SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Leaves, petals, berries
Vinegar or salt
Water
Kettle
Kitchen gloves
Fabric to dye
Natural dyes can be made from a variety of plant materials, for example, herbs, flower petals, leaves, and onion skins. For the purpose of demonstration, I used red onion skin.
Place the onion skins in a kettle and cover with water. Add about a tablespoon of vinegar and simmer for an hour. Strain to remove the onion skins. Add a light color fabric, such as muslin, cotton, tulle or even cheese cloth. Allow the fabric to sit in the natural dye until the desired color. It must be noted that when dry the color will be lighter, so if you want a very dark dye, you will want to leave your fabric in longer.
Squeeze out the excess dye from the fabric, using kitchen gloves to prevent staining your hands. Reserve the natural dye and pour into mason jars to use for other dye projects. Hang the fabric to air dry.
Fabrics dyed with natural dyes need to be hand washed separately in cold water, to prevent fading and leaching into other fabrics.
To experiment with other natural dyes, try Calendula petals, Golden rod or Scotch Broom flowers. Rose petals can be used as well but will typically be a much lighter color than the roses, so you may want to use the darkest colors for your dye. Sweet Violets lend a soft lavender shade. Blueberries make a deep Indigo blue dye, so reserve the juice when canning blueberries and use it for a dye, as well as raspberry, grape or blackberry juice. Reserve the juice from canned beets or spinach for natural dye. Some of your pantry spices such as Turmeric are useful for natural dyes. Strong Coffee and Tea work well for dying white eggs and gives a vintage look to fabrics.
CAUTION: Be sure to research any plant material to determine if it is toxic before using. Non-toxic dyes can be used for coloring eggs or porous objects and fabrics. For a fixative, use salt or vinegar depending on your plant material.
To dye eggs: dip the boiled eggs in the liquid dye with 1 T. vinegar until the color you desire. (this works best to allow to sit in the dye up to 24 hours) For Nature related dyed eggs, wash leaves, fern fronds or flower petals, and place on the boiled eggs, wrap tightly with cheese cloth and dip into the dye until desired color. Allow to dry before removing the cheese cloth and plant material to prevent the dye from running into your design.
To make your own vinegar, refer to the link: justfowlingaround.weebly.com/recipes-for-self-reliance/category/how-to-make-vinegar
Chicken Coop Chatter© All Rights Reserved 2011-2017