Barefoot Shepherdess

Color Range

Contrary to my usual practice, I don't have a systematic method of organizing my dyed results.  Up until now, I've just been setting aside a skein from each new color batch in my own personal samples box.  But in looking over the accumulating threads recently, I thought it would be nice to find a way to see them all at a glance.

This was my casual solution.  They're in no particular order or arrangement-- I just wound them on in the order I picked them up.  Some of these are regular colors at my shop; others are one-time personal experiments.  I knew I had a good collection started, but seeing all the color results like this makes me excited about natural dyeing afresh.  There's a certain softness that underlies these colors which seems to unify them all.  And when similar colors are placed near each other, all of the sudden, the subtle differences become much more obvious.  It's also a good way to see which parts of the color wheel I need to work on next.

But simply put: it just makes me happy to see the threads arranged in neat little rectangles on these cards.  And now that I know how I'd like to keep track of them, I want to make another set, organizing them by color families and attaching them to my dyeing notes-- I do have that in order, at least!

Dyeing :: Goldenrod

Goldenrods are good for embroidery inspiration.  But they're great for dyeing too.

Despite the abundant supply of goldenrods in the empty lots and roadsides in the area, I only got a chance to do this single lot.  Just as the local plants neared ideal harvesting time, my son became ill and had to stay in the hospital for a week, and me with him.  Combine that with a long recovery time, and I was lucky to have gotten the few remaining stalks by our home.

Since the yellow I initially achieved was rather weak and lackluster (probably because I had so little dyestuff), I mordanted the skeins with iron and got this mossy khaki.  It's hard to tell, but there is something of a greenish tinge to it.  It's more clear when I place it next to the alder brown--

left, alder; right, goldenrod

See-- it's not entirely a khaki or tan, but it's not a true moss either.  The precise shade is so hard to descibe in words!  In fact, I find that to be true for all of these naturally dyed colors.  And by trying to give a name to the color, I feel like I'm actually misleading the viewer or perhaps, restricting what he may otherwise have seen himself.  So it may very well be best just to show you.  What would you call it?

Gardenia + Indigo

Gardenia + Japanese indigo.  Same method, same materials, just different amounts of dye.  A delicate balance of two colors for lovely inbetweens.  Results in these subtle shades of green/teal.

The possible variations created this way are almost limitless.  With just tiny differences, it would allow for such fine gradations...!  Perfect for something like long and short stitch, in terms of embroidery.  At the same time, they're very hard to reproduce exactly.  Even so, these are just the kind of colors that makes me want to try.

Dyeing :: Japanese Cedar

When my grandpa felled an aged Japanese cedar tree on his property earlier this year, I decided to collect a handful of bark for the dyepot.  Though I wasn't familiar with it being a known dyestuff, I still hoped that it would yield some kind of color.  Despite what its English name seems to imply, it's actually not related to the cedar family but that of the cypress.  In Japanese, it's called sugi (杉); in Latin-- Cryptomeria japonica.

Since I didn't find any information on it in any of my dye books and wasn't sure of the best way to extract the potential dye, I tried it two ways--

on left: in alcohol + water;  on right: in plain tap water

As with purple gromwell, the color seeped out immediately in the alcohol solution and darkened slowly over time, while the bark in plain water hardly released any color at all.  I used no heat; the bottles were kept at room temperature in a corner of my kitchen.  This photo was taken two weeks after they were prepared-- you can see that the difference was quite noticeable.

I opted to dye only with the alcohol solution since it looked like it had more potential.  And even that, after adding enough water for a dye bath, appeared fairly pale.

I added a single skein of cotton embroidery floss and let it soak for several days without heat.  And once it was rinsed and dried--

A soft, pale peach-- a much nicer color than I thought would result.  Now I wish I would have applied heat to see if it would have gone darker-- during the process, the color just seemed so weak & lackluster that I didn't think it worth the effort.  I should know by now that the results of natural dyeing can sometimes be unexpected...  This is a good reminder that I need to always be thorough!

From Tag to Treasure

A great idea, though it's not my own.

Lena of lenasekine found a unique use for my embroidery thread label-- in her hands, it has been turned into a lovely necklace in a clean + simple style:

I never imagined that my rather utilitarian label-- with my humble hand besides!-- could merit such a pretty display.  She even framed it with a row of stitching along the edge using my naturally dyed embroidery thread in safflower pink.  All to charming effect, I think!

This necklace is Lena's personal piece, but she kindly let me share it here.  Thanks, Lena!

Test :: Washfastness

Because there have been inquiries over at the shop concerning the level of colorfastness of my naturally dyed embroidery floss in terms of washing, I conducted a simple wash test today so that you can see.

I chose three colors for this round-- indigo, madder and purple gromwell (they happened to be the ones in my personal samples stash).  First, I made lines of straight stitch and back stitch in each of the colors on white linen.  I used 6 strands in order to have a good amount of thread on the sample.

I cut these apart and washed them in separate containers with cold water.  By wash, I mean I folded the fabric with right sides facing in and gently rubbed the surfaces together, just as I do when I'm trying to remove the pattern markings.  Then I let them soak for a good 30 minutes.  Here's what the samples looked like immediately after going in the water--

And after 30 minutes--

Here's the wash water after the samples have been removed--

I couldn't detect any color running in all three instances.  In fact, it's not even possible to tell which color was in which dish.  As for the samples--

There's not a hint of color bleeding onto the fabric either.  All very reassuring, I think!

One note: I skipped using a cleanser for my test, but if you use one, do be sure to choose a gentle, pH neutral cleanser to avoid affecting the dye color.

Sakura, Again

Dried, fallen sakura leaves from last fall.  All gathered locally.  I continue to marvel at how a drab, brown pile like this...

...can yield such a warm & lovely color like this.  Of all the sakura lots I've dyed, this batch has resulted in a peach with the most pink to it.  On its own, it might be hard to tell; but placed among other colors, I think it's more clear.

The method I used is the same as before, just with a small adjustment that I thought would bring out more of the pink.  Perhaps that really made the difference...?  Or maybe it was the particular batch of leaves-- I'm not really set on controlling the color so much.  I'm perfectly happy to be surprised each time.

Late Summer's Red

 

Madder red cotton embroidery thread + linen, dyed just before I left on my summer holiday in August.  I forgot to mention here that I would be away... anyway.  I'm back now.  Back to the dyepot, back to embroidery and back to the oppressive heat, still lingering here.  But despite the continuing summer temperatures, there are signs that the season is progressing--

I've been keeping my eyes on these harlequin glorybower bushes all summer-- watched the lovely, fragrant flowers bloom and fade-- and now, the calyxes that house the berries are starting to turn pale pink.  By the time they open to reveal the berries within, they'll be a dark magenta.  Then it'll be time to collect the berries.  Hopefully, I'll be able to gather more this year than last.  We'll see!

Colors of Alder

cotton embroidery thread + linen dyed with alder cones

An earthy range of colors, so cool and harmonious.  All variations achieved with alder, just by altering a factor or two.  Lovely, woodsy shades that evoke a forest of images-- from the rich soil & sand beneath to the tall, expansive trees; pine cones, nuts, wild mushrooms, fallen logs, last year's leaves...  The colors are beautiful in their own right too, of course.  Threads available here.

Dye :: Stitch

I love natural dyeing.  But I love making things too.  So I decided to combine the two.

I've longed wanted to try my own naturally dyed embroidery threads, but have been too engrossed by the dyeing part to stop and stitch with them.  But when the rainy season came and dyeing became less practical-- longer drying times, faster molding of dye solutions, fewer opportunities to go outside to collect dye plants-- the urge to sew took over.

So I started sewing.  And the ideas kept coming.

Wisteria Pincushion.  My own design.

The lavender thread I used for the wisteria blooms is my naturally dyed purple gromwell thread-- the lighter color shown in this post here (last photo).  I also added darker purple beads to the center of each mature bloom to mimic the darker centers of actual wisteria flowers.  I'm really pleased by the combination-- the finished effect is delicate & elegant, so much like the flower itself.

 

Flower Pincushion.  My own design.

For this one, I used my naturally dyed safflower/indigo thread-- the light blue part of the flowers.  And what's more, the linen I used for the back side of this pincushion was naturally dyed too--

back side.  embroidered with my first initial.

Do you remember?  It's the bit I dyed last summer with dried Japanese indigo leaves.  I had saved it all this time, and am happy I finally found a good use for it.

And there was enough left for another, which turned into this--

 

Sand Dollar Pincushion.  My own design.

This shade of blue reminded me very much of the ocean, so the above design came to mind.  From my childhood days, I've been enamoured by sand dollars and their beautiful forms with those magical 'doves' tucked inside.  I wanted a look that was simple + clean-- a single sand dollar with a few sprinkles of 'sand' seemed just right.  A perfect memento of summers gone by.

Now I'm starting to think that other naturally dyed colors of linen would be nice too...  Perhaps it's time to head back to dyeing!