Dyeing with Dandelions, part 1

Dandelion heads in the dyepot.

I have to admit, I have never understood the appeal of a manicured lawn and find grass boring. It could be due to this or my laziness that I allow dandelions to grow freely in my yard, much to the dismay to my neighbors. I love dandelions, they are bright and beautiful and are one of the first glimpses of the warm summer days to come. Spring started late this year so the dandelions didn't start popping up until the beginning of April, but within a week of the first flower they were everywhere so now seemed a good time to try out their dye capabilities.

I use mason jars for the copper and iron
baths. They are marked so I can reuse
them in future dye experiments.

I read a bit about dandelion dyes before I started so I knew that the results would be yellows, greens and browns. I decided to experiment a bit with dye concentrations so instead of sticking with the standard 1:1 ratio of dyestuff to fiber I did an additional 2:1 batch to see how deep the colors would go. I am only dyeing with the dandelion flowers this time around so after gathering the dandelions I decapitated them and weighed the heads. Dandelions need to be used fresh and according to one thing I read, the best color is achieved later in the season when they are getting more sun (it has been rainy and overcast here for a few weeks now so I might try another batch later in the summer to see if that actually does make a difference.) To make the dye liquor, I boiled the dandelion heads for 30 minutes, removed them from the liquid and then threw in my mordanted fibers to simmer for about 40 minutes and let them cool overnight before rinsing.

Final results- alum mordant, alum mordant with copper bath, alum mordant with iron mordant.

Now the specifics- I mordanted all of the sample skeins in alum and cream of tarter (12% alum, 6% cream of tarter.) The first skeins of each set were dyed with a 1:1 dyestuff to fiber ratio and the second skeins in each set were dyed with a 2:1 dyestuff to fiber ratio. I am absolutely in love with the lighter version of the green and plan to try some larger skeins. 

Next week I will dye with the leaves, stems and flowers of the dandelion to see if I can get more greens. 

Dyeing with Hibiscus, part 2

Last week I wrote about my hibiscus dyeing experience and how I was pretty disappointed with the color results. Since hibiscus is supposed to be very sensitive to tap water, I used distilled water for the entire process. The results I ended up with were pretty boring so I decided to try again using tap water to see if that might shift my results more towards the lavender I desired. Unfortunately, the tap water just produced slightly browner results, also something that did not interest me.

I wrote about indigo dyeing last month after I taught my first class on the process. I mentioned that pre-reduced indigo is reduced enough to be used with just water, but it makes for a more delicate one-time-use vat. While that process is completely inappropriate in a group dyeing setting (I spent a good chunk of my class time dealing with vats that kept getting oxidized by students not used to dyeing with indigo,) it is perfect for me when I need a quick vat. I made up a two gallon vat and was able to get multiple dips in the indigo before it was oxidized which was more than I expected out of such a simple vat. I also found the fibers dyed in the water vat rinsed clear much faster than those in a more traditional vat (which might have also been because all of the fibers going into this vat were mordanted in alum.)

From left to right- hibiscus in distilled water, hibiscus tap water, hibiscus tap water with one dip in indigo, hibiscus with two dips in indigo.

Now the specifics- the recipe I found called for 2 tablespoons of prereduced indigo to one gallon of cold water, but it mentioned that you can use as little as one teaspoon for lighter colors. I ended up going with 1 tablespoon in two gallons of water since I was only dyeing 8 sample skeins and 200g of fiber. I still didn't get the results that I wanted, but I really like the greenish blues that happen when you overdye the hibiscus skeins with indigo so there is a slight chance I will do this again.

Dyeing with Hibiscus, part 1

While browsing possible natural dyes to try this summer I came across an image of wool top that had been dyed a lovely lavender gray color with hibiscus. I have written in the past about dyeing food (well beverages) with hibiscus flowers, but this is my first time dyeing fibers with them. In food, hibiscus flowers range from light pink to deep magenta depending on the concentration, but fiber dyes and food dyes are very different. I only found a little information online about using hibiscus on fiber, but it seems you can expect anything form light pink to deep purple depending on the mordant used.

For the dye extraction I used a ratio of 2:3 dye stuff to fiber. This was a guess based on the 1:1 ratio using fresh flowers given by Jenny Dean in Wild Color, but it seemed like a good starting point. There are a few things I learned about hibiscus in my initial research. I found that hibiscus is very sensitive to high heat and water quality so to get as much color as possible out of the flowers I filled the bowl with distilled water and let the dried flowers soak overnight before doing the actual extraction. I kept the temperature of the extraction at a simmer for just over an hour and then strained to separate the dye liquor from the flowers. The resulting dye liquor was so red it almost looked black.

I did the extraction before I determined the weight of all the goods that I would be dyeing so instead of underestimating what I might need I decided to overestimate and put it into a solution for easy use. I ended up making a 4% solution based on the volume of stock I ended up with, but as long as you label, any ratio will work.

To test the results of different dye methods, I mordanted half of the sample skeins as well as 200g of corriedale top in alum and cream of tarter (12% alum, 6% cream of tarter) and left the other sample skeins unmordanted. I simmered everything in the dyepot for an hour and then let everything cool in the dyepot overnight. Finally, I moved two of the mini skeins into a copper bath and another 2 skeins and the fiber into an iron bath to shift the colors.

In the end, I was really disappointed in the hibiscus. I ended up with pink and pinky browns, none of the lavenders or deep pinks I saw elsewhere. Also, there was no discernible color difference between the skeins that weren't mordanted and those that were which was also a disappointment. I still have some dye solution left so I am going to try a few more sample skeins in tap water to see if I can get different colors, I'll post more about that next week.

Top row- no mordant, Bottom row- alum & cream of tartar mordant, Left to right- hibiscus, hibiscus with iron, hibiscus with copper.  The corriedale fiber was dyed with hibiscus and iron.

And if you have leftover hibiscus, you can always make a batch of lavender lemonade or Jamaican sorrels.