Natural cold dyes 天然冷製染料

I got the good price of cotton gauze and keen to try natural dyes on it without hesitation. The blue-grey was dyed from indigo while the pink-purple from cochinael.

I was asked to recommend reference books for my natural prints.  There're many experts doing great but my answer to my works is my "brain".  It's joking but truely I appreciate very much other experts but I can't follow well because of local condition, such as water, soil, air, plants, weather...... all depends, that's very regionalism.  So I can only recall my own experiments and explore any possibilities.

This blue-grey from kind of indigo, the plant is Strobilantes ( 馬藍) from my yard.  I only used the simply way to get the pigments.  Know this may not be the proper way but it works for me.

I chopped the leaves,  soaked in a jar with warm water for two days, mixed with little lime and pour into a container for a few times to get oxygen for darker blue-grey.   Then soaked the cotton gauze for a few minutes. 

 

The shades of colors due to the amount of soaking time . The bolder the first time.

I wanted purple from cochinael

So I dipped into the dyes

This is how I made the cold cochinael.  I grated a little cochinael and mixed with alum and water, as well a little vinegar.  Let it sit for a couple of hours.

So I dyed a few yards of cotton gauze with indigo and cochinael in cold way.

 

The fabric is sitting for 3 weeks for color fixing then I'll do nuno felt fashion with it on my return from the workshop organised by Fibrefusing in the Netherlands led by the Russian designer Tatiana Sheverda.

Rosy pinky cold dye - 粉紫色染布

 

To start the new year 2015 with soft landing - cold dye of pinky rose with pomegranate.  This  pinky chiffon was made with the easy and eco pomegranate dye.

 粉紫色的雪紡來自石檔汁液, 一個簡易的植物印染開始我 2015的 "粉紫溫柔" 一天.

 

 Last March when I was in Tel Aviv I strolled along the promenade, there're stalls of fresh pomegranate press juice.

 I bought one.  About one and half the fruit of a pomegranate to make a cup of the fresh juice, Sweet and tasty.

 

These days here the markets have many big and juicy imported pomegranates.  I tried the cold dye simply squeezed the seeds to get the red juice then mixed with little vinegar to dye the chiffon. 

Fabric was soaked with diluted vinegar water.  First put the half length to soak the red dye then again the one third length into the dye for overnight soaking.  I done two pieces to see the outcome.

 Mogi helped the lining.  Gradation from plain to purple.

Mogi found his haven

Dyes dispersed on this piece with marble pattern

This is accidentally effect from the dyes I soaked twice so dyes dispersed like marble

The long one with half the length gradation

He's napping and dreaming what to do next

Mogi, "what's mum's resolution this year?"

Mum, "playing with color, wool and travel are on my radar........."

Simple steps of pomegranate cold dye.

For my 3 yards of chiffon I squeeze one pomegranate seeds by hand, then mixe 4 spoon of vinegar.  Spraye silk chiffon with vinegar and put into the juice overnight.

Take it out but do not rinse out juice.  Better flat dry in air shade. If the fabric is boiled color becomes earthy.  

This is my first time of cold dyed silk chiffon with pomegranate juice.  Thought that for this kind of dye will not last too long but I will do something of not frequent washing.  Will see how it will be........