Friday, 18 May 2012

I did it, I finally did it!

A few years back I was dyeing wool with plants that grow in my yard in the search for green.  I made everything but green.  But last night...I did it.  I finally made green!

So, without further ado...
The bad news is, my camera cannot capture the colour, but trust me...the one on the right is a beautiful green and the one on the left is a lovely pale yellow...both with frozen daffodil heads (with alum) and the green one had a copper afterbath.  Hopefully once knit into a project the colours will come out better on the camera.
Stay tuned.  Who am I kidding, these won't be a project until the fall because I really need to finish all my current projects before casting on some more.

Edited to add the basic steps:   I pretreated the wool with alum (3/4 oz for the 4 oz of wool), boiled a large ziploc bag of frozen spent daffodil heads in a pot of water (maybe 3 liters or so) for 30 minutes, added the wool and kept it hot but not boiling for 30 minutes (at this point it was yellow) and then put it straight into a hot pot of water that had copper in it (maybe a teaspoon or two...I forget), and magically, I got green.

Linking up with Wisdom begins in wonder for Fiber Arts Friday because I can't wait to share this,
and also with Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday, because come on...it's daffodils.
                     Wildcraft Wednesday at the self sufficient homeacre

Have a lovely day.
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11 comments:

  1. eidolons18 May 2012 at 08:25

    Beautiful! I want to dye from my yard. The problem is that it's so overgrown and I have no idea what any of the plants/weeds are out there. I'm going to give pokeberries a try once they start producing - the plants themselves are already several feet tall. (:

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  2. Cheryl18 May 2012 at 09:16

    Plant dying is an area I'm dabbling in this year. I've not heard of daffodil heads being used before. I have so much to learn! Looks a lovely subtle green and yellow.

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  3. Melissa18 May 2012 at 11:50

    Woot woot! Congrats on working it out. They both look lovely.

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  4. Andria18 May 2012 at 13:33

    Cool--I love that you dye with plants in the garden.

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  5. Kathryn Ray18 May 2012 at 18:11

    That's awesome! Lovely green Corriedale. :-)

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  6. WonderWhyGal20 May 2012 at 06:34

    Very inspiring for me to try natural dyes.
    I love the beautiful colors.

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  7. Jeannine21 May 2012 at 10:01

    I am constantly impressed with your ingenuity, Natalie. The yarn looks lovely. A natural green is so much prettier than a fake bright one. This must have been such fun to do.

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  8. AllyB22 May 2012 at 20:09

    So what did you do to get the green? I dyed with marigold last year and it turned out a totally different color than anticipated. I'm curious to hear how you finally got the color you wanted.

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    Replies
    1. Natalie23 May 2012 at 09:42

      AllyB:
      I pretreated the wool with alum (3/4 oz for the 4 oz of wool), boiled a large ziploc bag of frozen spent daffodil heads in a pot of water (maybe 3 liters or so) for 30 minutes, added the wool and kept it hot but not boiling for 30 minutes (at this point it was yellow) and then put it straight into a hot pot of water that had copper in it (maybe a teaspoon or two...I forget), and magically, I got green.
      I know what you meant though...when I tried with goldenrod (which was supposed to give me green) I got "techniglow orange".
      Good luck

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  9. Megan @ Restoring the Roost28 May 2012 at 12:58

    This is so cool and impressive! I have never heard of anyone dyeing from their yard plants but now I am intrigued.

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  10. Lisa Lynn8 March 2013 at 15:20

    I'm impressed! Thanks so much for sharing this on Wildcrafting Wednesday!

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