Marigold

Common Marigold - Tagetes sp.
Golds to browns using cold water extraction method.

Oak Leaf Cloth

I wasn't too thrilled about having our oak trees pruned in July but it needed to be done as I could no longer see to safely back out of the driveway, oak trees pick the darnest time to have a growth spurt.  So I pulled a bunch of the red oak and burr oak leaves aside in addition to some acorns and put them in a metal pan until I was ready to use them.  And then it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained.  The end result was an oak leaf acorn soup.  So today I will dye some cotton yardage and see what I come up with.

I added some rusted coffee tin lids in between the layers of fabric as I shoved it into a five gallon plastic bucket.

Final layer of oak leaves, branches, and acorns.

Topped off with rain water, that had been sitting for several days in another bucket, and a lid to keep the skeeters out.

Avocado Dye Baths

Pits to the left, peels to the right, my not so solar solar vats.  They have been sitting on my table in my wet studio for some time now.

Mottled Golds

Osage Orange on Silk Organza Net that I left soaking in a shallow dye bath for several days. 

42x32 inches - Silk Organza Net.

Solar Dyeing

I started by placing an ounce of dye materials into a clean quart jar (old spagetti sauce jars)

Filled the jars with vodka or everclear until the dye materials are covered, placed lid on jar and allowed to sit overnight.

Placed alum mordanted silk fat quarters into each jar, filled with distilled water, placed lid back onto jar and placed the jars in a sunny location. Here you can see the dye liquid wick up the fabric.

Leave in sun for up to three weeks, check to make sure that mold isn't growing on your fabrics. 2004