Dyeing embroidery thread and lined thread for bookbinding
A rare green result (from rosemary)
A palette of soft browns from the last of the red acer leaves fallen from the tree in my garden
An amazingly vibrant pink dye made from sloes
Apologies for the prolonged silence on here… I’ve been very busy with work for the past couple of months. Not too busy to squeeze in some more natural dyeing experiments though. A trip to Norfolk at the end of September yielded some useful finds… eucalyptus bark, hawthorn berries and leaves, acorn galls and a bumper crop of sloes. I’ve been making dye with all of these, with varying degrees of success. Up until recently, I’ve just been dyeing cotton lawn fabric, but I’ve expanded my experiments to include some antique linen, white embroidery thread, lined thread (which I use for bookbinding) and also some Aran yarn. The yarn takes up the colour much better than the other (plant) fibres, but it’s really interesting to compare the results across the range of materials. I’ve been using an iron oxide post-mordant (made by soaking rusty nails in vinegar and water) to extend the colour palettes of the dyes, and I’m also trying to make leftover dye into ink (need some more practice with that).