dye – j.m.jamison's site of perpetual reconstruction & backyard dyer blog

Woad Processing Oct 2021

Posted on October 4, 2021 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve done any Woad processing – or growing. Two years of drought wiped out my front yard patch. One of my fellow SoCal Handweavers guildmates gave me some starter plants that you see in the lower left.

This is following the excellent directions from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html .

Woad plant as of October 2021 — Woad plant, Oct 2021

Woad plant after trimming leaves to process — Woad plant after trimming some of the leaves to process.

I trimmed leaves from the larger plant which yielded 71 grams (2.5 oz) of fresh leaves.

Following the directions for extracting Woad from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html steeped the leaves, added some Soda Ash.

The Soda Ash to make the steeped leaves more alkaline, over pH 9. The introduced oxygen to by running a mixer for about 10 minutes.

Next let it settle – blue at the bottom is the dye.

Pour out or use a turkey-baster to pull out some of the water and replace with more clean water, letting the powder settle to the bottom of the container.

clearner woad sludge — woad sludge “cleaned”

After about 3-4 days of clearing out the water and replacing with clean.

Let the Woad sludge dry out till only powder is left.

So, 71 grams of fresh leaves (2.5 oz) yielded 0.2 grams (0.01 oz). This may not sound like much but keep in mind this was from a few leaves trimmed from one young plant.

Also, I find this kind of process easy to do before and/or after work. Picking some leaves ever couple of weeks and processing that adds up.

Again see the excellent directions from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html .

Initial description and references

January 2020: Oxalis and Bees Again

Posted on January 2, 2020 | by jamie_work_admin | 1 Comment

In Los Angeles the Oxalis invasion start around January

January is when the Oxalis starts it’s annual invasion. As annoying as it can be – taking over the garden – it’s still my staple for yellow dye and a favorite with local bees. I let the bees have at it in the morning and pick after. By the time it starts dying off I’ll have a good supply of dried oxalis, enough for myself and to give away to other dyers.

oxalis samples: wool, soy-silk, cotton — Oxalis samples: wool, soy-silk, cotton

Recipe notes here: http://www.jmjamison.com/2008/01/

Of Woad, Oxalis, and Cotton Mordanting

Posted on March 31, 2019 | by jamie_work_admin | 1 Comment

[Bees in the Oxalis]

About the Woad. I haven’t written much about Woad since there hasn’t been any for awhile. Woad is not a desert plant. (Pause for a moment of duh.) My area of southern California is what some may call “reclaimed desert”. Something you can forget until the car breaks down in the San Fernando Valley in July and there is your reminder.

Two years of drought wiped out whatever Woad I still had growing. But, I still have seeds from the last plant so I’m going to try again this year. Nothing of course can wipe out Oxalis. And the bees like it.

My other on-going project will be mordanting cotton following the method described in John Liles ‘Art and craft of natural dyeing”. Lots of scouring, soaking and then mordanting, more steeping, more soaking and then you get to the actual dying.

Oxalis / Wood Sorrel Season (Again)

Posted on February 2, 2017 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

That time of the year again. When the Oxalis makes another pass at taking over the yard. Fortunately the bees really like it and it makes a good dye for cotton and wool.

(Old post notes about dyeing with Oxalis)

Dyeing with Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Posted on July 30, 2016 | by jamie_work_admin | 5 Comments

rosmary-wool-01

I have lots of Rosemary. Even sharing it, making incense and medicinals there’s lots left over. At some point it does have to be trimmed back so I tried it out as a dye plant.

rosmary-wool-01

The bottom row is what I started out with, my standard Bartlett yarn ‘natural white’, light gray, medium and dark gray. Cotton was unsuccessful.

For the dye stuff, starting with Ida Grae’s suggestions* I used fresh Rosemary 1×1 and 3×1. Simmered the Rosemary for an hour and let it cool over night.

Here are a couple of sites that describe Rosemary as a dye.

Naturally Dyeing: <http://naturallydyeing.blogspot.com/2011/05/rosmarinus-officinalis.html>

Dyeing Fabric with Culinary Herbs: <http://www.motherearthliving.com/garden-projects/culinary-herb-goes-dye-crazy.aspx>

Ida Grae points out that most cooking herbs will produce yellows. If I can eat or use something as a medicinal I tend not to dye with it but the Rosemary here is so plentiful it’s worth trying. Same probably goes for Lavender but I haven’t tried that yet.

*Ida Grae / Nature’s Colors: Dyes from Plants, 1979.

More Weld

Posted on May 28, 2016 | by jamie_work_admin | 13 Comments

This was back in April the Weld started shooting up.

The tomato cage might give an indication of the height of the plant. I’ve seen them grow much taller. This one however is flowering so it’s unlikely to see more growth.

Almost ready for seed saving.

June-July Weld Plants

Posted on July 4, 2015 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

Weld plants from June to July. Some Woad in the background. These seem to be surviving the drought weather under tree shade. Last year’s Weld and Woad and actually most of my herb garden didn’t survive the heat wave so this year I’m more focused and picking areas of the yard where they might survive.

For the record, mine are growing these in southern California, USA. Definitely not native to the area. The two pictured have started blooming and not (not in the picture) haven’t taken off yet. But even two plants can be good for dyeing since Weld is one of those wonderful plants where everything from areal parts – from the ground up is used.

More about Weld: <http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/weld.html> from Wild Colors in the UK. Good pictures and info about growing, harvesting and dyeing.

Lastly the ubiquitious Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reseda_luteola>

Why I Don’t Like the Word “Natural”

Posted on April 28, 2015 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

From the LA Times, “Why ‘Natural’ Doesn’t Mean Anything Anymore”

“Natural” and the definitions of that word have been on my mind lately. I’m taking my first, bumbling steps at teaching a dye plant workshop and while my description would be “vegetable dyes” everyone seems to be calling it “natural dyes”. And yes, this does involve working with plant based dye materials that occur in nature, I find the term “natural” kind of misleading or at least confusing.

“Natural dyes” seems to imply methods that are safer, non-polluting, better for the environment, etc. As the kids say, Not. Or at least not necessarily. From what I’ve read on the subject it appears that dye work was often a pretty nasty, polluting industry. Supposedly in time of Elizabeth I (England) the dyers had to work some specified distance from town because of the stench. Remember the stale urine for indigo?

Chemical additives – mordants, however “natural” in origin were often poisonous for the dyers and polluted water sources that material was dumped into. Which is not to say one can’t use mordants safely but with the same safety practices and precautions one would use with synthetic dyes.

Aren’t natural dyes safer than synthetic dyes?: Paula E. Burch, Ph.D. ( Her All About Hand Dyeing is an excellent dye resource.) In this (web) article Burch points out that “..Some natural dyes are almost perfectly safe; others are quite toxic. Some synthetic dyes are safe even to eat; others are too toxic to bring into your home. ” Know what you are using and how to use it safely. Respect your materials.

Also see: Natural vs synthetic: from Dharma Trading Co.

Although I’d like think I know how to handle mordants safely, I do work at home, in my kitchen and don’t live alone (other people, animals) so I prefer not to use anything stronger than Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) and Tartar. (I used to use Copper and Iron but phased that out a few years ago.)
With wool I manage color range by using white, lite, medium and dark sheep gray from Bartlett Yarns. The only other fiber I work with is cotton and I’m trying out using white, brown and green cotton for the range but that is still in the we’ll-see phase.