Boiling

I found an old ugly pot at the second hand store for three dollars. I could probably use one of my kitchen pots, since I only dye with plant materials that are not poisonous, as far as I know, but just in case I come across some stuff that is either super messy or stains a lot, it is good to have a dedicated pot.

There were still some Sorrell calyxes left in my refrigerator, so I decided to see what happened when I boiled them with some fabric. I am getting a little more scientific, perhaps, so now I am using pieces of silk, cotton, linen and hemp. I plan to do this for each experiment. Then I will be able to compare which fiber absorbs the different dyes best.

This is what I was boiling:

Here it is with the fabric pieces

I let is simmer for several hours and added water a couple of times. It got pretty mushy.

Here are the results

The fabrics are, clockwise from top left: cotton, hemp, linen, and silk. The silk piece is the most successful, in my view. It seems to have absorbed color the best.

The next step is to soak them in a mordant.

I am planning to use a version of the mordant assessment procedure described in India Flint's book (p 103). My experiments are less scientific, both because I am mostly playing at this point and also by necessity, since I don't have a proper studio here. It's just the spare guest room and the kitchen.

Here is the guest room, full of my projects

I will put in a picture of the kitchen another day, when it's not so messy!