solar dyeing // centaurea cyanus

after a not very successful result with the centaurea cyanus (=cornflower) dyebath, I decided to give these beautiful flowers "another chance", but this time, in the form of a solar dyeing.

I mordanted a piece of (smooth) silk & a piece of (white) linen & when they were ready, I added the flower heads (full, not only the petals), face down on the fabrics. I did this in my bathtube.

I tried to have them cover harmoniously the fabrics, then rolled each of them, and tied them with string. Then I put them in a big glass jar, poured warm water, and finally I added a big flat stone on top of them, before closing the jar. (which was not 100% hermetic) This is how it looked like the first day.

if you haven't been warned, it can look like a bit macabre, if you see what I mean (wewh) Then this is how it looked like on day 2, to my own surprise.

after 9 days, the liquid was blurry & started to grow a bit of mould, so I decided to rince & dry today. So these are the results on the silk ...

the final result on silk is : a general yellowness, with numerous brighter yellow spots, and here & there, blueish purple stains. A brownish zone too, at one left. The circular lines at the bottom were where the strings tied the roll.

and now, this is the final result on linen ...

the results are rather similar, but we can see them better, as silk has this delicate transparency.

I was very excited with these results ! They didn't bleed much at all, and I was SO pleased to see tiny splashes of purple/blue from the petals ! hurray ! :)

c e n t a u r e a * c y a n u s

two weeks ago, hubby & I discovered a place, 5 mn by foot from the heart of the city we live in (Montpellier, France), along a frequented road, where we supposed a mix of wildflowers (well, not so wild anymore, I say !) had been sowed. There were cornflowers & poppies mostly. I have fond memories of picking very few cornflowers in wheat fields, on the heights of the little town we used to live with hubby in 2000-2003. I remember being very pregnant (with son #1) & asking hubby to pick me some :) These were really wild !

ok, shortly after I had to idea to pick some (there were really maaaaaaaany of them, the handfuls of them that we picked was totally invisible & harmless) & try to dye with them. But, first, I needed to have a little fun with the flowers & the petals, so please let me share (unless you already saw this on my blog or Flickr, last week ... then, sorry)

yes, I really had a lot of (harmless) fun ! :)

ok, so back to the dye ...

I asked my little ones to take the petals off the flowers ...

I had mordanted a piece of solk, silk yarn, a bit of cotton crochet lace & a piece of linen with alum.

as you can see, the result is rather weak, and really hard to describe. It's like a very pale greenish-yellowish-greyish something. And hard to capture on a photo, too.

oh well, nevermind. I'll try something new with them soon enough ... :)

a l l i u m * c e p a

I've been dying (ahah) to dye with onions for a long time, but never got the opportunity. Of course, I don't use tons of onions myself. Some, but not THAT much, not enough for making a proper dye. BUT ... my mother-in-law does use tons of them, she's an amazing cook, and in fact she really uses lots & lots of them. So I asked her two months ago to save me the peels, and that's what she did, religiously. (yes, she's quite awesome & sweet)

and last week, I had enough to make a good dye.

I decided to mordant two pieces of silk, silk yarn, linen, and (new !) a small piece of cotton crochet lace, with alum. Then, I boiled the peels & it gave instantly a powerful dyebath.

look at that strong bath !

I can't believe how well the linen & cotton absorbed !! They didn't bleed that much, and the color is so vibrant, just perfect for autumn season. (which we are NOT, in the northern hemisphere !) I'll keep asking my MIL to save me the peels, and I hope I'll find something good to cook with lots of RED onions, so that I will try a new dye with them ! I'm hopeless, I know. :)

third dye with eucalyptus globulus

I'm blushing out of shame from head to toe ... I have badly neglected this dyeing blog. Well, first I should have posted about the third dye I had made using eucalyptus globulus. It was two months ago already, yuck.

I had decided to dye with eucalyptus globulus leaves, then let the fabrics in the dye, in what used to be a stainless steel bucket, but isn't anymore, for two nights. But this is the photo of when I poured the fabrics & dye in the bucket, and just seconds later ... and it was really like magic ...

I had dyed a piece of (smooth) silk, a length of silk yarn, and a piece of (what used to be white when undyed) linen. This was the result of the third bath of dye with eucalyptus globulus ...

I must precise that the silk & silk yarn were NOT mordanted at all, while the piece of linen was mordanted with soy milk. And these are the results of the THREE dyebaths I made with eucalyptus globulus.

I would have never thought I'd achieve such a dark grey in such a way. I was really happy !