Eco Dyeing with Pyracantha ‘Orange Glow’ Berries Part I

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons. I was married one 

rainy autumn day and my children were born in autumn.

The landscape grows more colorful with each passing day and

best of all "no humidity"!

Here in Lancaster, I can see hundreds of migratory birds 

passing and resting in the trees back in the farmers field. 

Flying down to the fields gleaning what's left of the crops. It

never ceases to fascinate me!

Walking around the yard; I'm looking for some plants or 

leaves to eco dye.  On the side of my house I see the bright 

berries on this  evergreen shrub ..........................

Pyracantha ‘Orange Glow’

I'm wondering if I can use the berries to eco dye cloth...?

Pretty  - aren't they?

 I google to find out First - if it's poisonous in any way!  

(I am not an authority on eco dyeing - please research first! I just love experiemnting - safely!)

I also google to see if anyone has had any success with the 

berries.  Can't find anyone who has tried it. Oh well ..... let's 

do it!

I put about 3 cups of berries and 3 cups of distilled

water in a pot.

I only use this pot for plants. (I'm really not sure

what it's made out of but it says Kitchenaid on the

handle. I'm thinking that it might be made of 

 anodized aluminum as I still see them on sale.)

I don't boil  - just heat for about 20 min. 

As I'm not sure if I should add alum to the liquid

or only the fabric?  I added about 1 teas. of alum

to the liquid. Cotton fabric was washed and soak in

boiling water.

I had it soaking for about 24 hours.

 

 I left the berries with the liquid in the jar.

Here's what it looked like when I removed

the fabric.  Disappointed!

A light ecru with some light yellow spots.

 A closer look with some residue on the fabric.

I will let this dry and then rinse.

Now this is interesting - I had a tubberware outside

on the table. I had put a piece of  cotton fabric in the 

tubberware and just put some berries on top. This

was not intentional!  It then rained and I forgot 

about the tubberware on the table.  About 3 or 4 

days later I went out and found what happened

(I forgot to takes photos!~)

But this is what the fabric looked like when dried.

The colors are tan and the marks of the berries

are brownish. I like this one; it's more interesting

and I like the marks on the fabric. I might do 

this one again with a larger piece. 

But wait..... that ecru color fabric turned a different

color ! 

washed, dried and ironed - now it looks greyish!

I left the berries and liquid in the jar and placed

another piece of fabric inside for one week.

Nothing earth shattering - it has a greenish hue.

This piece has not been washed yet. 

I'm thinking that the piece with the yellow spots

maybe due to the green pieces of leaves and 

small stems left in the pot?  I'll have to try the

leaves next.

Will try to do a follow up on this.