Sunday, 28 May 2023

Next round of natural dyeing using Empire 2 ply and maroon lily petals and some autumn leaves

 Here's an update on the latest dyeing episode. i have been doing more than this, but haven't got the colours in the photos quite right yet for the malabar spinach berry pinks (Basella alba). And with a bit of work i did achieve 1 small hank of very nearly black from liriope berries last year. YAY. 

For this round i used my usual favourite Empire 2-ply for the best colour intensity and some more Lovestory to expand the shades as it takes up less dye and is paler overall. This time i used a mixture of soft white, chalk and i think it was the french grey (a light grey). I didn't notice any significant difference with the first 2 but the grey did produce different tones so i plan to use it some more!

If i haven't mentioned it, i use an alum mordant usually heated to near simmer for an hour and left to cool overnight at least and left for longer if i am organised enough......

left to right: olivey greens from a small batch of purple-red autumn leaves from Young: Empire 2-ply; light green: Lovestory. Light bluey green from maroon lily petals: lovestory; murkey grey-blues: Empire 2-ply (the darker ones are the grey original and the others are soft white and chalk original).