Hawthorn red dye

[xylaria]

Last year when I made fruit leather I push the crushed haws through a cheesecloth. The uncooked haws left brilliant red permanent stains on the cloth. I have processed haws before but always cooked and though they have stained cloths it is usually a murky orange or dusk pink.

Over the last week i tried to replicate the red stains and basically make a dye from hawthorn. I can't, i keep getting revolting coloured cloth. Hawthorn was used as a red dye in russia, but I can't find any reference to it being used in europe, and I certainly haven't found any method. As cooking seems to change the red, it must be cold process, i think. I have put a load of haws in a bucket to see if the red soaks off and I might be able to get an even pigment, but I am not holding much hope.

Has anybody got any input at all?
What else could I try?

The history of home dyeing must be littered with; "oooh that's a pretty stain"

 

[Toddy]

Oh yes, and books that informatiively state, "A good red dye is obtained from the berries in outer .......land" is a sure indication that the book ought to rapidly become a cardboard frisbee.

Hawthorns give a deeper rust red dye from the bark when taken later in the year. The berries give a peach colour that is deeper from being made acidic in the dyebath add vinegar or the like will help.

I've had a dyepot of berries sitting under the garden bench at the back door for the last three weeks fermenting down slowly....this mornings frost has probably stopped that dead though in the hopes that the long slow fermentation might break out the colour from the skins the way it does elderberries.

If you get something good from your processes, will you let me know ?

kind regards,
M

 

[xylaria]

I worked out the acid thing with hawthorns, the peachy orange colour seems to come from the meat of the fruit, and when haws are mixed with more acidic fruits i have noticed the colour differs. I got the dusky pink from 2 jars of haw jam that I found at the back of the cupboard that looked to old to consume.

The red stains are the same colour as the date time banner with report post botton on it, ie the same colour as the skins. I have boiled washed the cloth since and the stains are still there. The fruit leather pulp dried on cheesecloth before i washed it, dried-in stains are always more colour fast.

I am empting the tannin wash from acorns into the bucket with idea that the tannins in solution will pull on the red pigment in the skins, but not bind with them.

 

[Toddy]

Sounds good, and ammonia sometimes works the same way to pull a reluctant dye.
atb,
M