Some samples in linen with cottolin color accents, for toweling.  The setting is 30 epi, the linen warp is 40/2 half-bleached and unbleached.  The weft is 20/1 linen half-bleached.  Block twills, a sort of turned honeycomb, and some Ms & Os.

More of Nature's Colors

Here are the results of last Sunday's dye session for Fiber Arts Day at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.  These are, from left to right: madder, cabbage (alkaline bath), cabbage (acidic bath), wild lettuce, walnut leaves, nasturtium blossom.  And from top to bottom, the mordants were alum, copper and iron.

The madder came out less orangey than usual.  I'm pleased with these more muted reds.  The cabbage was just to try, for fun; I'm not sure how washfast or lightfast those will turn out to be.  The nasturtium blossoms were a disappointment: despite the beautiful magenta-colored liquid they made, the wool only turned a dull beige.

The most spectacular for me was the walnut. Can you believe this dark, rich brown came from fresh green leaves?  And it is supposed to be its own mordant due to the tannins.  I can't believe I've lived with this walnut tree for 24 years and have never dyed with it.  I'll certainly be doing more with walnut.

Dye Day at the Gardens Again

This coming Sunday is Fiber Arts Day at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.  It was such a nice day last year I'm participating again.  Fellow SCHG member Jamie and I will be dyeing using various plant materials, across the Herb Garden from the Tea Room.  Other area guild members will be demonstrating spinning and weaving.

Here are the colors I got at last year's session, using madder, Navajo tea, cutch and logwood.  This year I've selected a less exotic selection of local plants I hope will be easier for visitors to relate to:  madder again because it grows like a weed in my yard, black walnut leaves, a weed called wild lettuce, and ... red cabbage!  What colors will I get with these?  Join us at the Gardens to see, or you'll have to wait until I post the results!