Home Forums Explore Media Fiber Arts Oxalis as Natural Dye

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  • #994935

    Oxalis – or Sour Grass, among other names – is rampant along the roadways and sidewalks of Northern California at the moment. A year ago a woman in my spinning guild brought samples of skeins she had dyed from the flowers and greens. I just couldn’t help but gather a basketful to try for myself.

    The first round was roving – Cheviot. I got a lovely almost lemon yellow. This I have been spinning into singles, then adding a brown Corriedale and grey mohair. Worsted weight, it is soft but not next-to-the-skin soft. Good for a throw or outerwear.

    Being gone for a good week or so, I came home to find a spool full of the yellow singles which had had direct sun definitely faded. Sigh. Too bad. I am not sure that there is anything one can do about color fastness with a natural dye.

    But I wanted to continue experimenting. Here is a series of photos of the process, using a table top roaster oven (a 1950’s era Westinghouse of my mom’s). I really like using the range for dying because there is less movement of the wool, less of a chance of it drying out and burning (been there, done that) and also the ability to layer wool, colors in a somewhat random control of color placement. the wool is commercially processed merino top, with some other – cheviot or blue faced Leicester?? – in the mix. These are skeins I have spun initially from bits and pieces, so the content is not fully known. :lol:

    Beginning to layer in the roaster oven

    Once loaded, I added water with 2 teaspoons of baking soda, as I had read online to do so. Frankly, I am not sure it is needed. I later have found that the baking soda shifts the color….

    I put the oven on 350 degrees, then dropped it to about 300 for 4 hours, and let it cool overnight. Quite the soggy mess when I opened it up, but the skeins cleaned up quite well.

    Lots of veggie matter to strain out before it goes down the drain….

    I did another single skein on the stove top, and when I added the baking soda, whow! what a fizz and bubble. Of course – oxalis acid. I also noticed an immediate change of color, so added a whole lot more, just to experiment.

    Jennifer Landau
    Proud to be published in Art Quilting Studio magazine and educating about wool at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair.

    #1267283

    Here are the final skeins.

    The one on the left is the stove top with lots of soda. Definitely a more golden color. My goal with the layering was to see if I could get a random placement of light and dark color. This worked to an extent, as you can see in the other skeins.

    The stove top skein ended up a bit felted – whether it be how I handle it (likely) or its fiber. I think I will not ply it into the others. The others have a clearer sheen and feel of merino, so I will work them together in a 3 ply.

    Jen

    Jennifer Landau
    Proud to be published in Art Quilting Studio magazine and educating about wool at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair.

    #1267286
    Lena
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        Those are lovely shades of yellow!

        With natural dyes it is the mordant that makes it colour fast.
        However the mordants can be quite toxic.

        I had a lovely bright deep pink hat that had been made with a natural dyes but after a year it had shifted to a dirty salmon colour.

        I took some dyeing courses but they were all procion dyes because I wanted colourfast results after the pink hat fiasco.

        Doll Art by Lena

        #1267284

        So there is color fast and light fast….I am not sure that a mordant would help the light fastness. Your thoughts?

        Jennifer Landau
        Proud to be published in Art Quilting Studio magazine and educating about wool at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair.

        #1267287
        Lena
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            Since I took the dye courses before the young one was conceived :angel: …. and she is now 28 :eek: that makes it about 30 years since I took them :crying:

            So I can’t be much help (forgot the difference between colourfast and lightfast already:o )

            Doll Art by Lena

            #1267288

            Lovely shades of yellow. I’ve only used bought dyes where I add acetic acid/vinegar to the heating process. Even then the color washes out over a long time.

            Christel

            #1267285
            Debby
            Default

                Colorfast is the color stands up to washing and wearing without fading. Not always easy to achieve with natural dyes.

                Lightfast is the ability to hold color in sunlight. Not many dyes do so. In fact even commercial dyes can be faded by the sun. I’ve had random things in the back of a car over time fade to pastel or even bleach out completely.

                Those are awesome yellows. What are you going to make once you have spun and plied yarn?

                Debby
                Guide - Fiber Art Forum

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