What's so great about these plants
is that they self seed.
Those little pods you see hanging
contain the seeds.
About 2 weeks ago I started saving
some of these seeds for my daughter
to plant in her garden.
Looking at the Cleomes; I wondered if I
could extract any dye from the purple
colored flowers.
But first I google them to make sure
they are safe and not poisonous in
any way. Surprisingly, I found that
they are called an Herb and used
medicinally! This is truly an amazing
and versatile plant!
To my amazement I didn't find through
my google search anyone who had used
this plant for dyeing. Not that I could
find with photos anyway.
I put the flower heads in the pot and covered
with water and heated not boiled for about
one hour. The liquid looked purple.
(Edited - Using this pot was a mistake - I realized that when I did
another experiment with the Pyracantha ‘Orange Glow’in my previous
post - which by the way I'm doing a second time using a Stainless Steel
pot instead - It has made a huge difference!)
1- 100% cotton fabric soaked in hot salted water then rinsed
I poured the purplish colored liquid in a
small tupperware and added the wet fabric -
I then cut a lemon in half (no measurement)
and just squeezed a few drops into the
liquid and stirred it around it turned Pink!
(I keep forgetting to take step by step photos!)
2 - 100% cotton fabric
The second piece of cotton fabric I soaked
in hot salted water then rinsed
I poured some of the pink liquid in a small
tupperware and added maybe 1/4 teas. of alum
and added the fabric. It didn't look like
anything changed so I added a couple of
drops of ammonia and it turned purple...?
I let the fabrics soak in the liquid
for about 2 days. Took them out and
rinsed in cold water. I did not wash
them in a detergent yet because I wanted
to find a natural detergent for them.
Here's what they look after they dried
A nice shade of pink the other is
like a greyish purple.
Now for the third experiment
3- 100% cotton fabric - nothing added
was just washed.
I poured some of this same purplish liquid
into yet another small tupperware added the
fabric - stirred it around and then added a
couple of drops of ammonia and it turned
Green!
Here's the results along with the pink.
The purplish cloth is such an odd
color - it looks grey, purplish and
I can see some pink.
Today I washed the fabrics above with a
light colorless detergent and I was so
disappointed that the pink changed ....
to a minty green color.
The original green stayed green after
washing. And the purplish grey also
turned....
haven't ironed the fabrics yet. My
next test with these fabrics will be
what happens when they are exposed to
sunlight for a long period.
It would be interesting to try different
mordants and see the results.
I won't be able to do this experiment again
until next year - no more Cleome flowers.
I hope that someone who is more experienced
than I am will try using the Cleome plant.
Perhaps, they can coax more vibrant colors
than I did and maybe some new ones! If you
try this please let me know your results!
Notes:
After I tried my experiment with the Purple Cleome -
I found some interesting facts about this plant!
" If you boil it down enough, you end up with a black syrup, quite thick, which acts as a binding agent for pigments, ideal for painting on unfired pottery."
" Native American recipes in fact have Cleome cooked, most frequently boiled, often eaten like spinach, or the seeds, which are often eaten raw, boiled into a porridge-like mush. Seeds are also sometimes ground into a flour or meal, and has been used for bread since prehistoric times."
You can read more here
Read Here
Happy Dyeing!
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