To day was tons of washing out and starting and waiting..... and washing out and starting and waiting.... But all of my 4 pot were full all day, with various things, so I say success!
Began the day with rinsing out the Marigolds dye I did yesterday.
The recipe for a Marigold Dye
**A note about picking marigolds. I grow them and pick them over the course of the season and freeze them till I need them. I find the darker colored ones give better dye colors (the reds and dark oranges). If you decide to do this, definitely pick them often. The dead-headed stems multiply the blooms and my plants are absolutely covered now that it's August, as compared to when they went in in the spring.
Ratio 1:1
Pour hot water over the flowers and let steep 24 hours. Cook 15-20 minutes to leech out the last of the color and strain. Press the flowers to get out the most dye water. Add salt. Add pre-mordanted, wetted fibers and cook about 20minutes. Leave sit 24hours before washing out fibers.
These marigold yarns just wouldn't hold still....
Then a Gladiolus Dye
The Recipe for Dyeing with Purple Gladiolus:
Ratio 2:1
Chop the flowers and stems into roughly 2” pieces. Pour hot water over the the flowers and stems and leave to steep for 24hours or until all the color has leeched from the petals. Remove the flowers (you can do this with gloved hands because the pieces are so big and are intact from not boiling). Add some salt and stir, then add pre-wetted fibers. Stir. Leave sit another 24 hours. Simmer 30min to darken the colors. Allow to cool completely before rinsing out the fibers.
Then the safflower I began soaking yesterday.... Safflower is a 2-part dye and you have to extract the first to get the second. So I when I looked this morning I had a seriously strong yellow dye in my pot. But then when I rinsed the petals, the yellow wouldn't stop coming!!!! ugh, how aweful. I rinsed for a full 30min, until the petal bags didn't leech when I set them in water (they did when I squeezed them tho) and went to start the second part.... which isn't steeping fast, so instead of starting it overnight tonight I decided to wait until morning.
Safflower, a two part dye (Reference p.26 Jenny Dean's Wild Color)
1:1 Ratio
IMPORTANT: The yellow dye is suitable for both animal and vegetable fibers. The reds and pinks will only take on cotton, linen and silk, but not wool.
For safflower, the yellow must be extracted before the pinks and reds can be extracted.
1. Place safflower in a bag—a doubled nylon panty hose bag works well, or a cotton muslin. However the muslin must be included in the weight while dyeing.
2. Put bag in cool water for an hour and a half, or until all the color is leeched from the petals.
3. When the water is strongly colored and no more color runs from the petals when rinsed with clean water, squeeze the excess water from the bag and set the safflower bag aside.
4. This dye water will yield yellows. Add pre-mordanted, wetted fibers and cook 45min or more, until you’re happy with your colors.
The second part of the dye is longer and is very dependent on your having litmus strips, clear vinegar, and washing soda. The pinks, however, do not need mordants, so it cuts out that much at least.
1. Make sure all yellow has been extracted from the bag of petals.
2. Place petals in a pot of cool water.
3. Add 1tsp washing soda to make the bath alkaline with a ph11. The water will turn the petals reddish-brown.
4. Leave the petals in the pot 1 hour, squeeze well, set the bag aside.
5. Add vinegar until the bath is at a ph5-6. Liquid should be a bright red. **
6. Add fibers and leave overnight. By morning they’ll be a range of pinks-oranges.
7. Rinse well and dry out of direct sunlight
**Note: Silks pick up any yellow still left in the bath. If you want your silk to be pink and not coral, you must add an extra step after step 5.
Add some cotton to the bath and soak overnight. This cotton must be included in the total weight of materials you are using. Add dyed cotton to an alkaline bath with washing soda (ph11) and soak 30 minutes to discharge the red into the water. Acidify the bath with vinegar to a ph5-6, then add the silk and soak overnight. Because the cotton does not absorb the yellow at that point in the dye process, there is no one in the discharged bath for the silk to pick up.
After the Safflower, I started my Cochineal!!
I started the Cochineal soaking yesterday... Today I left the bag of bug grounds in the water and cooked it 30 minutes. This will now be my concentrate solution!!! (it is in my fridge). I added more water, left the bag of bug grounds in the ph7 water and cooked it with alum-mordanted yarn for 30min. They are fuchsia!!!!!!! I have 7 more dyes planned, not counting exhaust dyes. I did one of those today too on the silk I had set aside for printing and now it's princess pink!!!!
Then I picked some ferns (about a half a pound) and poured hot water on them and am letting them steep..... and then I was done with the dyeing for the day! Yay!
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