dear Tonya, I have not yet tried, but carrot tops produce a lovely green- and of course there is blackberries too. I believe (I'd have to go look at my book) apple bark creates a pink shade. <3
I also got a lot of yellow tones in my experimenting. I did manage a dark grey using peppermint (with iron as the mordant), and a beautiful celery green using frozen daffodil flowers with a copper afterbath (obviously that will have to wait until spring). My next test is going to be carrot tops. It is supposed to give the nicest green but I have yet to try it. And I plan on using black walnuts if I can find enough. Interestingly, my goldenrod tests gave me two colours: a bright bright orange using just the flower heads, and a yellow green using flowers and leaves. You can see some of my results over here: http://plain-jane-remembrances.blogspot.ca/2012/03/weekend-crafting.html
I actually bought a small amount of iron at a dyeing workshop I went to, but she said that you could also just dye the wool in a cast iron pot, or throw an old piece of iron in the pot while it is doing it's thing. She had old railroad spikes. The book I bought also says you can get a warm brown using peppermint with copper (a handful of old pennies that actually contain copper should work for this) but I have never actually tried it.
Those colors are gorgeous. I especially like fern. I'm waiting for pokeberries to ripen. I have a new book that promises good, lasting results when dyeing with them. You can use black walnut hulls for an earthy brown...no mordant required. Have a great day!
Reading out of my "Joy of Spinning" book ... here are some suggestions! Sumac, pokeberry (I did poke last year and it was beautiful!), sassafras, and black walnut. I am going to try black walnut this year since it is so abundant. Have fun!
Tonya...This August we used tansy and it gives a gorgeous deep yellow. I know tansy grows all over both our countries, and we still have flowers that would work. We dried the tansy and that is what is happening now, so you could pick already dried. I look forward to seeing more of your experiments as I have also got the dyeing bug! xo Jules
I highly recommend the book "Natural Dyeing" by Jackie Crook. If you'd like I'd be willing to lend mine up to you. Mordanting the wool will also produce a variety of colors for the same dye stuff used.
Things found up on Vermont.....walnuts, rhubarb, Osage orange, goldenrod, stinging nettle, red cabbage. With Pokeberries be sure to use vinegar or something acid to mordant the wool. Osborn Fiber studio has a great tutorial on dyeing with Pokeberries.
I highly recommend the book "Natural Dyeing" by Jackie Crook. If you'd like I'd be willing to lend mine up to you. Mordanting the wool will also produce a variety of colors for the same dye stuff used.
Things found up on Vermont.....walnuts, rhubarb, Osage orange, goldenrod, stinging nettle, red cabbage. With Pokeberries be sure to use vinegar or something acid to mordant the wool. Osborn Fiber studio has a great tutorial on dyeing with Pokeberries.
Have you tried fresh ground sage leaves? I picked some yesterday to put in some soap I was making and it ground up really green. Just wondered if you could use that to make a pretty light green. I want to do this so bad! I still have 3 bags of raw wool sitting here.
I live along the St. Lawrence River in the north country of NY so I would imagine the plant life we have is similar to yours. I'm really enjoying the book Wild Color by Jenny Dean. So far I've used goldenrod and sumac. I got a really bright yellow from the goldenrod and a more subtle buttery color from the sumac leaves. I also have some yellow dock to try sometime soon.
Very neat! I bought the book Dye Plants and Dyeing (by John and Margaret Cannon), but have yet to try it. But some suggestions that you could find around VT are black walnut, Blackberry (shoots or berries), Coreopsis, Japanese Knotweed, St Johnswort (with alum as the mordant, it looks like it's a nice green!)... I'm happy to lend you the book if you'd like to try some out!
I did a course some time ago where we used onion skins to create a very lovely yellow colour. I live in Australia, so nowhere near you, but onions are onions I guess! LOL!
I wrote about making an iron mordant - you can use rusty nails and let them sit awhile in vinegar/water... i got beautiful colors with elderberry (and mint too, but I have yet to post that one). onion skins. black walnut. blackberry. apple bark. even echinacea will give you a lovely gray!
I dyed with birch bark this week; no luck. I was hoping for a nice muted pink, with green undertones. It looked olive green in the pot, but then all the color washed out. I tried alum mordant and a copper/iron mordant, but neither seemed to help. I'm over-dyeing with woodland sunflowers, so we'll see what happens.
I'm sure you have walnut trees over in vermont ! You can make wonderful colors with the green shelves ' Idon't know it that is the right word) I mean the green covers who hold the complete walnuts inside. they fall on the ground and turn brown very soon, so collect them before they change and use them to dye your wool. You can keep them green and use later , just by putting them in your freezer.
To use: Put the green (shelves?) in some water togheter with the wool and leave it as long as you wish, you can use the water for a secondtime if you want, this time the color will be less bright. No need to prepare your wool with any other product. Just the walnut.
I get a beautiful lemon yellow with carrot tops. I've done it three or four times and never gotten green. I use alum as the mordant - maybe copper/iron get me to green?
In Florida, I got a stunning, vivid, pumpkiny orange with the leftover bits of beets(peels/tops/roots/etc.). Now that we live in Virginia, it's barely given any color at all. Not noticeable on creamy wool. Must be something in the water, as it's the same wool, mordant, and pots.
Purple cabbage gave me lavender, but you need a lot of it to get the color. Not too much far outer leaves either, as they have more of a greenish undertone.
Mulberries (wrong time of year, and I hate to "waste" food on dying, but we had a gallon of them that were wormy.) gave me a gorgeous deep purply brown on the first dyebath, and then a lighter shade of the same color on the next batch.
dear Tonya, I have not yet tried, but carrot tops produce a lovely green- and of course there is blackberries too. I believe (I'd have to go look at my book) apple bark creates a pink shade.
ReplyDelete<3
Hi Mel,
DeleteThanks for the suggestions - I think I will try carrot tops.
Warmly,
Tonya
I also got a lot of yellow tones in my experimenting. I did manage a dark grey using peppermint (with iron as the mordant), and a beautiful celery green using frozen daffodil flowers with a copper afterbath (obviously that will have to wait until spring). My next test is going to be carrot tops. It is supposed to give the nicest green but I have yet to try it. And I plan on using black walnuts if I can find enough. Interestingly, my goldenrod tests gave me two colours: a bright bright orange using just the flower heads, and a yellow green using flowers and leaves. You can see some of my results over here: http://plain-jane-remembrances.blogspot.ca/2012/03/weekend-crafting.html
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
What do you use for the iron? I have some mint and would like to give this a try.
DeleteThanks so much for sharing.
I actually bought a small amount of iron at a dyeing workshop I went to, but she said that you could also just dye the wool in a cast iron pot, or throw an old piece of iron in the pot while it is doing it's thing. She had old railroad spikes. The book I bought also says you can get a warm brown using peppermint with copper (a handful of old pennies that actually contain copper should work for this) but I have never actually tried it.
DeleteThose colors are gorgeous. I especially like fern. I'm waiting for pokeberries to ripen. I have a new book that promises good, lasting results when dyeing with them.
ReplyDeleteYou can use black walnut hulls for an earthy brown...no mordant required. Have a great day!
Reading out of my "Joy of Spinning" book ... here are some suggestions! Sumac, pokeberry (I did poke last year and it was beautiful!), sassafras, and black walnut. I am going to try black walnut this year since it is so abundant. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteTonya...This August we used tansy and it gives a gorgeous deep yellow. I know tansy grows all over both our countries, and we still have flowers that would work. We dried the tansy and that is what is happening now, so you could pick already dried. I look forward to seeing more of your experiments as I have also got the dyeing bug!
ReplyDeletexo Jules
I highly recommend the book "Natural Dyeing" by Jackie Crook. If you'd like I'd be willing to lend mine up to you. Mordanting the wool will also produce a variety of colors for the same dye stuff used.
ReplyDeleteThings found up on Vermont.....walnuts, rhubarb, Osage orange, goldenrod, stinging nettle, red cabbage. With Pokeberries be sure to use vinegar or something acid to mordant the wool. Osborn Fiber studio has a great tutorial on dyeing with Pokeberries.
I highly recommend the book "Natural Dyeing" by Jackie Crook. If you'd like I'd be willing to lend mine up to you. Mordanting the wool will also produce a variety of colors for the same dye stuff used.
ReplyDeleteThings found up on Vermont.....walnuts, rhubarb, Osage orange, goldenrod, stinging nettle, red cabbage. With Pokeberries be sure to use vinegar or something acid to mordant the wool. Osborn Fiber studio has a great tutorial on dyeing with Pokeberries.
Have you tried fresh ground sage leaves? I picked some yesterday to put in some soap I was making and it ground up really green. Just wondered if you could use that to make a pretty light green. I want to do this so bad! I still have 3 bags of raw wool sitting here.
ReplyDeleteThese are really beautiful colourways Tonya, their shades are so bubtle and lovely.
ReplyDeleteI live along the St. Lawrence River in the north country of NY so I would imagine the plant life we have is similar to yours. I'm really enjoying the book Wild Color by Jenny Dean. So far I've used goldenrod and sumac. I got a really bright yellow from the goldenrod and a more subtle buttery color from the sumac leaves. I also have some yellow dock to try sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteGrapes do a nice reddish purple.
ReplyDeleteI think you get different colours/shades depending on what mordant is used. I have a natural dying book somewhere...I'll go hunt it out.
ReplyDeleteVery neat! I bought the book Dye Plants and Dyeing (by John and Margaret Cannon), but have yet to try it. But some suggestions that you could find around VT are black walnut, Blackberry (shoots or berries), Coreopsis, Japanese Knotweed, St Johnswort (with alum as the mordant, it looks like it's a nice green!)... I'm happy to lend you the book if you'd like to try some out!
ReplyDeleteI did a course some time ago where we used onion skins to create a very lovely yellow colour. I live in Australia, so nowhere near you, but onions are onions I guess! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI wrote about making an iron mordant - you can use rusty nails and let them sit awhile in vinegar/water... i got beautiful colors with elderberry (and mint too, but I have yet to post that one). onion skins. black walnut. blackberry. apple bark. even echinacea will give you a lovely gray!
ReplyDeleteI dyed with birch bark this week; no luck. I was hoping for a nice muted pink, with green undertones. It looked olive green in the pot, but then all the color washed out. I tried alum mordant and a copper/iron mordant, but neither seemed to help. I'm over-dyeing with woodland sunflowers, so we'll see what happens.
ReplyDeleteHi Tonya,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you have walnut trees over in vermont ! You can make wonderful colors with the green shelves ' Idon't know it that is the right word) I mean the green covers who hold the complete walnuts inside. they fall on the ground and turn brown very soon, so collect them before they change and use them to dye your wool. You can keep them green and use later , just by putting them in your freezer.
To use: Put the green (shelves?) in some water togheter with the wool and leave it as long as you wish, you can use the water for a secondtime if you want, this time the color will be less bright. No need to prepare your wool with any other product. Just the walnut.
Good luck.
warmly
Ilse
Finding this late, but...
ReplyDeleteI get a beautiful lemon yellow with carrot tops. I've done it three or four times and never gotten green. I use alum as the mordant - maybe copper/iron get me to green?
In Florida, I got a stunning, vivid, pumpkiny orange with the leftover bits of beets(peels/tops/roots/etc.). Now that we live in Virginia, it's barely given any color at all. Not noticeable on creamy wool. Must be something in the water, as it's the same wool, mordant, and pots.
Purple cabbage gave me lavender, but you need a lot of it to get the color. Not too much far outer leaves either, as they have more of a greenish undertone.
Mulberries (wrong time of year, and I hate to "waste" food on dying, but we had a gallon of them that were wormy.) gave me a gorgeous deep purply brown on the first dyebath, and then a lighter shade of the same color on the next batch.
I'll have to apple bark...