Autumn Bounty

It is a wonderful time of the year.  Colors are changing, leaves are falling. There is a chill in the air that urges us to hurry before it is all gone.  I have been gathering acorns, hickory nuts, goldenrod, beautifully colored leaves of Dogwood and Wild Cherry, a few Oak leaves and red maple.
I went out to the river again and found a bounty of bottle caps to use in rusting.  I also found some beautiful red American Creeper Vine leaves.
I discovered there is quite a difference in the color achieved when dyeing with Goldenrod (Solidago) in different stages of maturity.  The young fresh flowers gave me a beautiful brilliant yellow and the older more mature goldenrod after being dried for storage gave a deep gold.  The same dyebath of young goldenrod when left to sit in the pot for 5 days, gave a lovely golden tan on silk that I had twisted and tied in a shibori fashion.  I will post those photos so you can see the difference.
Don't forget to gather sumac and Beautyberries, and there is still time to gather a few sunflowers.

Wabi Sabi

Sometimes we are presented a gift that takes your breath away.  Today I was a fortunate recipient of such a gift.  As I walked along the pathway of our local wilderness park.  A gentle breeze ruffled the trees and a solitary leaf fell and landed in the grass along the trail.  At that moment a cloud moved and the sunlight poured through,  accenting the Autumn colors in the leaf.  What a beautiful sight!  I was so fortunate to have brought my camera and was able to capture that image just at that moment.  The photo on the right entitled Wabi Sabi is the result.

The silent fall
To rest on strands of green,
The light a lovely accent,
My heart sang.

Natural dyeing is more that taking plant color and transferring it to fabric.  It is also appreciating the Art that is in Nature.

Rust Dyeing 101

One of my dyeing friends asked about rusting.  I will try to explain the method I use.  It is by no means the only method, but it has been successful for me.
First a word of warning.  Dry rust can cause problems for some people.  It can mess up your hemoglobin if you handle it to much with your bare hands.  Be safe, wear gloves when handling rusty objects.  Wet pieces do not seem to cause this problem, but play it safe anyway.
I usually start by laying down a piece of plastic.  I place a piece of fabric that has been well-soaked in vinegar on the plastic and arrange my pieces of metal on top in a design that pleases me.  Then I take a spray bottle of water and spritz over the entire piece to thoroughly wet the metal.  You can either place another piece of vinegar soaked fabric on top or just lay another piece of plastic over your design.  The fabric will pick up a mirrored image of your design if you place a little weight on top.  The top of the pile is always another piece of plastic.  This piece of plastic is there to slow the evaporation of the moisture in the pile.  Air must be able to enter in order for rust to form, so do not try to make it airtight.  Leave for 24 hrs, then remove the plastic and check your design.  If it needs more moisture, spritz again with water and recover for a few more hours.

A Change is Coming!

I walked outside this morning and immediately felt the change in the air.  The weather was cool and crisp.  A dense fog hovered just above the ground in the field.  The sun had that lovely glow that only an early fall morning can reveal.  I saw several wild cherry leaves on the ground as I stepped off the back porch.  Bright yellow and some were spattered with red or brown.  Somewhere in the neighborhood some one was burning leaves and wood.  The faintest whisper of smoke was on the air.  Even the dog notices the change.  It will not last long.  By nine it will be in the 80's or higher, and summer will continue.
I have been gathering acorns all week.  I have separated the caps from the nuts.  Yesterday I made my first acorn dyes.  I made one from 4 ounces of caps and a half-gallon of tap water.  The other one was 4 ounces of the nuts in their hulls and also in a half-gallon of tap water.  Each were boiled for 1/2 hour in an aluminum pot. The dye bath made from caps only looked dark brown.  The dye bath made from the whole nuts looked almost black.  I simmered bleached cotton in the dye baths for 20 minutes.  The results may be seen in the photo Nuts! on this page.
The results were surprising.  I expected much darker color from both.  I added another piece of muslin with a RR spike rolled up inside the cloth and added it to the pot of dye made from caps only.  After 20 minutes, I could see a change in the color of the bath and some black peeking through the fabric.  The acid and the tannins reacted with the iron and created the gray-black.

We are Growing!

We natural dyers are attracting more and more people every day.  I am so happy to see the new faces that join the group and that are learning to create beautiful fabrics and fibers in such a sustainable fashion.  The other amazing part of this group is that we come from all parts of the World.  Even though our languages are different, our plant varieties different, we somehow manage to communicate the processes of dyeing with plant materials so that everyone understands them.  With so many wonderful blogs being added around the world, even those not subscribing to Facebook can get the information they need.  I have found the natural and eco dyers to be open and willing to share any and all tricks of the trade they have.  By sharing the skills, we share the joy of what we do.  When we share photos, they say so much more than do the words.
I encourage all of you who read my blog to participate as much as you can with your fellow dyers.  Freely exchange information and your own work will improve from that exchange.  Share photos when you can, you don't need to be a fancy photographer either.  Ask questions.  After all, we are all here for the same reason.  We love to dye naturally, we are all learning and even if we have been doing this for many years, there is always something more to learn.  Enjoy the day.

Coming Back Soon!

I have been so tied up getting ready for the Pioneer Days at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village that I haven't had much time to work on my blog.  I had such huge interest in my natural dyeing that I have been asked to hold classes at the Museum for people to learn to dye in traditional ways and in eco-dyeing.  This is great news!  It means people really are interested in getting away from the use of chemical dyes and really enjoy the colors that Mother Nature provides us.  I'm really looking forward to my talk at the Pasco County Historical Society on natural dyeing on the 16th of September.
The acorns are beginning to fall and I am collecting them as fast as I can.  I want a good supply to experiment with when fall really arrives.  The leaves of the dogwood trees are turning some beautiful colors.  Now that Pioneer Days are over, I hope to get some dye prints from them.
My Hairy Indigo (Indigofera hirsuta) is just breaking into bloom, it is time to harvest and ferment.  I don't expect a dark indigo color from this plant, but it would be nice to get a light blue.  I will report on my progress.  I also found a creeping Indigofera.  I haven't identified the species yet, but I will photo and post as soon as I have.

Harvest Time!

This is becoming my favorite time of the year.  Not only is summer coming to a close, but that means that cooler weather will bring changing leaf colors, fruits ripen for harvest, Mother Nature will put on her finest and give use a hand shopping for dyestuffs.  It is a marvelous time of the year.  I have been granted a boon, in a sense.  This is the year when the local electric company trimmed their rights-of-way and the new sprouts are shooting up all over.  That means I get to pick and choose the colors of foliage I want to work with.  It is also much lower and I can reach it better.  This also means that I can pick up firewood that they have cut down for me.  All you have to do is ask and they will let you take away some branches. It means they don't have to shred them or haul them away. Oak trees here in Florida are already dropping acorns.  The live oaks and certain white oaks have  a good crop on them.  Gathering them only takes a few minutes and they store well for dyeing with later.  I had another stroke of luck thanks to Hurricane Irene.  The winds she brought to my area shook down a whole lot of hickory nuts.   I picked up 20 lbs. in about 15 minutes.  I will begin extracting them tomorrow.  Today I stopped where a road crew was cutting goat willow alongside the road and they gave me about 15 branches.  I have a pot of willow dye on now.  I will dry some of the branches for dyeing with later in the fall.  It makes a beautiful yellow color, and is very versatile.  I have been asked to give a talk at our local Historical Society about natural dyeing the way the early pioneers did.  I will be making several batches of dye to show the dye color and the finished fabric.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I think I will try some mud dyeing also.  We have some beautiful red clay type soil in my area and I think I can get a successful dye from it.  If I do, I will post photos on the blog.
I hope everyone is enjoying this blog.  Please feel free to post comments or suggestions.  Don't be bashful.  just click on "comments" at the end of each blog, and add yours.      Be back in a little while.