x a n t h i u m * s t r u m a r i u m

before dyeing with the plant that I'm going to show you, I had never heard about it, nor I had never noticed it anywhere. Hubby and I spotted this when we had a long walk in town, a couple of weeks ago. During that walk, we had spotted & picked other plants to dye with.

this plant is called Xanthium strumarium. It is a native to both Eurasia and North America. It is a common summer annual, about 2 to 4 feet tall. It is a monoecious plant. Xanthium strumarium belongs to the Asteraceae family.

in Greek, ξανθοσ (xanthos) means yellow, yellowish, greenish, and some say the name Xanthium was given from the ancient name of some plant, the fruit of which was used to dye the hair yellow (blond).

in Latin, struma means scrofula so that strumarium would mean of or pertaining to the scrofula, that leaves retractile and unsightly scars, and the epithet might then refer to the shape of the fruits.

the dyebath

as usual we had mordanted our fibers with alum. I do think the results are very satisfactory ... the dye was well absorbed even on cotton & linen. Very interesting indeed, as this plant grows on wastelands & such. If you wonder which part of the plant we used, we only picked & used the fruits, these spiky little things I've taken a photo of, with the dyed fabrics.

s a m b u c u s * e b u l u s

last Wednesday, hubby & I went out for a long walk, around town. If you could see us, you'd see that we're constantly looking on the waysides, looking at plants, trees & flowers, that are oh so easily overlooked & forgotten about, more particularly when you're driving or when you don't care at all. But, we are by foot, and we care, and we are always on the lookout for new plants to dye with !

that's how we found Sambucus ebulus, aka danewort. We first picked it thinking it was elderberries, but once home, and atfer looking online & in our books, it was not elderberries (though it is an herbaceous species of elder), but danewort. (or Dane Weed, Danesblood, Dwarf Elder, European Dwarf Elder, Walewort)

we picked a paper bag full of these, only the berries, not the leaves. We used them the same afternoon for (hot) dyeing, of course. It smelled good, in my opinion. (the fibers are, as usual, mordanted with alum)

I must add that we have not modified it at all. I even made my best for the dyed materials not to touch any surface that had been in contact with soap or any detergent. I know it will be light sensitive, but for the moment being, it will stay away from the sun, waiting for me to use it.

solar dyeing // v i t i s * v i n i f e r a

The south of France is a land of vineyards. It's not like Burgundy, but with the approximately 300 days of sun we get each year, grapes don't have too much difficulties to grow & get sweet & juicy. Because it grows a lot here, I though about grabbing a couple of red/dark grapes, to try solar dyeing with them. That's what I did. I picked the grapes (Vitis vinifera) you will see on the following photos, kept the "balls" only, filled a big jar with them, crushed them by hand (this part was fun, and believe me or not, not staining) and then put the (mordanted with alum) fibers in the jar & left them for 11 days.

although I'm not a big fan of purple color, I must say that I fell in love with this one !

one other reasons why I love dyeing with plants ! I'm rediscovering each color, each difference in a same hue. I've always enjoyed each & every color of the world, but I'm loving even more now I know how to get them naturally.

h e l i a n t h u s * a n n u u s

fourth post in a row, I know, I should have written & posted them all one after the other, right after they were done, but it was impossible. So there, today's last post will talk about the dye hubby & I made with sunflowers (heliantus annuus) head. My mom, returning from her summer home (with my dad), picked five of them in a field, in the south western France, where their home is. She kept them fresh until she visited me, two days after picking them. I had told her about my wish to try to dye with them, that's why she had picked some for me.

we mordanted our fabrics with alum (as usual) and boiled the heads, but keeping a small part of the upper part of the stem. (where it is attached to the head itself)

the result is a soft, delicate shade of green, I really heart it. It's so different from the green we achieved with phillyrea angustifolia (previous post), & from the greens we achieved either with fennel or sage. They're all so different & so unique. And I love them all.

p h i l l y r e a * a n g u s t i f o l i a

I live in the south of France, you probably already know. I have moved a lot these last ten years, first with the man of my life before we got married, then, along the way, we had two babies, who are now 6 & 8. We travelled a bit around the country, for hubby's work, and in fact, really got settled down, back in our native region (around Montpellier) in July 2009, when we moved for the last time. (please girls, cross your fingers for me that it will be the last time, thanks !!) Since that time, we've decided to explore our local region like we had never done before. In a year & a half (or almost) of living again in the south where we grew up, I (and hubby, and our sons too) have learnt SO much more than what I learnt about the local nature since I was born. I (we) am (are) so happy & proud to learn a bit more every time we go exploring. May it be a specie of butterfly, trees or flowers or any other plant.

the wild areas here are called garrigue, and is a type of low, soft-leaved scrubland found on limestone soils around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast, where the climate is ameliorated, but where annual summer drought conditions obtain. (quoting Wikipedia) There are so many plants that we should have known forever as we'd lived here since we were born (except those ten years when we moved around the country) Well, as the end of summer made colorful fruits/drupes in the landscape, we could discover a plant we had never managed to spot, despite the fact that it grows abondantly in the garrigue !!

the plant I'm talking about is called "phillyrea angustifolia". It is a flowering plant from the Oleaceae family, and is in some way, a cousin to the olive tree. (though the fruits/drupes of the phillyrea are not edible for humans) Hubby insisted to gather some (something like 6 big handfuls) and try dyeing with them. I feared that the fact it was from the Oleaceae family would make the dye fail & become greasy & all. But nope. As the dye bath was bubbling, we spied some clues about the final color to expect ... I'll let you watch the photos now. (we only used the drupes/fruits, not the leaves)

so ... what do you think about this shade of green ?!! totally unexpected, right ?! This is one of the reasons why I love dyeing with plants so much ... you are always up to the most wonderful surprises !!!

of course the silk took better than the linen or cotton, but it wasn't too bad, I think. What I love best about this experiment, is that it is NOT a plant known for dyeing ! There !!!

r o s a * c a n i n a // first try

I've written "first try" in the title because I would love to try this again, a second time, but doing things differently.

so, hubby & I gathered rosehips (rosa canina) by the middle of September. After mordanting our fibers with alum, we made the dyebath with the rosehips, and once the fibers got into the bath (once again I overheated & ruined the silk's shine, not that I didn't learn from the previous time -read previous post- but I made these two dyes at the same time ... not a good idea, apparently !), we poured everything in our "used-to-be-stainless-steel-but-isn't-anymore" bucket (remember ? yes, THAT bucket) & it stayed overnight in it. So I understand that the final color would have been different if we hadn't poured it in the iron bucket. That's why I'd love to try again, if the season isn't over.

this said, I'm not disliking the color ! But I'm still biting my own tongue for overheating the bath. Oh well, nevermind. We learn from failures, not from successes.

f o e n i c u l u m * v u l g a r e // second try

well, September has certainly been a busy month for me & hubby, and I'm not speaking about our boys going back to school ;-)
we've been dyeing, taking advantage of the last third of summer (considering that July & August were the first two thirds) & of the bounty Nature can provide at this time of the year.

so ... we decided to try fennel (foeniculum vulgare) once again. But we didn't pick it at the same place as in August, and it was already 3 weeks after the first dye with fennel. The fennel wasn't in full bloom anymore, and instead of green, the plant was rather yellow. Well, that's how it translated on fiber too ... it got yellow instead of green !

I made one mistake too ... I over heated & the silk lost its shine. (lesson learnt, this won't happen to me. Ever. Again. I swear)

as usual, all materials have been mordanted with alum

so beasides the lesson I learnt from overheating, the other thing I have learnt is that a same plant, at a different stage of its growth, will give different results.