I was on Pinterest and saw some Dark Pink
cloth that was dyed with beets. However, after going
to the web page I discovered that the photo was
taken before it was washed.
So, I decided to give it a go anyway. I had to
satisfy my curiosity. I bought fresh beets and
only peeled a large one. I hate wasting food.
I did not take step by step photos - I forgot!
I remembered as I had the pieces soaking
in the sink.
Pretty pink colors!
I used on one a piece of silk and on the other
one cotton.
Here is where I found some good info. on beets -
Beetroot
"Cut beetroot retains its purple-red colour well in acidic solutions such as malt vinegar (acetic acid)."
But they didn't mean on fabric! (but I tried it anyway)
Needless to say, the color washed out.
Leaving this ecru color.
The conclusion -
"There have been repeated attempts to use beetroot as a natural dye for textiles.....
. The red colour of beetroot cannot be fixed with any of the mordants traditionally used in textile dying. A method of obtaining a colour-fast red dye from beetroot would enable it to be exploited as a natural textile dye."
http://www.stephennottingham.co.uk/beetroot5.htm
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 ..........................
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| 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.
This is a Shibori piece that I did awhile back.
Look under the Techniques tab to see how
I did this.
I have been dyeing cotton sateen
with both Pebeo Setacolor paint
and Dylon Dyes. Separately -
I really am happy with the results.
So, I decided to try an experiment -
I dyed the sateen first and purposely
left some white space - wash, dried,
and ironed. I used "Intense Violet"
Then - and this is the test - I painted
on setacolor "Lemon Yellow".
The purpose of this test was to see
if the paint covered or over shadowed
the dye or just covered the white space.
I'm sad to said that it covered the dye and
made the Intense Violet look faded.
You can see the results
http://materialisticvisions.blogspot.com/p/techniques.html
(under Techniques)
This is my new blog about my
hand dyed and painted fabrics!
I will have my experiments and
techniques (eventually)
I will be transferring my gallery
of fabrics here.
Stay tuned!
