DYE JOURNAL - BEANS!

Apr 28

It’s Wednesday, which means that it’s time for a dye pot update! This week I got lost in more orange dye from the mystery tree. I decided I wanted to try out other fabrics besides my cotton yarn and make some summer tops to showcase my new favorite dye.

More orangey goodness! Clockwise from top: cotton gauze, linen, cotton yarns.

I did try out a new dye stuff this week….black beans!

The dye is crazy vibrant while hot in the pot and will cool down to a more blueish hue once washed and dried.

When I was first delving into natural dyes (about 7 years ago), I gave black beans a go. All I remember is the dye smelling weird and my disappointment when I got less than stellar results. I was still learning about mordants and proper natural dye techniques and I have a feeling I didn’t prep my fibers well, resulting in dye that just washed right out. Womp, womp.

The sadness after my first attempt in those early days kept me from giving them another try. Not anymore though! I broke my black bean strike and— armed with more natural dye knowledge and magic— I soaked some black beans and made a dye with the soaking water. The results this time were much, much better!

Yarns (after a wash and dried) dyed with black beans. Left top: mordanted cotton, left bottom: undmordanted wool, right top: unmordanted cotton, right bottom: unmordanted cotton with iron added to the bath.

Look at that color! These beautiful cool tones are just blowing my mind. The vibrant bluey-purpley shade is on yarns that were pre-mordanted. The other gray yarns were not mordanted before taking a dive in the bath. The difference is staggering.

Needless to say, I’m super please! This week’s lesson: sometimes you have to return to the past to learn something new.

Not quite sure what’s up next for the dye pots. Dandelions are going crazy in my yard—I might do some weeding and toss them into the dye pot. I am trying the hibiscus dyes again, this time with pre-mordanted yarns in a super concentrated bath.