The berry-dye project, part 1
All summer, I've been planning to make some garb. Right now, I'm considering making a tunic or surcoat of some type.
Yesterday Mom and I went shopping and, being us, ended up in the fabric section. Walmart had cheap muslin, but it was all white or off-white. Mom suggested dyeing it, and pointed out that we still had lots of juneberries left that no one was going to eat. (We have a juneberry bush and a couple raspberry patches.) Thus was born the berry-dyed-tunic project.
I'm still not quite sure what pattern I'm going to use once the fabric is dyed, but I'll figure it out.
I started by picking as many juneberries and raspberries as I could. By this point in the season, they were pretty dry and shriveled, but they still had the necessary pigment. (By the way, raspberries have thorns. Oww...)
I also did some googling, and learned that salt can help set the dye. Or something. So I made sure to add salt.
So, I boiled the berries with salt. Sadly, I was a bit too distracted and forgot to take pictures while the berries were boiling, but here's the pots I used. (The tall one is Dad's chili pot. Fortunately, the juice washed right off!)
I have six yards of cloth, so I needed to use both pots. I also needed a few more berries than I was able to find in the garden. Fortunately, my family's hoarding tendencies were of help, this time. Not only did we have some blueberries in the fridge that were just old enough that Dad didn't mind if I used them for an experiment, but we also had some of last year's juneberries in the freezer!
Pictured above (left): a frozen bag of juneberries. Note the difference when compared to similar bag of non-frozen, freshly picked berries (right.)
I mixed the water, salt, and berries, and tried to mash up the berries as much as possible. This was easiest with the blueberries, since they were neither dry nor frozen. After the mixture had boiled for about ten minutes, I put the fabric into a large container and poured the mixture over it. The fabric kept wanting to float, so I used pop cans to weigh it down.
The fabric, predyeing (left). The container (middle). The fabric, after fifteen minutes soaking (right).
I've been occasionally shifting the fabric to help make it dye evenly. I'm planning to let it soak for several hours.
With the aroma of stewed juneberries lingering in all corners of the house, I imagine my mother would like to be able to blame the SCA people (bad influences, all of them) for this, but it was her suggestion in the first place.
Continued here.
Yesterday Mom and I went shopping and, being us, ended up in the fabric section. Walmart had cheap muslin, but it was all white or off-white. Mom suggested dyeing it, and pointed out that we still had lots of juneberries left that no one was going to eat. (We have a juneberry bush and a couple raspberry patches.) Thus was born the berry-dyed-tunic project.
I'm still not quite sure what pattern I'm going to use once the fabric is dyed, but I'll figure it out.
I started by picking as many juneberries and raspberries as I could. By this point in the season, they were pretty dry and shriveled, but they still had the necessary pigment. (By the way, raspberries have thorns. Oww...)
I also did some googling, and learned that salt can help set the dye. Or something. So I made sure to add salt.
So, I boiled the berries with salt. Sadly, I was a bit too distracted and forgot to take pictures while the berries were boiling, but here's the pots I used. (The tall one is Dad's chili pot. Fortunately, the juice washed right off!)
I have six yards of cloth, so I needed to use both pots. I also needed a few more berries than I was able to find in the garden. Fortunately, my family's hoarding tendencies were of help, this time. Not only did we have some blueberries in the fridge that were just old enough that Dad didn't mind if I used them for an experiment, but we also had some of last year's juneberries in the freezer!
Pictured above (left): a frozen bag of juneberries. Note the difference when compared to similar bag of non-frozen, freshly picked berries (right.)
I mixed the water, salt, and berries, and tried to mash up the berries as much as possible. This was easiest with the blueberries, since they were neither dry nor frozen. After the mixture had boiled for about ten minutes, I put the fabric into a large container and poured the mixture over it. The fabric kept wanting to float, so I used pop cans to weigh it down.
The fabric, predyeing (left). The container (middle). The fabric, after fifteen minutes soaking (right).
I've been occasionally shifting the fabric to help make it dye evenly. I'm planning to let it soak for several hours.
With the aroma of stewed juneberries lingering in all corners of the house, I imagine my mother would like to be able to blame the SCA people (bad influences, all of them) for this, but it was her suggestion in the first place.
Continued here.