On Sunday, I went to a friend's house. She owns Earendel Farm. Really, it was a Regia Wynmerestow work weekend, but Edith and I really just played. I helped her warp her loom. Then as she was jetlagged from a trip to the UK, we went for a walk and picked a half a garbage bag full of Canadian Goldenrod (solidago canadensis). I spent Monday and Tuesday cooking down the goldenrod into a large pot of dye. As well, I mordanted 2.5 yards of wool gabardine with alum on Monday and let it soak until I needed it. This morning, I mixed the fabric with the dye, added a bit of water and slowly heated it. I kept the fabric moving as the pot I had was obviously much too small. After about 3/4 of an hour, I was getting awfully tired and the wool was very yellow!
I moved the wool fabric to a Rubbermaid tote, heated up the dye with a bit of copper sulphate ( 2% wog) and poured the hot dye over the fabric and kept manipulating it. Finally when I was too tired to move it around anymore, I rinsed it out and put it outside to dry.
- Goldenrod smells horrible cooking in large amounts- Goldenrod has this very odd way of foaming whenever the pot is stirred or fabric moved. Lots and lots of foam.
- Goldenrod is very yellow - makes a very yellow dye
- When you rely on the properties of Copper to dull or green a fabric down - it WON'T!
This will be a tunic for my husband. He wanted a shirt in a colour other than white. I can't bring myself to make an Elizabethan shirt in a colour other than white, so he's getting a tunic. He is someone for whom I would spend 3 days dyeing fabric for... I did, with love and care... It is a gorgeous yellow, in a neon-school bus sort of way.
Pshaw! Weld and Queen Anne's Lace (not together) are more neon then neon can get, yellow-wise.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe it's just my monitor. :)
Okay, maybe not quite neon yellow, but it is bright, deep and very yellow. I really don't think I'll be able to loose the poor guy on a dark night, nor will he be able to sneak up on anyone wearing that tunic.
ReplyDeleteI've never really gotten neon yellow with Queen Anne's Lace. I've gotten a much softer yellow every time I've dyed with it.
Well it is certainly a very bright yellow! I really admire your hard work and hope DH really enjoys wearing it. It will probably cheer him up on cold dark winter days
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't cheer him up on a cold winter day, it will at least cheer me up:) Sometime soon, I hope to dig up enough courage to cut it up and sew the tunic. Right now I'm still just admiring the colour.
ReplyDelete