Dye Results

I was busy yesterday dyeing some yarn. I had some new things to dye with and was curious as to what the results would be. This is a photo of the results. Furthest left is Marigolds. Next is a mushroom called Dryad's Saddle (Polyporous Squamosus) over-dyed with Sumac. The lightest yarn is Dryad's Saddle alone. The one on the right was dyed with just Sumac. All the yarn was pre-mordanted in 8% alum. The Marigold had an iron after bath.

I had some Marigolds in my freezer that I had been collecting over the summer. I collected the flower heads, including the calyx. The Marigolds were the mid-sized plants with 3" orange flowers. I put the frozen flower heads in a dye pot and covered them with water. I boiled them for about 45 minutes. I then let them steep until cool enough to work with and strained the liquid, added a bit more water to the pot to accommodate the wool so it could move freely. I brought the pot to a low simmer and held it there for about 45 minutes. As I periodically checked the dye bath and wool for color I noticed some green developing. I decided to try to enhance this by making an iron solution to add to an after bath. I created the iron solution be soaking some rusty nails in a container of 2:1 white vinegar and water. I added a small amount if this to the dye bath and let it cool. The color change was significant.

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Next, I strained the liquid from the Dryad's Saddle. This had been soaking for a number of days in water with 1/2 cup of ammonia added. It was a fairly dark liquid.

I was hoping for more color, but was not unhappy with the light ecru color I obtained.
(Third from the left above).

I then filled a pot  half full with sumac cones. The ones that I used were bright red and sticky.

I covered them with water and boiled this for an hour. I cooled the liquid and strained it through several layers of cheese cloth. I simmered some wool from the mushroom bath to overdue it. I also added freshly mordanted white wool. There was a difference in the depth of color between the over dyed yarn and the yarn dyed in just sumac. (Second and fourth from the left above).

All in all, I am happy with the results that I got. I will definitely use these again for dyeing.