Dandelion 2013 mælkebøtte

dandelion / mælkebøtte
dandelion / mælkebøtte 2011

I’d already tried this 2 years ago and didn’t really think to repeat, but then again, one can always use yellow as a base for green or brown. I also wanted to break in the cast iron pot that I found in an “antique” shop.

So I did one hank in the iron pot, the others in a steel pot. And was quite disappointed. Even though I’d also cooked the flowers in the iron pot, it was no different from the others, I had to give it a bath with green vitriol to make it change.

So far I’ve only used flower heads because the leaves are hugging the ground mostly and are hard to pick, but I did want to do at least one skein before I abandon this plant. Not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because it’s not very remarkable compared to most wild plants that give yellow. If I need some, I can use it, but I’m not going to plan for it again.

It’s said that the leaves turn it more towards green than just the flowers. It didn’t BUT, the mordanted skein was ever so stronger yellow than the one with just flowers, so I definitely recommend going to the trouble of picking leaves as well. The two unmordanted hanks are almost identical, so I’ll probably be turning one into green with indigo or woad, unless I suddenly need a lot of pale yellow.

dandelion01
left to right: leaves no mordant, flowers no mordant, flowers + alum, flowers + alum + iron, leaves + alum

dandelion02

Now I just need to test it for lightfastness. Most of my yarns in fact. One of those tasks that I find less stimulating and leave off, like tax papers and such. 😉

Coming up next: Daffodils and Stinging nettle.

Mælkebøtter

Da jeg lige ville teste min nye støbejernsgryde, har jeg været en tur omkring mælkebøttefarvning igen – fordi det er de planter som er fremme nu. Jeg brugte et enkelt ubejset fed og ellers alun. Kun blomsterhoveder, da bladene mest ligger fladt på jorden her, nede i græsset.

Desværre fik jeg ikke rigtig noget anderledes resultat fra jerngryden, man får ellers tudet ørerne fulde af, at det dæmper farven på samme måde som decideret jernbejse. Så jeg måtte have det tredje fed en tur i en balje med jernvitriol for at få den olivengrønne farve jeg gik efter.

Og så ville jeg alligevel teste et enkelt fed med kun blade, for at se om det er rigtigt at de bliver lidt mere grønlige. Mælkebøtter er ikke bemærkelsesværdige i forhold til andre planter i naturen som giver gul, de kan bruges hvis de lige er der og man mangler gult, men jeg har ikke tænkt mig at bruge den år efter år bare for at gøre det.

Jeg blev temmelig overrasket over den kraftige gule farve jeg fik fra bladene, ikke grøn, men helt klart mere farve end fra blomsterne. Så det kan anbefales.

Lystestes skal det nok også, jeg skal bare lige tage mig sammen til at lave papskiver og lister og halløj for at holde styr på det.

Næste punkt på programmet er påskeliljer og brændenælde.

14 thoughts on “Dandelion 2013 mælkebøtte

  1. Thanks for the useful comparison of colour from plant parts as well as with mordants. We’re about to get into major dandelion season here and I might do some playing!

  2. Har du slet ingen skvalderkål eller brændenælder i haven? De farver begge grønt i varierende nuancer. Det kunne være interessant at se, hvordan de reagerede på en jerngryde. Jeg farver ca. 8:1 på bejdset garn.

    1. Jeg har gang i brændenælderne – skvalderkål har vi ikke, det er tidselland!

      Men jeg har ikke gryder nok til at rapportere alle planterne på en gang. 😉

    2. Jeg har i øvrigt selv fiflet lidt med større mængder plante end de skriver i bøgerne, 8:1 har jeg dog ikke prøvet, så det vil jeg lege med. Til gengæld synes jeg brændenældesuppen bliver ret brunlig når man varmer den op, så jeg overvejer lige at lave en ny variant uden kogning!

  3. I’m exactly the same with the light fastness testing – I know I should really do it but I never get round to it. Maybe this season I change my ways…

    1. Let’s see who gets there first? Nah, I don’t really have any competitive bone in my body, so it probably wouldn’t help.

  4. interesting experiments Pia, I’ve not used dandelion, but, I found an iron pot in my garden when I live in the house on Scalpay, Harris, I used it for dying, most of my yellow came from ragwort, senecio jacobaea, I found I got dark olive green by mordanting with alum, dying with flowers in an aluminium pot (I just happen to have an old aluminium pot), then boiling in the iron pot, my iron pot is rusted inside so I don’t know how that may have affected it, the iron pot is now the pot over my rhubarb, forcing the rhubarb shoots, 😉 Frances

    1. Don’t the rhubarbs need light to come up? I was thinking of using a clear bucket next year (with a few rocks on top against the wind)

      1. no Pia, it is keeping it dark that makes it grow faster as it searches for light, it is also sweeter and more tender, traditionally a terracotta pot was used and some people still use them but they are dear to buy, old chimney pots with a cover over the top could be used, it was the wind that made me decide to use the cast iron pot as it is quite heavy, Frances

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