I have had a peaceful couple of days-pottering around and amongst other things making a new solar pot. To do this I had to empty one in use and I chose my birch leave pot which has been on the go since May 5th and does not appear to be changing. So I removed the fibres-some teeswater and some prefelt and washed them and hung them on
the line.
One of my first dye books- I think I have mentioned before- is Jill Goodwins A Dyer's Manual published by Batsford 0-7207-1327-7 . Jill, still, her daughter tells me spinning and dyeing in her 90's , has a fantastic list at the back of her book of all the plants she used and the colours with various mordants. The book itself is a little out of date particularly on the level of mordants but I still use Jill's method of dyeing with woad and I think it is still worth getting if only for the list at the back .
Very slowly I get round to trying some of the plants on her list. It was here I found that could get green with Mullien Verbascum thapsus and copper and also with horsetail (Equisetum spp).
I now make a copper mordant by submerging copper piping in water containing vinegar and leaving till the water goes blue with the copper acetate-Ipresume that this is what it is. I add copper piping and some solution to the pot so it is a very hit and miss affair, quantity wise .
I picked 200g of equisetum from the hedgerow as I walked the dog, chopped it up , added some alum mordanted prefelt,and some unmordanted fleece, hot water , copper solution and my pot was done.
Left to right they are
Madder, Eucalyptus with iron , Golden rod with iron, new pot.
Your solar dyes look wonderful. I have only tried it a couple of times. right now I have one on the window sill full of valerian that grows on the wayside. Not sure how it will turn out.
ReplyDeleteI really am going to have to get some large glass jars to do this more effectively. My stainless steel pot with glass lid was successful with annatto, but because I couldn't seal it, it began to collect some mould after about 3 to 4 weeks.
ReplyDeleteCould you recommend some jars?
Alison
I find the oldfashioned cookware shops are a good source. Enys has just brought back some that were sitting in her greenhouse and one of the madder pots was mouldy-much to my surprsie.
ReplyDelete