Okay, maybe the profit part is a bit of a stretch, but the science is real...
I have always heard that a local plant that is the bane of the farmers around here, has a use for dying fabric.
Marlahan Mustard, or Dyer's Woad.
I decided this was my year of finding out if it was true.
I found a few local specimens.
It's not hard to do. The stuff is EVERYWHERE.
I brought a bundle home. The dogs inspected it and declared it fit for usage.
I stripped off the seeds [which will stain your fingers purple], and added water...
I threw in some leaves and stems because they too had some purple on them.
I simmered this mess for a few hours.
Then I soaked some yarn in salt water and added it to the strained liquid.
I have no idea what your monitor will show, but the water was purple, and was turning the yarn a kind of deep mauve color. I added a couple of glugs of white vinegar at this point.
I left it to simmer for a few hours more.
Then, because I had read up on this process, I added some alum to set the color.
Only thing is, it CHANGED the color.
It IS pretty colorfast now, but this is what I ended up with...
In real life, it's a muted sort of Loden green.
Now I want to do it all again and leave out the alum and see if I can keep the mauve color.
I can't vouch for it being colorfast at all, most likely it won't be. But I just want to satisfy my curiosity.
I also died some yarn using the yellow flowers of this plant last week. It turned it a pale camel color. Pretty uninspiring actually.
But I think I'm going to make a little bag out of it and see what happens in the felting.
(It's a good thing you only play mad scientist with weeds. Heaven help us if you had access to heavy metals.)
Alchemy. It has a long and glorious tradition.
(Yeah, and a whole string of madmen sick from mercury poisoning too.)
Truly. Your capacity for buzzkill is staggering. Perhaps a little dip in the dye bath with alum would do you good.
(Don't even think about it Cupcake. Green is not my color.)
How do you feel about mauve?
It's not hard to do. The stuff is EVERYWHERE.
I brought a bundle home. The dogs inspected it and declared it fit for usage.
I stripped off the seeds [which will stain your fingers purple], and added water...
I threw in some leaves and stems because they too had some purple on them.
I simmered this mess for a few hours.
Then I soaked some yarn in salt water and added it to the strained liquid.
I have no idea what your monitor will show, but the water was purple, and was turning the yarn a kind of deep mauve color. I added a couple of glugs of white vinegar at this point.
I left it to simmer for a few hours more.
Then, because I had read up on this process, I added some alum to set the color.
Only thing is, it CHANGED the color.
It IS pretty colorfast now, but this is what I ended up with...
In real life, it's a muted sort of Loden green.
Now I want to do it all again and leave out the alum and see if I can keep the mauve color.
I can't vouch for it being colorfast at all, most likely it won't be. But I just want to satisfy my curiosity.
I also died some yarn using the yellow flowers of this plant last week. It turned it a pale camel color. Pretty uninspiring actually.
But I think I'm going to make a little bag out of it and see what happens in the felting.
(It's a good thing you only play mad scientist with weeds. Heaven help us if you had access to heavy metals.)
Alchemy. It has a long and glorious tradition.
(Yeah, and a whole string of madmen sick from mercury poisoning too.)
Truly. Your capacity for buzzkill is staggering. Perhaps a little dip in the dye bath with alum would do you good.
(Don't even think about it Cupcake. Green is not my color.)
How do you feel about mauve?