Linda Seward
  • Home
  • Books & publications
    • Quilting books >
      • Latest: Patchwork, Quilting & Applique
      • Art Quilting
    • Quilt Articles >
      • The Big ‘O’
      • Create Whimsy Interview
      • Crazy Curve Wallhanging
      • Pretty Patches Interview
      • At the Sharp End
    • Bibliography
    • Nature >
      • Fungi
      • Nature Articles
      • Magazine Articles >
        • Fungi Spotting in the Chilterns
        • Professor Richard Fortey
        • Looking for Lichens in the Chilterns
        • Bees
        • Thistles and other Prickly Plants
        • Chilterns Wonderland
        • Yellow & White Flowers of Early Spring
        • Hairstreak article: Silver-studded blue butterflies
  • Quilts
    • Quilt Galleries
    • Galleries >
      • Cricket quilts
      • 2019 to present
      • 2016 to 2018
      • 2013 to 2015
      • 2007 to 2012
      • 2000 to 2006
      • 1994 to 1999
      • For sale
  • Photography
    • Fungi Photography >
      • Fungi Photo Features
      • Rare fungi
      • Best Fungi Photos 2021
    • Nature Photography >
      • 2021
      • 2022
      • 2023
    • 365-day Photo Challenge >
      • 2023 Photo Challenge
      • 2022 Photo Challenge
    • Dog portraits
  • News
  • About
    • Biography
    • Judging
    • Exhibitions
    • Talks
    • Contact

Natural Dyeing Experiments

11/22/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
While I was photographing Jack, I decided that those Japanese maple leaves would be one of my first natural dyestuffs, so I collected a very large amount in a stainless steel pot. I covered the leaves with water and soaked them for about an hour. I then simmered the leaves for about 5 hours (covered) and left everything to cool overnight. The next day I strained out the leaves, (put them on the compost heap) and poured the reddish-brown broth into a plastic container.
Picture
For another dyestuff, I gathered Eucalyptus bark that had dropped on the ground all around a tree in my garden (never remove bark from a living tree, it goes without saying). I soaked the bark in warm water overnight (some natural dyers soak bark for much longer but I was too impatient), then boiled it for about 8 hours the next day—a lovely aroma permeated the house. I let the bark soak in the water for a couple of days, then poured that dark brown solution into a separate plastic container.

In the meantime, while the leaves and bark were cooking and soaking, I scoured several fat quarters of my 100% cotton fabric in a hot machine wash to prepare them for dyeing, and soaked them in Synthrapol for a few minutes before rinsing them in warm water. I then added a mordant to the fabrics by simmering them in an alum acetate solution for an hour, then leaving them in the solution overnight. A mordant is a chemical agent that adheres to both fibers and dye, binding them together; the term is derived from the Latin mordere, which means “to bite”.
Picture
The next day I divided the Japanese maple leaf broth into 2 stainless steel pots (never again to be used for cooking!). I added a tablespoon of salt to one pot, and then immersed one fat quarter of the mordanted fabric into each pot. I simmered the fabrics for one hour, not letting the solutions come to a boil.
Picture
I removed the fabrics from the pots, rinsed them under running water and soaked them in Synthrapol. I repeated this process with the Eucalyptus solution. Next time I'll show you the dyed fabrics and how they were affected by the salt.
0 Comments

    Archives

    March 2023
    March 2022
    July 2020
    February 2020
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    February 2017
    June 2016
    March 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    100% Cotton Fabric
    Acid Etching
    Brayer
    Budapest
    Colouricious
    Dyestuffs
    Fabric Glue
    Fabric Paint
    Hand Dyed Fabric
    Heat Distressing
    Monoprinting
    Mordant
    Natural Dyeing
    Quilting Design
    Surface Design
    Texture
    Thread Painting

    RSS Feed

All quilts, text and images © Linda Seward. 
 Instagram
  • Home
  • Books & publications
    • Quilting books >
      • Latest: Patchwork, Quilting & Applique
      • Art Quilting
    • Quilt Articles >
      • The Big ‘O’
      • Create Whimsy Interview
      • Crazy Curve Wallhanging
      • Pretty Patches Interview
      • At the Sharp End
    • Bibliography
    • Nature >
      • Fungi
      • Nature Articles
      • Magazine Articles >
        • Fungi Spotting in the Chilterns
        • Professor Richard Fortey
        • Looking for Lichens in the Chilterns
        • Bees
        • Thistles and other Prickly Plants
        • Chilterns Wonderland
        • Yellow & White Flowers of Early Spring
        • Hairstreak article: Silver-studded blue butterflies
  • Quilts
    • Quilt Galleries
    • Galleries >
      • Cricket quilts
      • 2019 to present
      • 2016 to 2018
      • 2013 to 2015
      • 2007 to 2012
      • 2000 to 2006
      • 1994 to 1999
      • For sale
  • Photography
    • Fungi Photography >
      • Fungi Photo Features
      • Rare fungi
      • Best Fungi Photos 2021
    • Nature Photography >
      • 2021
      • 2022
      • 2023
    • 365-day Photo Challenge >
      • 2023 Photo Challenge
      • 2022 Photo Challenge
    • Dog portraits
  • News
  • About
    • Biography
    • Judging
    • Exhibitions
    • Talks
    • Contact