Solar dyeing with Beetroot :Natural dyeing on a budget
Solar dyeing with Beetroot is an easy and cheap way to adventure into the world of natural dyes.
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
Beetroots- for this experiment I have used 2 medium sized beetroots
Wool Fibre- I have used 10g of merino roving that was pre scoured and mordanted with alum.
Bowl
Glass Jars
Procedure for dyeing with Beetroot
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 of dyeing with beetroot
As you can see the colour as come out a caramel colour!! I think this may be due to the fact the temperature went over 40 degrees celcius during the week, turning the purplish dye, brown.
Across the page we have the roving after it was rinsed. Below is 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 left on a window sill for 4 weeks in the hot Australian summer to see if it would fade. (sun test on white background)
As you can see, the dye stood up to washing and sun quite well. The colour is stable, and quite a lovely caramel.
Additional
I later did the same experiment with 2ply wool , silk thread and an unknow thread that I had picked up in a upcycling shop. I have no idea why, but the merino 2ply wool went dark brown rather than caramel, while the silk came out a little lighter in colour.
The sun test was only done for 1 week.
I hope this helps and encourages you to try your own experimenting in the world of natural dyes. 🙂
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