Here's the shirt with a sprig of Dyer's Greenwood on it.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
More on Dyes
Today Jacob and I removed our T-shirts from the plant dye after 3 days of soaking. We used Genista tinctoria, known as Dyer's Greenwood and also called Woadwaxen. It boils to a beautiful yellow color that really takes well to a T-shirt. Mine was originally an off-white color with a green pattern painted on it. It looks a lot better now with the contrast between the green and yellow. I am going to have to dye more shirts using Dyer's Greenwood and other plants. T-shirt is too boring? No problem, boil some plants and add some color! I might have to try a natural tie-dye shirt. That would be really fun.
Here's the shirt with a sprig of Dyer's Greenwood on it.
Here's the shirt with a sprig of Dyer's Greenwood on it.
Working with the dyes was really interesting. This is something that can be as easy as boiling some water with turmeric and vinegar, or as complicated as a three day process going from one vat to the next. Different colors and different fabrics have different properties and there is a lot of chemistry going on. I feel like this is something that would be really good to experiment with and perhaps come up with some unique local pigments!
ReplyDeleteYeah it's amazing how much nature can provide. I'd really just like to be all set with going to stores, for anything. Malls don't really impress me. We should have a Sterling handcrafts fair. Those are fun.
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