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Wednesday 8 September 2010

more natural dyeing

while I am dyeing like mad - I am also translating several articles from the spinoff autumn issue - about natural dyeing... very befitting, though I don't agree with everything that's written there:)) anyway, I finished my red dahlia session - two dips, the first one (on silk/tussah blend) is a strong golden yellow, nearly light orange. the second batch turned out much lighter, silk/tussah in the background and in the middle a smaller amount of superwash wool top. which took the dye better - now I wish I'd used it in the first bath, too:(( there are a few more dahlia flowers to come - maybe I do get the chance for a small lot of it, though it depends on how the rest of september will turn out to be weatherwise. but at least now I know that I have the right dahlia variety again for dyeing yellows and oranges - instead of yucky dirt beige/brownish! I had to run around with the clothes drier several times though - and in the end there was a shower so heavy that I gave up - and had everything wetter again than it was before I put it out:((

the photo also shows the dried silk/tussah blend dyed with the reed flowers - this time the light was better and the green is much closer to reality than the last photo.
I think the colours go very well together - but I still need the purple I had planned to use with it. first up are the rhamnus berries though - 1.5 kg in this lot! though it might be a bit less as I nearly dropped the bucket they were in - and spilled a good lot on the kitchen floor:(( we'll see if dog hair and dust bunnies will influence the colour outcome:))













I still didn't block the green scarf - can't seem to bring myself to do it... unfortunately the edges are wavy from the leaf pattern, so I can only use my carbon fibre rods for the outermost stitches - and have to fix the rest with pins.... I might do it tonight - when the kitchen table is empty and nobody needs it for urgent jobs such as forgotten homework, messing around with paper and glue etc....

6 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

What a beautiful job you have done with the dyeing! I love the depth of the colors; the green is just perfect!

Sabine said...

Schön, ich habe auch wieder fleissig Dahlienblüten gesammelt. Dieses Mal nur die roten und orange von meiner Mutter. Bin schon gespannt auf meinen neuen Versuch.
LG
Sabine

Woolly Bits said...

Cindy - after the disappointing result from last year - it could only get better (the deep red dahlia gave off a really ugly colour:((). I am looking forward to spinning this - it's very soft, but not too short to spin comfortably!
Sabine - viel glueck mit der faerbung, ich hoffe, du bekommst auch eine schoene faerbung!

Leigh said...

I liked the green in the last post, but this is even prettier. I agree. The green and golds go very well together. You have been so productive this fall.

Woolly Bits said...

Leigh, that green is a funny thing. I see on almost all dye blogs, that people have problems to get the colour right in pictures:)) but it's so simple to do - as long as you can get to reeds without danger of drowning:))
and go ahead with the plum trees - they are versatile, for jams etc. but also for eating raw (and for cake of course:))

Anonymous said...

Hallo Bettina,
sehr schöne Farben. Ist das Orangige von den Faulbeeren? Für das Sammeln von Schilfblüten hab ich dieses Mal meinen Sauzahn benutzt. Mit dem kann man die Pflanzen schön zu sich ziehen.
Viele Grüße
Juliana