Ready to Dye

I volunteered to do a presentation on Natural Dyeing for the Master Gardener Volunteers in Richland County, Ohio on September 11. 

I have been spending a lot of time preparing for it.  In addition to creating a PowerPoint presentation with lots of photos of dye plants, I have been re-reading all my books on the topic of Natural Dyeing. Of course I have to demonstrate my experience as well (no one is as authoritative as someone who has actually done the thing.)  And I have been scouting my neighborhood fields and parks for dye plants. 

So I have been actually doing the natural dyeing as well.  

From left to right:

Crabpple bark, false indigo, Ironweed, Ironweed, Ironweed, Ironweed, and Horseweed.  The Ironweed dye bath had so much pigment that I was able to use it four times, getting a different result each time with different mordants and modifiers.  

I am in love with the color of the crabapple bark.  

I have gotten out some naturally-dyed yarn I have dyed in the past.  Clockwise from top left - Dandelion root,  goldenrod, dandelion root again,  black walnut, and pokeweed. 

I have previously blogged about these dye experiences, so I was able to retrieve the dates and processes used.  

I decided to start a new journal of my natural dyeing experiences.  I had an empty journal from the "Good Vibes Yarn Tour" that I hadn't used yet, so I dedicated it to the purpose.   By using a paper punch to punch holes in the page, I can tie a small sample of the yarn showing the color produced. 

I did one more dyepost today from the sumac fruits and leaves I had collected at the farm.  It yielded the taupe color at the bottom of the photo, not the reddish brown I was expecting.  I am struck by how well all these colors from nature complement each other.  

I've currently got a white linen top bathing in the sumac dyebath exhaust,  and I am cooking some Lady's thumb (Polygonum persicarium) weeds from my garden.  It is a member of the buckwheat family, related to both Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum), an especially invasive shrub, and Japanese indigo Persicaria tinctoria .  None of my books about natural dyeing mention that this weed would yield a successful dye.   But I am hopeful!