DYE JOURNAL - WILD!
Our wild meadow of a front yard!
Wild. I think that’s my thematic word for this year.
I feel in so many instances I’ve been (as Simon Barnes puts it) trying to “rewild” myself. We’ve been letting our yard “go to meadow” this year, meaning that we haven’t done a ton of mowing or weeding. We laid down some wood chip paths throughout or property to give us ways to move about the yard, but other than that we’re letting the yard do what it wants! It’s wild and wonderful and I feel we’re getting closer to nature the more we let it have its way. The amount of birds, bunnies and butterflies I’ve seen is unlike any other in years past at our house.
The most lovely surprise is the amount of dandelions that have come up this year! My front yard is a sea of yellow. No more will I consider these bright spots of sunshine weeds. I love them and I want them to stay!
Plucking those dandelion tops for the dye pot.
I’ve read in my many natural dye books that you can dye with dandelions, so I gave it try. After all of last week’s disappointments, I wasn’t super hopeful. I’m so glad these lil’ flowers proved me wrong!
My dandelion dye results! Cotton blend yarn on the left, wool sample sitting on top of a silk sample on the right.
I got my hands on some wool and silk this past weekend, so now I’m able to test out different fibers in my dye pots moving forward. The wool and silk took up the dye so, so well. My cotton yarn…not so much. The more I dye with this cotton, the more I think it’s a cotton/poly blend of some type. I got this yarn from my local scrap shop, so I don’t quite know what its true make-up is. Oh well. I’m too pleased with the silk and wool results to care!
Concentration is key to a strong dye pot! More dandelion tops are better— just make sure to responsibly forage and leave at least 10% of the growth behind.
My dye pot was primarily composed of dandelion heads with a small handful of leaves. I picked enough flower heads to cover the bottom of my pot, filled my pot less than half way with water, and simmered the flowers/leaves for a couple of hours. I let the dye pot cool and steep overnight, strained out the foliage the next day, added a spoonful of alum and simmered my fibers in the pot for a couple of hours. I let the fibers cool and steep overnight as well and pulled them out the following afternoon to see that lovely, muted yellow attached.
Per usual, I’m not sure what I’ll dye with next week. Not to worry— I’ll let nature lead the way and I’m sure I’ll find something fun to put into the dye pots. Stay tuned!
— KB
