"I begin with an idea ... and then it becomes something else"
~ Picasso

Sunday 9 August 2009

Natural dyeing - orange and brown

My mosaic this week is a celebration of colour and texture and comes to you a day early for Mosaic Monday


















Thank you to all the artists who gave their permission for me to use their stunning photos. You can see more by clicking on the links:

1. Coulis of rust 2. bird in the hand 3. il cuore ... del fiore 4. Golden yellow quilted leaves 5. Reading the Leaf's Palm 6. Etsy 7. abstract251 with wire 8. Bumpy Pumpkins 9. Golden flower brooch

I would also like to say thank you for all your comments received recently on the leaves tutorial and natural dyeing - it's encouraging to know you have enjoyed seeing the results of my experiments and I have a few more for you

Madder


















I tried dyeing with madder roots. I was hoping for a red dye but I achieved some lovely mauve and orange colours instead

I boiled up the madder roots with water in the same way as described in the previous post. If you want, you can see the process in detail over on LOVE STITCHING RED

In the jar above I've had a range of unmordanted natural fabrics and fibres soaking in the madder dye which I left for several days













These are the resulting fabrics (after washing). I'm just showing the orange tones here but I also got a range of mauves from the same jar

Red Onion Skins


















This dark brown dye came from boiling red onion skins - again you can see the full process on my other blog by clicking the link above. I left various unmordanted natural fabrics and fibres soaking in the dye for several days. The dye got darker the longer I left it and these were the fabrics after washing and ironing














I've got more dyestuffs and a few new things to show you soon so I hope you will come back and visit me again

7 comments:

Mrs Button said...

beautiful blog - i did some natural dying a few years ago - the colours are sooo inspiring.

CAROLYN SAXBY said...

Thank you Mrs Button and welcome!

Joei Rhode Island said...

Oh Carolyn...Great post!!! how did you know I just bought a book on natural dying and have started to read up on it! I've been saving onion skins for my first go...would also *love* to try Indigo...Have you done that?

Pom Pom said...

I like #5 of the mosaic above - reading the leaf's palm. I always gravitate to that red/orange mix.
Does your husband mind all the jars and bubbly on the stove? Do you do your dyeing in the kitchen? Have a lovely Sunday, Carolyn!

Sharne Gregory said...

I have never tried natural dyes for colouring cloth, when I was at the Eden project 3 years ago I was very interseted in the flower bed that had plants for dyeing growing. I think I shall have to try some onion skins first as I have just bought a sack of pickling onions!

Unknown said...

I'm fascinated with your explorations into the color pallette of the natural world, and you've inspired me to try some natural dyeing of my own!

LR said...

i am going to write on my calendar a day when i can dye some fabric using the red onion skins. i love brown and this post only adds to it.