oops again!

 I used some dried hollyhocks to try some more dyeing. 

I have finished the mordanting and the dye baths. But ... I found some dried hollyhock flowers and decided to use them too. 

They have been lying around for weeks. I put them into a pot and used the recently mordanted fabric to see what would eventuate. 

                                 

 

I didn't want to wait for the dye bath so I put some fabric that had been mordanted into the dyebath that still had dried flowers in it. There were quite a lot, so it is now a full pot of flowers and warm water, 

                                  

 I overfilled the pot, so some of the dye bath spilt onto the stove - very promising in terms of colour. 

I then decided that the yellowish fabrics from the leaves of the lilly pilly were rather ordinary and have put in some of the overflow from the hollyhocks. 

The pot is now not simmering and I will check the fabrics in the morning. Hopefully there will be some stronger colours. 

I'm still not sure what I will use the fabric for but I am pleased that I have been experimenting after all this time. 

Oops!

 Seeing that I am just playing around with my dyeing (as usual, not very scientific) I didn't put enough water in with the bundle and it started to burn!! Fortunately someone noticed and turned it off before too much damage was done!

There is a small hole in the silk but I don't actually have anything in mind for using the fabrics so not to worry!

The fabric has a faint pink tone, especially the silk, with mostly brown for the wool - with some small areas of pink. 

As I said, I have no project in mind for the fabric and am, therefore, just experimenting with small pieces. 

I have decided to use the leaves of the lilly pilly. I have cut them up and put them in a pot to do their thing. So far, the water (dye bath) looks clear. 

Later - not much later. I have now put the mordanted fabric into the dye bath (and taken out the leaves to the compost heap). The fabric is looking yellowish, especially the silk. I will let it sit in the pot overnight, as so many sites recommend 

Once more, no idea what I will use the fabric for!

I'm am a roll now, am going to use yet more silk and worn out clothes, this time fawn silk (it was a singlet/camisole), to try using some of  the many leftover, dried hollyhock flowers that are just sitting around. 

The fabric is mordanting and I will let that rest for several hours, then do the dye bath thing. 

Time to take the dog out for a wander. 

I almost forgot!

A week or so ago, I just had to do some eco-dyeing - our hollyhocks have been flowering and dropping beautifully dark flowers. I collected them over a couple of weeks and put them in the freezer. Some were left to dry and then put in the freezer. It wasn't intentional to let them dry, it just happened with the very warm days. 

I used India Flint's book - ECO DYEING - especially her bit about freezing the organic material because it gives good colour. 

I actually had some flowers in the freezer from last summer, possibly the one previous too. 

I decided to use some bits of silk that I have had in the cupboard, some scraps and some complete scarves. I used vinegar as my mordant. 

Following the instructions (which I can do sometimes) I made a dye bath.                                                       

I put the fabric in and got some pale pink results. I had put the flowers into an old pair of pantyhose. 

I squeezed the colour out as much as I could. When I had finished with it, I put it aside. It still had colour in the flowers, which surprised me. 

I put the fabric in the dye bath and left it for a day or so. 

When I took it out it was pink but not very strongly coloured. 

However, I had noticed that the flowers still had colour and I didn't want to waste it - so I found some scraps of various types of silk and did a contact dye, rolling the fabrics over the flowers. 

The results were quite different - some were the same pale  pink, others took the colour really strongly! The best piece is an old chemise that was no longer wearable. It was already a brown silk so that must have affected the dye. Now to decide what to do with these pieces. 

There was still a little bit of colour in the dyebath and I couldn't resist seeing if I could get some more colour from it. I had a rather large square scarf and put it in the jar. Then I put it in the glasshouse to keep it warm. Then I forgot about it!

I was reminded today that I had left the scarf soaking in the leftover dye from the hollyhock dyeing. It had been in the glasshouse that has no plants in it at the moment as it gets too hot at this time of the year.

It is going to be very hot in the next few days, so it was good to get it out this evening. 

If I had wanted a grey scarf with some random brown stains, I would say it was a success! 

However, that was not the aim, so I might try some overdyeing. 

I walked the dog a couple of days ago in a park I haven't visited for ages. The eucalyptus trees are throwing off their bark in the summer. I used to collect it when I walked there with our previous dog. The bark can give some gorgeous colours. Eucalyptus leaves also give great colours. AND they don't need mordant! So I might give it a go in the coming days - if I can be bothered going out in the heat to collect the bark and leaves. 

Didn't wait!

 I looked at the scarves in the jar and thought about a post I had done in the past, mentioning that some of the flowers had rotted and marked the fabric. So I only waited till today, not three weeks! 

They looked quite purple before rinsing. Breath held before rinsing. 

I rinsed the scarves and hung them up to dry. Then it rained! So I brought them in and noticed that the velvet scarf felt a bit gritty, maybe I hadn't rinsed it properly. I even used detergent this time. They are now hanging up under cover. Still purple although I am wondering if the velvet one has turned a little greyer - but that could be the darker light, due to the clouds. Wait and see. 

Now that I see the photo, I see a dog's face, of course.  On the lefthand side. 

Is that an angel I see? 

Three weeks into the new year!

 Well, it is 23/1/23!! How time flies, whether you are having a great time or not. 

I have been dealing with the summer holidays, post Christmas and New Year and feeling a bit tired. But nature doesn't take much notice. The hollyhocks are blooming and dropping flowers. 

So I have been collecting them. Today I put them in a jar with some fabric that I had soaked overnight with alum.(I used one of my past posts, which doesn't have all that much information.)  One is silk and polyester, so I am not sure how well that will go. The other is a chiffon silk. Both are scarves. I put then in a jar with the flowers and left them in the sun. Not sure what will happen, hope I don't waste the two scarves!! 

The water had taken some colour, not so sure about the fabric. But I will leave it for a week or so, the weather is going to be quite warm/hot, so that might help. 

On another note, I have been doing a free online course with Textile.org. It was called Stitch Camp and was about colouring some fabric and then doing some stitch on it. I am way behind - it was a 5 day thing, so it doesn't matter that I am behind! I will try to do some more stitching. It is just a random sort of thing - for me, at least. 

I will try to do 30 minutes a day (which it was advertised as needing) and see what develops. It is not my usual colours (if I have usual colours) but I was away and didn't have much choice. Not to worry, it is relaxing, when I get myself to give myself time to do it. Not sure what I will do with it, will try to just enjoy the process.  

Just in time!

I decided that I should rinse out my silk today, the lot that is soaking with the fresh and the frozen hollyhock flowers.  I was just in time!!  The hollyhock petals that were in the bag, sitting on top of the folded silk pieces, were starting to go mouldy. There was also a little bit of mould floating around on top of the water. The colour of the muslin had changed too, it was blueish (where it wasn't mouldy brown).

You can see a picture of it before the mould set in here.

This is the lot that I had put into fresh water.  I had left the hollyhocks in the bag and let the whole lot soak for three days.  It was in the glasshouse, in days that are consistently in the high 20 and low 30 degrees (C).

I was quite surprised to see the different patterns on the silk, from the folding.  I had really expected that the dye would have soaked through in three days, especially with the chiffon.  I had only folded them and placed the frozen petal bag on top, so no clamping, etc. The mould doesn't seem to have stained the fabric either - as I said, Just In Time!
Not that much dye rinsed out, which was pleasing in these days of very little rain.

You can just see the hollyhock, still valiantly flowering,  in the background.

The silk is all out on the line drying at the moment.  That should take about 10 minutes.

Well the 10 minutes are up and I have brought them inside.
Here they are without the sun shining on them, the satin tends to be hard to photograph.

The front piece was a small piece of pongee that did get some mould on it.  It takes the colour up more strongly.

The front and back of the satin, the colour looks stronger on the back.

There may have been a little staining from the mould, it is hard to tell and, obviously, doesn't detract from the patterns.