Dyeing For A Change

On Monday, our craft group had a Dyeing Session. Sue, the organiser had acquired onion skins, rhubarb root, turmeric, walnut shells, madder,  indigo  and more. There were many squares of fabrics, which had been scoured[prewashed] and mordanted with alum or tannin. We set to, experimenting with the pans of dye... The results were pretty spectacular - especially the madder and the indigo.

However, I managed to miss the indigo part [one lady needed to get home urgently] and when I came back, all was pegged out on the line and the airer in the sunshine outside. It was the indigo I most wanted to work with - it is the one which comes out of the dye bath green, then develops its blue colour in the oxygen of the atmosphere as it comes out of the liquid.
But one friend kindly diluted what little liquid remained in the pan, and poured it into a plastic milk bottle. "But you must use it up this afternoon or it will lose its potency" she said.
I came home, found some white fabric which I believed to be cotton., While we ate lunch, I left it in a bowl of mordant [cold tea!] Then I dipped and dyed my fabric and put it outside on the airer [I'd wrapped the bars in clingfilm so they didn't pick up the dye]
I double dipped a couple of pieces of the cloth, and then randomly grabbed a new hankie from the bedroom, and a clean facecloth from the bathroom.

On the top picture you can see how the most recent piece out of the dyebath is still green - the change to blue is fast and almost magical.

On the lower picture is the lilac printed hanky with a pale blue tinge, and next to it, the sad greying facecloth a much more pleasant pastel blue. The double dipped square, bottom left is the darkest. 
But as you can see, my 'leftovers' are much paler than the ones made in the Village Hall Kitchen!

Once dried the fabric is rinsed in a vinegar solution to fix the colour. It was good fun - and maybe I will try it again at home sometime. 

Alum is not too expensive to buy, but indigo and madder cost a little more. Not sure I want to fork out £50 [at the group, the ingredients were paid for out of our kitty] I may try to forage some stuff . Bishop Odo's women used yarns dyed with woad, weld, and madder. Here are the threads which Mia Hansson uses, accurate to the original as far as we can tell. 

Have you ever done any dyeing?