Island Day #4

First of the dyes today!!!!! I can't still can't quite believe that someone liked what I do enough to give me this time to work. This is the only way to the amount of dyeing that I want to do, to have the time it requires.

First of the day (after refilling my propane tank) was Annato Seed. The great thing about Annato is you can find it easily in bulk at any Hispanic/Latina grocery store (otherwise called a Supermercado!)

The Recipe for Annato:

1:2 Ratio dyestuff to fiber, though I suspect you could get the same color intensity if you did a 1:3 ratio... Put your seeds in a muslin bag and tie it shut. Make sure you include the weight of the bag in your fiber calculation. (I ended up soaking my seeds overnight because I ran out of propane, however this is not necessary.) Simmer seeds in water about an hour. Leave the bag of seeds in dye water for stronger color, rather than straining. Add 2 tsp washing soda. Simmer fibers in dyebath 1 hour. Leave in bath to cool. This will give you a lovely yellow-orange color.

Annato before washing out:


Second of the day was Osage Orange.

The Recipe for Osage Orange:

Ratio: .75 material : 1 fiber
Soak sawdust overnight in enough water to move fiber freely. Simmer for 40 min to extract all the color. Strain out the sawdust. Add a 1/4 cup salt. Add wetted fibers and simmer for 45min. Let the fibers cool in the dye water before washing out. The colors range from pale yellows to bright yellows to a sage-moss green on a naturally grey wool. The spent dye bath can be used again for lighter colors, which I am doing. I shibori'd a piece of wool and a piece of silk and am leaving them in the bath overnight without cooking. Last I checked, they have a beautiful pastel yellow color!

Osage on silk!




The third dye of the day was actually a two part-- Brazilwood.

The Recipe for Brazilwood:

As far as I've read, brazilwood can be used for two dye baths before it exhausts. This dye is highly sensitive to PH of water—needs to be more basic/alkaline for reds and plums (add 1tsp washing soda to the vat) for a ph11. For oranges and yellows, add vinegar to make it more acidic (ph3). To test the ph, you'll need litmus strips. 1:1 ratio dyestuffs to fiber. I began with an alkaline bath because it gets the more difficult to obtain colors.

1st dye: Pour boiling water over brazilwood. Add washing soda as needed. Allow to sit overnight (aprox 24hrs). Add fibers, cook 1 hour at a simmer. Strain off half of the first dyebath and rinse the fibers.

2nd dye: Add water to get the desired water level in the pot. This time, add vinegar to make it more acidic. Add fiber, in a ratio of 1:.75 this time, and simmer with the chips 1 hour. Let sit overnight to cool and brighten the colors. *note* My fibers are still sitting at this moment for the second dye... Last look made me wonder if they were going to be as orange as promised. We shall see...

On the line after I was finished:


All my dyeing today was done on alum mordanted fibers. I added enough sample pieces of wool and silk to be able to test each of these with Iron, Copper, acid, base, chrome, tin, ect after mordants and modifiers. At the very least with the copper and the iron. However, I'm waiting until I've got a bunch of samples before I do either of those baths, so those results will come in later.