djjo
goldenrod_1024
Photo by Van Waffle.
Goldenrod dye experiments - September 10 to 16, 2008
Wednesday September 10
The goldenrod came from my front yard. There was enough there to almost fill my large washing basin.
I try to only use the yellow flowers by stripping off the petals from the flower heads. It got late, so the last quarter of the flowers heads were put in almost whole. I try to put as little twigs and leaves as possible, as that makes the colour grayer / cloudy in the first dip.
I covered the plant material with hot water and left them to soak overnight.
Thursday September 11
Transferred all material to a new pot I bought.
Sunday September 14
I simmered the goldenrod for a couple hours and then left everything in the pot overnight to cool.
Monday September 15 - yarn prep
I skeined up the yarns that were in the balls. To tired to do the dyeing.
Tuesday September 16 - Dye Day!
I removed the plant material and strained the liquid.
There was about 26 cups of dye liquid in the pot. I split this into two pots with 13 cups in each and then added hot water to bring it up to 24 cups of liquid in each pot.
Yarns used:
Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 2 skeins
Fortissima Socka - 75% superwash wool, 25% Polyamid (nylon), 2 balls
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride - 85% wool, 15% mohair single, 2 balls
Trekking Pro Natura - 75% superwash wool, 25% bamboo, 2 balls
I did not pre-mordant these yarns. I added the mordant directly to the dyebaths.
I had read that using iron as a mordant would give me an olive to kaki green colour. I split the dyebaths so that I could use iron in one and my regular alum and cream of tartar in the other.
I normally give goldenrod an afterdip in ammonia. I didn't have any at home, so I used baking soda instead.
Pot 1 - Alum and Cream of Tartar in the dyebath
Dip 1 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 20 grams alum, 10 grams cream of tartar (10% alum, 5% cream of tartar)
Also a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
A1 Fortissima Socka
A2 Trekking Pro Natura
The afterdip in baking soda intensified the colour. Both were dark and rich. The Trekking was a little lighter due to the bamboo.
Dip 2 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 12 grams alum, 6 grams cream of tartar (6% alum, 3% cream of tartar)
Another tablespoon of salt and a half-tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
A3 Lamb's Pride
A4 Cascade 220
The afterdip in baking soda really intensified the colour. The skeins started out much lighter, and the after dip deepened the colour and really brought it out. The Lamb's Pride is a lighter colour due to the mohair.
There wasn't much colour left in the dye pot. It was a very light lemon colour.
Pot 2 - Iron and Alum in the dyebath
Dip 1 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 4 grams iron, 4 grams alum (2% iron, 2% alum)
Also a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
B1 Fortissima Socka
B2 Trekking Pro Natura
The after dip in baking soda dramatically changed the colour. Out of the pot it was a greeny yellow. Once in the dip it changed to a deep green brown. I let it soak there for 10 minutes. Rinsing didn't change the colour.
Dip 2 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 3 grams iron, 3 grams (1.5% iron, 1.5% alum)
Another tablespoon of salt and this time 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
Skeins
B3 Lamb's Pride
B4 Cascade 220
Adding the baking soda to the dye bath was a mistake. It immediately foamed up and the smell was quite unpleasant. The normal goldenrod bath is a nice smell. The colour changed from yellow to an inky brown.
The yarns were not very dark in the pot. Giving them the afterdip in baking soda helped a little, but didn't change the colour much. After rinsing the yarns a while I gave them a soak in vinegar water to neutralize the yarns a bit, then rinsed them more. The colour did not change. This gave a nice grayish brown.
There was still a good amount of colour in the pot, but I didn't have time / more material to dye more.
The skeins show in the picture are, left to right, top to bottom:
A1 A3
A2 A4
B1 B3
B2 B4
goldenrod_1024
Photo by Van Waffle.
Goldenrod dye experiments - September 10 to 16, 2008
Wednesday September 10
The goldenrod came from my front yard. There was enough there to almost fill my large washing basin.
I try to only use the yellow flowers by stripping off the petals from the flower heads. It got late, so the last quarter of the flowers heads were put in almost whole. I try to put as little twigs and leaves as possible, as that makes the colour grayer / cloudy in the first dip.
I covered the plant material with hot water and left them to soak overnight.
Thursday September 11
Transferred all material to a new pot I bought.
Sunday September 14
I simmered the goldenrod for a couple hours and then left everything in the pot overnight to cool.
Monday September 15 - yarn prep
I skeined up the yarns that were in the balls. To tired to do the dyeing.
Tuesday September 16 - Dye Day!
I removed the plant material and strained the liquid.
There was about 26 cups of dye liquid in the pot. I split this into two pots with 13 cups in each and then added hot water to bring it up to 24 cups of liquid in each pot.
Yarns used:
Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 2 skeins
Fortissima Socka - 75% superwash wool, 25% Polyamid (nylon), 2 balls
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride - 85% wool, 15% mohair single, 2 balls
Trekking Pro Natura - 75% superwash wool, 25% bamboo, 2 balls
I did not pre-mordant these yarns. I added the mordant directly to the dyebaths.
I had read that using iron as a mordant would give me an olive to kaki green colour. I split the dyebaths so that I could use iron in one and my regular alum and cream of tartar in the other.
I normally give goldenrod an afterdip in ammonia. I didn't have any at home, so I used baking soda instead.
Pot 1 - Alum and Cream of Tartar in the dyebath
Dip 1 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 20 grams alum, 10 grams cream of tartar (10% alum, 5% cream of tartar)
Also a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
A1 Fortissima Socka
A2 Trekking Pro Natura
The afterdip in baking soda intensified the colour. Both were dark and rich. The Trekking was a little lighter due to the bamboo.
Dip 2 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 12 grams alum, 6 grams cream of tartar (6% alum, 3% cream of tartar)
Another tablespoon of salt and a half-tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
A3 Lamb's Pride
A4 Cascade 220
The afterdip in baking soda really intensified the colour. The skeins started out much lighter, and the after dip deepened the colour and really brought it out. The Lamb's Pride is a lighter colour due to the mohair.
There wasn't much colour left in the dye pot. It was a very light lemon colour.
Pot 2 - Iron and Alum in the dyebath
Dip 1 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 4 grams iron, 4 grams alum (2% iron, 2% alum)
Also a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of citric acid.
Skeins
B1 Fortissima Socka
B2 Trekking Pro Natura
The after dip in baking soda dramatically changed the colour. Out of the pot it was a greeny yellow. Once in the dip it changed to a deep green brown. I let it soak there for 10 minutes. Rinsing didn't change the colour.
Dip 2 - 200 grams of fiber
Mordant - 3 grams iron, 3 grams (1.5% iron, 1.5% alum)
Another tablespoon of salt and this time 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
Skeins
B3 Lamb's Pride
B4 Cascade 220
Adding the baking soda to the dye bath was a mistake. It immediately foamed up and the smell was quite unpleasant. The normal goldenrod bath is a nice smell. The colour changed from yellow to an inky brown.
The yarns were not very dark in the pot. Giving them the afterdip in baking soda helped a little, but didn't change the colour much. After rinsing the yarns a while I gave them a soak in vinegar water to neutralize the yarns a bit, then rinsed them more. The colour did not change. This gave a nice grayish brown.
There was still a good amount of colour in the pot, but I didn't have time / more material to dye more.
The skeins show in the picture are, left to right, top to bottom:
A1 A3
A2 A4
B1 B3
B2 B4