracted is a stable purple
I know it's stable because most purples from berries, or leaves, are sensitive to pH, and if you rinse with vinegar you'll change the colour to pink, if you use soap, it'll go blue-grey.
The effect doesn't last though, and it all mutes out to a sad grubby grey. Fermented berries stay purple for at least several years though
So, does the juice from whelks.

M

 

[YEOLDOAK]

Have used inks on leather and nylon to dye stuff as its what I
had on hand, used the black grime from a worn bike chain, that stuff stains
and doesnt seem to wash out