Still experimenting

I had quite a few old chemises that are made of silk so I decided to actually use them! I have kept them because the silk is lovely. 

I also still have some of the hollyhock dye bath left. 

So today I looked up yet another site on how to naturally dye silk and have just done more mordanting of the fabric. I have done it slightly differently because I went to a different site - so many sites with good advice!  Because the chemises had colour I am not sure how things will turn out - but I really don't care!

I'm hoping to collect some more fabrics, not necessarily silk, and dye them and see if they 'speak to me' about how to use them. 

If not, I'll have yet more pieces of dyed silk and other fabrics.

 The leftover flowers that I used have turned into some sort of sludge but I am willing to try one or two pieces of silk to see what happens. I'll try to be more creative with the rest, see if I can make different colours. I still have a LOT of dried and frozen hollyhocks to I am anticipating lots of purples and, possibly, pinks. 

If I do use the sludge, I don't think the dye will be even but that doesn't bother me either. I am just aiming to have fun. 

As I have only prepared silk, I think that I won't get the greens and browns I got with the wool. - they were also old chemises. 

Our garden is being overtaken by oxalis - not a good thing. But I am hoping some may survive (if we don't work our how to actually get rid or it) and I will cut the yellow flowers and try them. I have a faint recollection of using the leaves too but they will only give green, easily obtained from other sources. It would actually be good to get rid of the oxalis, so I may not get to see the beautiful flowers.