Dyeing Wool with Zebrinas for a subtle yellow
Dyeing wool with Zebrinas was another example of taking what is around and giving it a go!
The Zebrina
For this experiment, I had not done any research and had no idea what to expect. My mother has a lot of this plant growing around her garden, so I just picked some leaves and had a go!
Solar Dyeing
With this experiment, as with most , I am going to use the process of solar dyeing.
This is basically putting your dyestuff in a glass jar and leaving it in the sun to work its magic. The beauty of living in Australia means that I do have the benefit of hot summers. If you don’t have these conditions, it does not mean you cannot try this process. You will just need to experiment with your own environments advantages and disadvantages. Leave it in a room that gets sunlight and may have great heating or try longer dyeing periods.
These experiments are only to show you what has and hasn’t worked for me, so you can pick through the information to start your own experimenting journey.
Fibre Preparation
Before dyeing you must first scour and mordant your fibre. For this particular experiment, my wool roving was mordanted in alum. For information on these processes, try this post.
What you will need
Boiling water
Leaves
Wool Fibre- I have used 10g of merino roving that was prescoured and mordanted with alum.
Bowl
Glass Jar
Procedure
Step 1: Place your dyestuff in a heat proof bowl and add boiling water
Step2: When cool enough, transfer into your a glass jar and leave outside. I left these for a week in the hot Australian summer sun.
Step 3: Sieve your dye and add your fibre. Leave outside in the sun for 1 week. (It was summer in Australia, so was quite warm)
Step 4: Take your wool out of the jar and leave to dry completely without rinsing.
Step 5: Rinse in water baths until they are clear. As I was using roving I did not want to use running water to start it felting, so I used a few bowls of water. Always make sure you wool does not experience dramatic temperature changes. Make your water room temperature. Leave to dry
Results for dyeing wool with zebrinas
As you can see the colour of the roving was a pale yellow and got stronger with the felting process.
At the bottom we have the roving after it was rinsed. Then above comes the felt made from the roving. I figured that the wet felting procedure would be a good indication of how well the dye stands up to washing. Then comes the sun test. The felt was then left on a window sill for 4 weeks in the hot Australian summer to see if it would fade. (sun test on white background)
The colour went a brighter yellow with the felting and although faded slightly in the sun test was still a much stronger yellow than was first achieved. I am assuming that the brighter yellow may have been caused by the slightly alkaline soap that was used in the felting process. It is definitely something to experiment a little more!
I hope this helps and encourages you to try your own experimenting in the world of natural dyes. 🙂
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