NATURAL DYEING

Some photos documenting the process of natural dyeing. 

foraging for acorns - this process took course over the span of a few weeks. combined with an iron mordant, these acorns created a wonderful deep gray color
the creation of an iron mordant- made from vinegar and rust from railroad spikes I scavenged from the tracks near my house
my dye pot! on my kitchen stove (before I got a camp stove)
late night on my porch - dye pot, mordant, and a bucket of water to cool the hot dyed fabric
choosing a copper color for decorative stitching; these bandanas were for the Queer Ecology Hanky Exhibit show. I chose copper to represent this metal, which is an iconic natural resource here in Michigan. A large part of this particular project was
included a tag on these bandanas
I've regretted not photographing these better, but the resulting bandanas
dyeing setup on my porch on an early spring evening, my camp stove, dyepot, and prepared mordant
dyepot with cutch extract, hoping to achieve an orange color. used soda ash as a mordant
delightful uneven variation in the resulting color
printed bandanas- drying on my basement floor
close up of a printed bandana
another comparison of variations in color (cutch/soda ash)
another dye experiment, this one with osage orange shavings and my old iron mordant. Had I refreshed my iron mordant before this, the resulting color would have likely been a little deeper
the dyed bandanas drying in my basement
example of color variation in this dye lot, ranged from an light khaki color to a deeper olive green
IMG_6775.jpg
harvesting goldenrod on the edge of fall
the process of making goldenrod dye!
making walnut dye!
hands after dealing with walnut...
fun variations with walnut (right) and goldenrod (left) modified with iron
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