Yarn, burnt and unburnt, colored by refrigerated antiquities

Here is a variety of dye experiments: onion wool, onion cotton (another blog, another day), a burned poke berry wool, blueberry juice wool, and icky sugar-free preserves-dyed wool, followed by smelly red poke berries. The two last hanks, on the right, were an old juice in the fridge that was about a year old, sitting quietly on the unused bottom shelf of the fridge. The preserves weren't all that, they were probably a couple years older, and I was about to toss them when I cleaned out said neglected fridge, but was in a mad mood to see what colors they could make. I should try the encrusted bottle of grenadine next. Another blog, another day.

Poke Berries 2

Poke Berry before and after.
Last time I tried to dye yarn with Poke Berries I ended up burning the yarn in a few places. I wanted to dye only half of the yarn, for a variegated color. When I would this yarn it came apart in those burned places. I tied them up where they broke off. The yarn had been through a pair of boilings. At first it was deep burgundy like the robes of the wealthy cardinals in those baroque paintings. After a mordanting boil I had this girly fuchsia hue, and a brown in between the fuchsia and cream (the original yarn color, from the Lion Fisherman's Wool). I saved the cooked dye bath from the first try, and combined with with a half pound of poke berries from my fridge. I got a warm pale brown variegated with a rosier light brown. It was like a valentine heart with milk chocolate inside. I also dipped four whole skeins in which became this burnt red brown. It was like a warm red that forgot how to BE red.
The color change? I think it was since I used vinegar and mordanted the wool before I put it in the dye bath. The pre-boiled bath also affected the color I'm sure.
Having picked a few more berries, I will try a pre-mordanted version with an all-new dye bath. Same recipe! This was from the Krochmal book.

Mandala

Mandala: Batik, 2' x 2, 2006-2007'
Wax dipped, stamped, painted in 2006. Dyed in 2007 using a mix of Procion MX pigments.
Took FOR-ev-UH to get the wax out. One reason I play with dye processes: using a fabric discard to give it new life.
There are a few drips, but I don't mind. I think they echo the pattern.

Poke Berries

In the last month, early August to the present, the Poke Berry bushes have been blooming. They grow all around this starving artist's apartment. Tiny white blossoms, a little larger that that filler flower Baby's Breath, have quietly erupted into these ripened red berries, as red and deep as blood. The wine-red hue is more pleasant than the scent. Squished poke berries stink like generic lumps or play dough, floating in a cursed sludge of vinegar. It stinks . But I'm enduring the stench to color some yarns with it...

Poke berries are abundant around my house and they only need vinegar as a mordant. Vinegar is also the only chemical used in the dye vat. No tin, chrome, or titanium used to hold the color. I get pretty colors and keep my brain cells. As this is my second attempt at poke berry dye, I have an unusual recipe: a quart of pre-boiled poke berry juice, and now a half a pound of poke berries that sat in my freezer for a week. I based the recipe on an old book, Complete Illustrated Book of Dyes from Natural Sources, by Krochmal and Krochmal. Sounds a little like a detective duo, no? I found the book in the library of the high school I sub at. Incidentally, the last time the book was checked out was on my birthday: same day, month, year.

Recipe 1: I used a pound of berries, chopped in the food processor, and boiled it with vinegar. No pre-mordant. The color came out all right, but not as deep as I'd hope (a faded magenta hue). I tried cotton and wool yarns; the cotton was barely a pink hue. I saved the dye bath (what was left after being boiled down).

Recipe number two: I pre-mordanted a skein and a half of Fisherman's wool (Lyon yarn from AC Moore), wrapped in six different hanks, and put them in a pot with a half gallon of white vinegar, and one and a half gallons of water. I brought this to a boil, and boiled it for an hour, leaving all six submerged hanks in the water until they had cooled completely. Three hours later I had wrung them out and let them dry a couple. Today I put them into a pot with the strained pre-boiled quart of dye, a half a pound of pokeberries as is, a half gallon of vinegar, and a little water to cover the yarn hanks. I also hanged three hanks on the pot, dipping then here and there, for two tone.

Recipe aside, smells aside, images coming soon.