jania
9-14-11, 9:35am
This past year I decided to plant a dye garden. One plant I grew, new to me was Indigofera suffruticosa or Mayo Indigo. I purchased my seeds from Native Seeds/SEARCH.
During the growing season I read several different articles about harvesting the indigo plant material and dyeing with it. Most of the processes involved using a variety of chemical additives (something along the line of Rit Dye's color remover) as well as transferring the dye bath back and forth between several containers. I settled on a very simple fermentation method.
When the day came to collect my plant material I had only 3 plants (gardening mishaps are another story). I ended up with 10 oz. of material. I fermented the plants for 5 days and only added a little baking soda to bring up the alkalinity of the water a little.
I dyed natural white, singles, Churro wool yarn. I got the loveliest of blue colors! I am so happy and excited to have this as a successful project, it was so nice to have an "experiment" come out so wonderfully. I can't wait till next year for planting and growing a new crop. Till then I'll have several beautiful blue skeins to enjoy.
Other good dyes from my experience this year were zinnias (golden, beige), cochineal (rose) and yellow coreopsis (yellow).
During the growing season I read several different articles about harvesting the indigo plant material and dyeing with it. Most of the processes involved using a variety of chemical additives (something along the line of Rit Dye's color remover) as well as transferring the dye bath back and forth between several containers. I settled on a very simple fermentation method.
When the day came to collect my plant material I had only 3 plants (gardening mishaps are another story). I ended up with 10 oz. of material. I fermented the plants for 5 days and only added a little baking soda to bring up the alkalinity of the water a little.
I dyed natural white, singles, Churro wool yarn. I got the loveliest of blue colors! I am so happy and excited to have this as a successful project, it was so nice to have an "experiment" come out so wonderfully. I can't wait till next year for planting and growing a new crop. Till then I'll have several beautiful blue skeins to enjoy.
Other good dyes from my experience this year were zinnias (golden, beige), cochineal (rose) and yellow coreopsis (yellow).