It's Green!

Looking around you outdoors, one would think that the most abundant natural dye color would be green. This is not the case! In fact, green from nature can be quite elusive. I have been trying all summer to get a shade of green, any shade of green, using natural dye stuff and alum mordant. I have a lot of beautiful, satisfying colors, but no greens. I have been working on a copper mordant with copper wire and vinegar, but it isn't ready yet. Copper should make it easier to get green.

Last weekend I got three jugs of dye bath from a friend who makes paper. We often trade back and forth. Results are always different, as she works with cellulose and I work with protein. Nonetheless, less, the results are always interesting. One the the jugs she sent had Withies and one had Withies with washing soda added. I mixed the two together and used it all at once. Withies are the new growth on river willows. They are the pliable branches used to make baskets. We had picked a bunch last fall and my friend had boiled down the leaves and some bark.

The dye bath was a beautiful reddish brown. The muslin that I used to strain it turned a beautiful dusty rose color. I was quite excited to see what happened to the wool. I simmered wool that had been mordanted in Alum and Cream of Tartar in the dye bath for one hour. Then I let the wool steep while it cooled. When I lifted the wool from the pot it appeared to be a nice golden yellow. I liked the color, but, it was another yellow. After the wool had cooled, I removed it from the dye bath and placed it in a pot of water drawn from the hose. The water outside has not gone through our water softener or rust remover. Our water is extremely hard with a lot of iron if not treated.

It was like magic. I watched the wool turn from yellow to green while it sat in the water. I moved it around in the pot and lifted parts out just to be sure! It was turning a wonderful Olivey green! What a surprise! I finished rinsing the wool and then washed it with Eucalan as I do with all my dyed wool. I dried it over night. The next morning it was still green! This photo doesn't so it justice. It doesn't show the depth of the color. But, trust me, it is a lovely green!