Eco-Dyeing Success! (Finally)

 

 

 

 

After my smelly black walnut dyeing experience last Fall...

...you may have thought that I'd given up on dyeing with natural substances altogether...

...but you were wrong! :)

I continued to read and marvel at the amazing dyeing experiments going on in blogland...

...and over time, one substance began to 'speak to me'...

...powdered turmeric root!

Some bloggers are not fans of yellow, but yellow (especially this golden shade) is one of my absolute favorites!

I took a silk scarf blank and put marbles, held with clips, intermittently down the length of the scarf.

I mixed some turmeric powder with boiling water and a little white vinegar...

...and let my clipped scarf soak for several hours.

I rinsed and unclipped my scarf and voila...

it's the 70's all over again!! (Tie dye)

I then needle-felted red bits of fiber in the center of the circles...

...and made a thin wool batt to nuno felt to the back of the scarf.

After the obligatory lots of rolling, the scarf was finished.

I'm really happy about the way it ruched up...

...like the skin of a dried apple head doll! :)

The Fix Is In: Scarflette!

 
 
 

Where was I?

...oh, yes...that smell.

So, I decided to throw my scarf in the washing machine with some other clothing and detergent to see if that would remove the remnants of 'Eau de Walnuts Noir'...

...and I figured, "What the heck, it's been felted already, I don't really need to roll it in rubber matting and rubber band it. It won't shrink that much more!"

Famous last words!

...but when life gives you lemons...

You make a scarflette!!

As you can see, my scarf went from full-sized to lilliputian...

...and was now the perfect size for a scarflette.

I sewed button holes on one end, stitched buttons on the other, and voila...

...another Christmas present finished!

Black Walnut Shibori Dyeing

 

 

 

 

I'd been wanting to do more with natural dyes.

...so, on an early morning walk one day, I picked up a bagful of black walnuts from a neighbor's sidewalk and grass.

Having been lying there for some weeks already, they had a particular odor which I can only describe as repungent. (A portmanteau of repugnant and pungent!)

...but since they did not look moldy or rotten to me in any way, I persisted in my experiment and boiled them for some time in water (with some added salt) as various internet sites recommended.

Meanwhile, I made a thin and light scarf out of white roving (the better to see the color effects, I thought!)...

...inlaid with pieces of silk in various Fall colors, cut into the shapes of Philadelphia area leaves.

Since rolling is the least favorite part of scarf making for me, I am always experimenting with ways to get out of some of it. :)

...and my latest innovation is to roll up the scarf in the pierced rubber matting that I use instead of bubble wrap...

...secure each end with a rubber band, and then bounce it on my table, turning it as I go...for quite a long while.

It's fun and it makes a really loud noise. (I love this!)

...but don't try this at home unless you have a table like mine, which is sturdy and which already carries the scars of many family meals and craft projects!

Then, I clipped the scarf in multiple places, for a shibori dyeing kind of effect, and threw it into the dye bath.

When all was said and done, and after all of this work, my scarf was only a very faint oatmeal color, except where the clips had been, and there you could see 'eyes' of brown dye with white centers.

...and it still smelled...funny.

Tomorrow: the fix.