Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Camellia Dye

I read online that dark pink Camellia flowers make a good pink dye.

This was interesting to me since typically flowers - no matter the color - don't dye. The color chemicals are not stable and the best you get is a light yellow or brown.

Pink Camellias happen to be in bloom right now all over UW campus, so, I picked a bag, chopped them up,

simmered in water

and added 1T salt and 2T lemon juice (that's what the link said to do).

Check out the results:

unmordanted merino wool on left.
Copper penny mordanted merino on right.
I don't know if it this will be lightfast so I am starting a test swatch by covering part with paper or cloth and leaving in the window for a few weeks. I'll let you know how it turns out.
I'm also looking for more yarn to dye...
:)

1 comment:

Ann Marie said...

i LIVE on CAMELLIA ave!! seriously...we have way too many things in common. as soon as i figure out how to knit a little more i think i just might try to dye my own yarn...inspired by you, of course.

AND, just last week i admitted to CJ that if we had to pick between ireland and iceland for our first "big" trip together i'd actually pick iceland over ireland...though it would be a hard choice indeed. anyway...i could go on and on and on.