- Exhaust dyeing
- Afterbath (copper)
- Will the leaves release more color in subsequent dyepots as Dean suggests in her book?
I have several pear trees, so this information might be good to know for
future reference.
I started by dividing the leftover dye water into two pots, amounts about equal. One, I used for the exhaust dyeing experiment, the other for the afterbath experiment. I used half the amount of alum mordanted fiber for each experiment, thoroughly soaked in water before adding to the dyepot.
To compare results, here is the sample from the original pear leaf dyepot.
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| original dye color |
1. Exhaust dyeing
This is simply reusing the same dyepot after some / most of the color has been taken up in the original dye job. I used 4 ounces of mordanted fiber for this experiment, but followed simmering and soaking times roughly the same as the original dye lot.
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| exhaust bath dye color |
2. Copper afterbath
Or maybe it's afterdip. I dissolved a rounded half-teaspoon of copper sulfate into the other half of the original dyebath and added 4 ounces of fiber from the original dye lot.
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| original dyed fiber with copper afterbath |
Here's a comparison of the original dyed fiber and my first two experiments.
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| Left: copper afterbath. Middle: original dye color. Right: exhaust dyed fiber. |
3. Re-using the pear leaves
This idea came from Jenny Dean's book. In her general instructions for extracting color from plant leaves (page 48) she states,
"The leaves reserved from the first color extraction can be simmered again."
That roused my curiosity and I decided to try this with the pear leaves from the original dye bath. I followed the same procedure, but used half as much fiber in the dye pot. Here's what I got . . .
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| color from re-used pear leaves |
It's very similar to the exhaust dyed sample, but I think it's a clearer yellow, i.e. a little less gold. From my reading I'm understanding that different pigments in the dyestuffs are released at different times and temperatures. I don't know if this would consistently be true for pear leaves, but it's an interesting tidbit to keep in mind for future reference.
I'm not sure if the camera and computer do the difference justice, but here are the similar samples side by side.
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| Left: exhaust bath fiber. Right: re-used leaves dyed fiber. In hand, the exhaust dyed have a more golden nuance. |
So, lots of color from pear leaves. Further experiments could include different mordants and afterbaths. For these, I need to get iron to try for mordanting and dipping.
In addition to the leaves, the bark is said to yield a pinkish-purple color. I'll have to try that one too, if I can figure out how to harvest bark without hurting the tree.
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