Dyeing with Box Elder Bark

The weather has finally cooled a bit. I decided it was time to get back to dyeing wool. I started a pot of Boxelder bark before we left for our trip last weekend. The bark has been chopped up and soaking in a pot of water for about 8 days now, 8 very hot days. Oh the smell...  I simmered the pot for an hour and let it steep while I mordanted some wool in alum. I had to simmer it on the grill outside and close all the windows and doors on that side of the house. Probably a good thing I don't have neighbors nearby! If you decide to try this, beware, you can't do this one inside, good ventilation won't be good enough!
Box Elder trees (Acer Negundo) are native trees in this area and are a member of the maple family.  The sap has been used to make syrup and various parts of the tree have been used for many different things through the centuries. When the wood is injured, it reacts by turning a red wine color.  My husband used it for that reason to make boxes for red wine we made and gave as gifts. The colored streaks in the wood matched the color of the wine.

This is what the pot looked like after simmering. You can see the size of the bark pieces. When I strained the liquid it was slightly thicker than water. It was a very rich, dark brown. I added the mordanted wool and simmered it for an hour. Then I let the wool steep for several hours. After steeping for two hours what I had was a warm, brownish tan. I decided to just let it continue to steep to see if I would get more color. 

Meanwhile, I decided to pick the heads off some of the sow thistle growing around here. I picked a bunch of the flower heads and then removed just the petals, avoiding as much of the sepals and calyxes as possible. I put all the petals into a 2 quart jar and covered them with boiling water. I left that to sit in the sun for the rest of the afternoon and overnight.Tomorrow, a friend is coming and she is bringing onion skins. The real dyeing will happen tomorrow. I have done about all the prep work I can today.

While I was wandering around the yard I spied these and picked some for the deck!