Thursday, August 30, 2012

Wood Dyes


My sister had Logwood and Brazilwood which are two ancient dyes that were discovered in America by the Europeans hundred of years ago. They were prized dyes and I can see why. Logwood is a deep rose and Brazilwood a deep purple. Both beautiful. I did a second bath with the Logwood to get a lighter rose as well.



I also had some Black Walnuts that I had lying around and got the deepest brown yet, very beautiful.



With my last two skeins I wanted to try something I had lying around the house so did Orange skins and cut grass. Both gave great colors. A very soft yellow from the oranges and another green that looks great.





All these colors are so beautiful but when I put them together, I am amazed. The way they all work together is so pretty that I don’t want to knit anything with them, just have them around so I can keep looking at them.




But, I will make something with them. I just hope I don’t screw it up. 

2 comments:

  1. You need to work this project into a 'tutorial' - the colors are amazing! Most of the stuff I've found on 'natural' dying (via Google) is hit and miss - and without such wonderful pictures. Wow!

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  2. Thank you very much. What made all the difference was being able to experiment with abandon on recycled silk. Because I wasn't afraid of ruining expensive yarn, I just tried everything. I referenced a book that helped me a lot too: “Colors from Nature” by Bobbi McRae.

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