# Natural dyes



## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

I'm trying my hand at dying some handspun with Turmeric. It's on the stove right now and looking very beautiful! Woo Hoo!!

Anyway I just came across this blog and thought others might find it interesting.

http://plantspeople.blogspot.com/

This lady says termuric works in cold water, but I'd already set mine on the stove, so we'll see.

Pauline


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Oh, onion skins, yes, they make nice natural dye, but I didn't know it worked on cotton too. That's a great blog---so very interesting. Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to save it and look at it again more carefully.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

WIHH if we plan a dying day up here I'll let you know and you can plan on coming up.


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

Ooh, I like the way it came out!
http://theinkyspinnery.blogspot.com/2011/02/dying-with-tumeric.html


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

What did you use as a mordent? It did come out beautifully.


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

The instructions I found online said that no mordant was needed for turmeric. Hope that's true, because I didn't use one. 

Looking forward to trying onion skins next. Do they need a mordant?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I bet it smells delicious too.


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## grams (Sep 10, 2004)

I don't use a mordant with turmeric. But, I want to do some with iron to see what color I end up with.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Very pretty! Does the color wash out? Thanks for posting-


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

Hope it doesn't wash out. The final rinse water was very clear. They did say that it would fade if in direct sunlight for any length of time. I think I'll use it as a contrast color in socks. 

Or maybe make a hat and test to see how fast it fades.

It does have a slight turmeric smell still GAM 

Grams, tell me about the iron. Are you talking about adding iron to the turmeric or iron on it's own?


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## grams (Sep 10, 2004)

Iron and aturmeric. Iron will "sadden" a color as well as being a mordant. I like doing the same dyes with and without iron, I usually just use an old castiron pot, to see what the difference in the color is. I haven't done this with turmeric. On the turmeric, I tend to find that even after the yarn rinses clear I will end up with a little yellow on my hands working with the yarn. Just an FYI, you mmv.
Hum, think I may just need to get some yarn soaking to try out iron turmeric this evening. Snowed in you know.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

It tumeric does anything to the wool like it did to the tools we used for canning it will be at least a year before it washes out if it ever will. I haven't tried putting the tools in the sun. hummmmm maybe the will fade..............


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

Lol, yes my dish cloth is a pale yellow now after washing the pan.

Grams, take some pics of your iron experiment. 

I have a small cast iron dutch oven. If I use that as a dye pot, I guess it would kill two birds with one stone, right?


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## grams (Sep 10, 2004)

Here are a couple of pics of the turmeric dyed in an iron pot. As you can see the pot is just an old dutch oven that I use for dyeing. The swatch on the knitting needle was some that I dyed in a ceramic crockpot that was for a commisioned pair of mitts. The skein is what came of out the pot. Total dye time on the iron was about an hour start to finish.


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks Grams! It's interesting to see the difference the iron pot makes. 

What other natural dyes are there that don't need a mordant?


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## grams (Sep 10, 2004)

Off the top of my head, most anything you dye using tree bark, roots, or nuts will not need a mordant to set the color. The natural tannin act as their own mordant. 
You can actually use the tannin from some trees as the mordant to help other dyes set.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

That seems logical Grams, I never thought of it but I bet you are right.


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

I was out back looking for arrow heads a couple of days ago and noticed that there are still a number of black walnuts laying around. I'm going to try some of those next.


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## ariesgoat (Jul 27, 2010)

InHisName said:


> Very pretty! Does the color wash out? Thanks for posting-



I dyed some yarn with turmeric 2-1/2 years ago and it has not faded at all. I am pretty sure I used alum as a mordant though. The yarn is a lovely color, almost identical to Pigeon Lady's, and it is still just as deep now as it was when I first dyed it. I haven't knitted anything with it yet. It is still sitting in a basket with other handspun yarn that I keep next to my work desk; it is on top because it's such a pretty bright color. Wild tansy also makes a pretty yellow, but not as bright as the turmeric does.


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