Tea-time: Dyeing with Flowers from Our Dye Garden

If you have been with me for the past few months, you may remember this:

Adrienne and I planted this dye garden from seed (organic) this past Summer. I harvested flowers almost every day and filled the freezer with petals and stalks. Adrienne was taking a horticulture class at the local JC. For her final project, she decided to document the dye garden, starting from the planting of the seeds, and finishing with making tea from the flowers and dyeing wool.

Wool: Bluefaced Leicester
Qty: 2 oz per dye
Mordant: 12% Alum, 6% Cream of Tartar
Dye Qty: 2oz of dried/frozen material

First, we mordanted the wool with alum and cream of tartar for one hour. We let the wool sit in the mordant over night to cool. Then, we lightly rinsed the wool in a lukewarm bath.


We made teas out of each type of plant:


(this is making me feel like Ina Garten -- and want to speak in a hushed tone -- "come and look a little closer" -- and then the camera zooms in to see what she is cooking)
1. Edible Chrysanthemum


2. Correopsis


3. Cosmos


4. Dahlia


(this is the part in the show, where I find myself starving, and for a minute I actually think about cooking something real to eat, but instead, after exhausting myself thinking about all of the steps necessary to have such a dinner, I grab a bag of potato chips and sit back on the couch, and wish that someone else, such as Ina, could cook for me)

Round 2: For this round, we took plants growing around our house.


1. Birch


2. Chestnut Hulls


3. Eucalyptus


4. Ivy (leaves and berries)


We simmered the tea for about 1+hour. Until the dahlias lost their color, and the eucalyptus nearly asphyxiated us. Turned off the heat, allowed the tea to cool a bit.



Now, it was time for dyeing, my favorite part. We took a large canning pot, and 8 wide mouthed mason jars. Filled each jar 2/3 full with tea, and then dunked a 2oz piece of bfl wool. Placed the jar in the pot, loosely capped the jars, turned the heat onto med-low, and simmered the pot's contents for over an hour.

Our results:

From left to right: ivy, eucalyptus, dahlia, cosmos, correopsis, chrysanthemum, chestnut hulls, birch (when taking this photograph, I was having a momentary lapse of dyslexia). A lot of yellow, eh? I suppose it is amazing how many different shades and tones of a single color the human eye can see.

Next project: Over-dying with indigo. I will bring more green into my collection!

Spinning Indigo Dyed Black Bluefaced Leicester

Before:



After:

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who came to the Winter Fiber Show. Thank you to everyone who helped us by telling a friend, listing this event on their blog, supporting us, etc. It was a great success. I loved meeting new people and visiting with friends. I have some great photos to share. My favorite is this one:

A DH holding his wife's fiber while she shops. He was totally great -- completely supportive of his wife's "habit". An enabler even, encouraging her to spoil herself! A prime example for DH and DW everywhere!


And, of course, photos of our offerings...fiber and yarn of course!




In other news, we had a little bit of rain here, which for us, that means "weather". It has been nice. I have been knitting. Arm warmers for my late night bike ridin' friend Meridyl.






And, while I have been doing that knitting, (time for a confession) I have been watching a very special TV show (especially trashy) called Tila Tequila: A Shot at Love. I love it (period) I hope Dani wins. Well, while we are at it, how about another confession, tonight is Project Runway. Another little addiction I have. If all of this confessing is bringing back memories for you of Catholic school, then confess away. OK, back to knitting, I came across this scarf on Knitspot the other day. Too darn cute. I almost cast-on immediately but called upon my self control. I have committed to a couple commissioned project and must/will finish them. Now, I have a reward for when I am through. What a good girl!