silk habotai – Felting and Fiber Studio

Natural Dyeing with Cutch, Rhubarb and Indigo

September 8, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 16 comments

This summer I’ve been playing with a lot of natural dyes with the help of Cathy (Luvswool). This is the third in my series of natural dyeing experiments.

As with the other dyeing sessions all the silk and wool rovings were mordanted with alum potassium sulfate. I used the same silk habotai, silk gauze, silk organza, merino and corriedale roving and wool yarn as I did in my previous experiments.

I started with cutch which was in powder form.

The colors for silk and wool were pretty much the same gold peach except for the the organza which seemed to soak up all the color.

I decided that I wouldn’t use a modifier with the Cutch because I had enough browns and goldens.

So, I moved on to rhubarb liquid extract.

The resulting colors were also in the peach/gold family.

A couple of years ago Cathy and I had an indigo dyeing day. I had a piece of dark crimped silk left over and decided to use this as a modifier for the second rhubarb batch.

I thought perhaps I’d get a muted green, but here’s what I did get:

There is a hint of green, but it’s not obvious in these pics. the silk gauze and habotai closest to a light turquoise. The organza is dusky turquoise blue. The wool is more of a baby blue.

Here is the indigo silk piece after being used as a modifier. Still a nice indigo color.

Have you done any natural dyeing this season?

Playing with Natural Dyes Part 2

July 30, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 23 comments

I’ve been trying out different natural dyes using similar materials. This time I tried alkanet roots and logwood with and without iron.

Here are the alkanet roots before preparation which took two days to get ready to use.

The logwood also had to be prepared ahead of time.

Again, I used mordanted corriedale and merino roving, mulberry silk, wool yarn, silk habotai and silk gauze as I did in my previous post https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2016/06/28/playing-with-natural-dyes-part-1/

According to some of the charts I saw on the colors to expect from the alkanet roots, it could be anything from gray to deep purple. I had also read it was possible for blues or even red. As you can see from the pot, there was a light purple tinge to the water. The dye liquor was definitely dark purple but then it was diluted with the water.

The result was a silver gray. For all the experiments I leave the pot to cool overnight to get the most color. This was a lot less than i expected, but its a pretty color.

The next step was to add iron to the pot with another set of materials.

The top picture is wet, the bottom is dry. So, I now have silver and gold colors.

Next was the logwood. From all the pictures I’d seen and roving Cathy had dyed in Arkansas I thought I would get some type of purple. It looked pale in the pot.

So, I was surprised when it dried and it was more of a taupe color. But surprises are half the fun! Then I added iron and did another batch.

The darker ones on the bottom are with the iron and its more of a charcoal color.

Again, these are all experiments and results can vary depending on water, temperature, etc. While I had a little different expectations, I’m not unhappy with the results. I can always overdye.

What have your experiences with natural dyeing been?

Playing with Natural Dyes Part 1

June 28, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 16 comments

With summer finally here in the US, it’s wonderful to see color in the yard and all around. I recently had lunch with Cathy (Luvswool) and she showed me some of the prints and natural dyeing she’s been doing with lately. She’s been devoting most of her time natural dyeing and got me interested in trying it. You can find her dye blog here https://naturedye.wordpress.com/

So, with her guidance I took the plunge and began experimenting. I ordered some dyes online from the Woolery and Dharma Trading. My first try was with Osage Orange. What I didn’t realize was that the item I ordered was Osage Sawdust so I had an extra couple of steps to get the dye liquor prepared for the bath.

For each dye experiment I used a small amount of silk gauze, silk habotai, silk mulberry, wool yarn, merino and corriedale roving.

I could have used a copper penny to make a brighter color, but I was happy with the results. The top pic is while wet, the bottom two are after drying. Its actually more light yellow than coffee color. You’ll see two small pieces of felt I threw into the pot without mordanting at the bottom. They did take the color.

The next dye I tried was madder root. I had recently used up some of the madder roving Cathy had given me from her Arkansas residency last year in my coral piece. So I was anxious to see if I could get the same color.

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2016/06/04/under-water-again/

Again, I didn’t order powder, but actual roots, so there were extra steps involved to get to the bath.

While wet:

After using the madder alone, I divided the fibers in half and used iron in a separate bath.

Here they are dry:

Its interesting the mulberry silk on the right with the iron did not get dark.

With each other, without iron on top, with iron on the bottom.

Subtle differences, but not the same color that Cathy got in Arkansas. But then there are differences in water, temperature, etc. But I’m pleased with the results.

Thanks Cathy for helping me through the process.

More experiments with UFOs

June 20, 2016 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 13 comments

A couple of years ago, I was making silk paper just for practice. I decided to try to cover a bowl and make some ruffle edges. But it was a disaster. I used an acrylic medium to help give it substance, but all that did was make it stiff and unmanageable. I tried soaking it in soapy water for a couple of days, but that didn’t do anything either. So it went into the “pile.” I’ve picked it up a couple of times thinking I could use it for something, but nothing came to mind. Sorry about the fuzzy picture.

Recently, with the Second Quarter challenge to revisit our UFO stash, I pulled it out again. This time as I thought about it I started pulling it apart, peeling off layers. I wondered if it would still felt, so I looked through my stash and found some yellow batts with unknown fibers.

It felted just fine, some parts are still stiff, but most of the thinner areas still had the silk shine. This piece will probably be made into a coin purse.

But what to do with the rest?

Another UFO was a piece of prefelt I had cut for “lace” in Fiona Duthie’s Surface Design class. I put a piece of habatoi silk under it and felted them together. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. But I like the bubbly effect of the silk through the holes.