I'm getting ready to do some natural dyeing. I have a butter tub partially filled with the lichen from the downed branches in our yard - probably black walnut branches. I gathered the lichen last week and put some ammonia in with it. The liquid has turned a deep red color. The little reasearch I have done indicates that it should dye wool that same deep red color - I hope so. I'm not sure how to do it, I guess I will just add water, boil it, and then put the wool into the pot.
Today, I found some really nice moss. The moss was on rotted wood in the field behind my dog pen at the farm. I have no idea what kind of wood or what kind of moss, but I gathered a couple of really nice clumps. I don't feel bad about removing natural things from that field - if the new owner ever gets the right permits it's going to be fenced off and filled with hair sheep, so all the wild things will be removed. I am debating with myself about adding ammonia to the moss and letting it sit for a while - maybe I'll just boil the moss by itself.
I'm also not sure if I want to use alum and cream of tartar...
I have a cold sapping my energy right now, if I feel better, I'll do the dyeing tomorrow and post the results.
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1 comment:
Phyllis,
I am anxious to hear how your dyeing experiment turned out. I dabbled a bit with natural dyeing last autumn, and I must admit...I am hooked. I didn't always get the results I thought I would, but I loved every colour I did get.
Keep up the posting on your blog when you get time so I can learn from you.
Trudy
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