Birthday Daffodils; a plant dye tutorial

I love daffodils.

To me they mean the start of spring,

a new year,

my birthday,

and now my wedding (almost a year ago now!!)

(photo credit: Serendipity Photography)

Last week I grabbed 4 bunches at the store so they would be ready 

later in the week for dyeing.

 

Lately my brain has been exploding more than usual with the endless plant dyes that are all around me. 

Back in.... well many moons ago, 

I tried dyeing with my birthday daffodils. 

for the first time.

I cooked up the stem and all

ending up with kind of a 

silvery color

and I was SO excited because it was the first time I tried such an experiment. 

I've been pouring over India Flint's book that has a section on 

flower ice dyes. 

Curious, I took a look and got very excited about using violas this summer! 

I'm planning on having flower boxes with violas and other things so it's really fun to be thinking of using them after they start to pass, for dyes.

I was encouraged with India's book to tuck the blossoms away in a zip lock bag in the freezer 

until I'm ready to use them.

Works perfectly for my life. 

There they sat next to the top of my wedding cake 

that I've been nibbling for a year:)

Before I put the flowers in the freezer, 

I weighed each blossom

out of curiosity-

2grams each.

I saved these 16 grams for this silk bundle. 

I them spritzed it with vinegar

and added two rusty nails.

I started to roll it up

but then got an idea...

I noticed the fennel ferns I'd been saving 

to just this very thing 

or something similar

so I added those 

before rolling it all up.

I spritzed it with more vinegar 

before finding a place to smoosh it 

for a while

to encourage the dye 

to work its way into the fabric. 

I've since found a better place.

The cast iron kettle behind our wood stove. 

It works beautifully really flattening them out. 

The one on the left is this bundle here. Look how dark just after two days!

The other two are bundles I'm reworking with California bay leaf and eucalyptus.

I can't wait to un wrap all these!! 

Back to the daffodil dyeing... 

in this here pot are 60 grams of daffodils. 

I pre soaked the yarns and two pieces of silk. 

One piece of silk and one skein of

wool were both premordanted 

with alum. 

The other piece of silk and other skein were not mordanted. 

 I let the pot heat up very slowly because I was concerned

about the temperature getting too high and 

affecting the color. 

Because I had tried this before and ended up 

with such a non-exciting color

(at the time it was exciting because it was something)

Here's my final result after letting the fiber sit in the pot

cooling over night.  

The top two small skeins are:

on the left- no mordant

on the right- alum

The larger skein is from the 2nd bath.

I'm so so happy with how YELLOW this came out! 

I'm so pleased.  

There was still dye left over

but this time I removed the soggy blossoms 

that were still in tack

and made a bundle.

I also added these Zinfandel shamrocks that I just discovered.  

bundle made with vintage cotton calico 

then spritzed with vinegar.

I still had lots left over so I put together a second one

this time on silk fabric

and a few browning 

basil leaves

(btw- if your growing a basil plant indoors-always harvest the tops. It helps it grow better- opposed to the larger leaves on the bottom. 

More on the bundling in another post:)

ok- so remember I had a 3rd dye bath

I added this light blue skein on 

a mohair blend

that I picked up in a tiny whole in the wall

knitting shop in Waterford, Ireland. 

Here are a few of the items that I dyed over the last few days. 

Including this lovely minty green skein 

which is the light blue skein 

over dyed with the 3rd bath of daffodils:) 

Last fall we planted many daffodil bulbs in the yard. 

And several weeks ago, I got the ones I 

couldn't get in the ground-

into pots around the house. 

They are now started to poke up through 

and I look forward to putting them in the ground.

Someday.

Until then, I'm enjoying what I find at the market 

and taking full advantage. 

Check out my etsy shop 

I'm running a little sale

now through the weekend. 

Enjoy!

Today I turned 36 (!!@#(&#^@*@!!) 

It's ok really, 

I'm off to spend the day at my favorite fiber shop

get my hair done

& then

I'll have dinner out

with my sweetheart

It's gonna be a great day.