Dandelion / Daffodil Dyeing Results

As stated in the previous post, the blooms needed to soak overnight in a mesh bag.  A few years ago I purchased a package of 2 mesh bags at a local Dollar Tree store, perhaps they still carry them.

Per the previous post on this topic, I needed to purchase some alum as I had none in my spice cabinet.  Really didn't want to leave the house as it was pouring buckets of rain.  But since the blooms had soaked all night decided to venture out.

As my luck would have it, neither Walmart nor the Food Lion had alum on their shelves.  So figured the local health food store surely would have it.  Pulled into the parking lot to see they have gone out of business.

What now??  I googled "substitute for alum as mordant".  Would you believe that instead of alum I could use aluminum foil??  To see what other mordant substitutes can be used in natural dyeing click HERE.

What did I have to lose for this mad scientist to put some tin foil in the pot since there was no alum?  But didn't know just how much it would require to replace the alum called for.  Oh well, oh hell....here goes.

Stirred the tinfoil around a bit while heating the water then put in the wool.  Below is the selection chosen for the experiment and was hoping for the dye to produce a chartreuse color.  

For hours it seemed the color was not being absorbed by the wool.  So turned on the heat under the pot for half an hour longer and let it sit overnight as the instructions said (further down the post).  Next morning these were my results.

Perhaps not the chartreuse I was looking for but it is better than having the stark white.  Here is the recipe as provided by Marie Sugar in her "Complete Natural Dyeing Guide".

Recipe ingredients:

   4 cups dandelions

   1 teaspoon alum

    1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

   over one-half yard of wet wool 

Directions:

• Soak 4 cups blooms in a mesh bag in water overnight.
• Add additional water to solution to fill a large pot and heat to simmer for 1 hour.  Add mordant before putting in the wet wool.
• Add wet wool and simmer for 1 hour.  Turn off heat and let wool cool in pot overnight.
• Remove wool, rinse in water w 1 tsp shampoo and rinse until water runs clear.
• Squeeze out water and hang to dry or put in dryer.

You're probably wondering if I'll ever do dandelion dying again.  Uh, don't think so.  But will do onion skin dyeing again.

Happy Hooking.

Saundra

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