No mordant?

alumyarn
Alum mordanted yarn hung out to dry, after making a rediscovery in my own stash. There might be some plant dyeing happening around here after all! I was inspired to begin with these. A plant that I’ve tried to get rid of in my horse paddocks, but I’m sure I can find some still. Result report guaranteed  if and when!

I often come upon blogs about plant dyeing, usually beginning dyers, mentioning how they mordant their yarns with vinegar or salt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rallying against beginners, like myself!, posting about their passions and experiences. But this being a pet peeve of mine, I’m going to mention it again: Those are NOT “mordants”.

Continue reading “No mordant?”

Operation cotton – weld

Having promised that I’d do something with my weld and some failed, beige fabrics from last year’s plant printing tests, I wrapped half a sheet around plants, water and more plants on top and the other half sheet loosely crumbled on top, floating. As well as one of the failed cotton skeins that I’ve been going on about forever but never shown yet. (I have just two more than I want to put into some dyebath again, for, like, the 5th time, THEN!)

Continue reading “Operation cotton – weld”

All that weld

…and nothing to do with it. That’s what I’ve been thinking every time I pass by my second year weld, lush, tall and proud. Because as I mentioned in the fennel post A. I don’t have a new dye yarn supply, B. I don’t really want to keep dyeing samples with cheap yarn, C. I don’t have any projects planned that require a large quantity of yellow yarn, and D. I just haven’t felt like it anyway. Which is a shame, because it is one of the plants I want to keep using in the more limited range that I’ve set out to use in the future (rather than try all the things).

Continue reading “All that weld”