Continued from Part 1
My dyed but not yet rinsed pokeberry fiber was left to oxidize for several days to set the color. Carol Leigh recommended a couple of hours, but one dyer observed that the longer it sits, the better the dye adheres to the fiber. (See "recipe resources" in part 1) That statement was noteworthy, I thought, and worth a see-for-myself experiment, so I wasn't in a hurry to rinse the fleece.
Day 8
- Soak in several rinse waters to remove excess dye (do not use soap or anything alkaline at this point).
Rinsing with rainwater from one of our rainwater collection tanks. - Once the rinse water is clear, squeeze out excess water and let dry thoroughly
Notes:
- Actual amount of time between dyeing and rinsing was 7 days.
- Fresh pokeberry dye is still sensitive to pH, so to keep vibrant color, soap or detergent, which lean toward the basic range of the pH scale, are not used at this point.
- It's also sensitive to sunlight, so keep out of sunlight.
As to the dyepot, the color hadn't completely exhausted and there was still a lot of color in the bath.
I couldn't bring myself to discard it, so I mordanted more fiber and popped it into the exhaust bath and proceeded with the same steps as before. The exception was that I used 4-ounces of fiber instead of 8. Doing this accomplishes two things. One is "waste not want not" as I can get more dyed fiber.
The second, is a chance to experiment with the mordant bath. My thinking was that the vinegar is diluted anyway, so the percentage of acetic acid in the bath could be adjusted simply by adding more of a weaker product, right? That way I could simply adjust the amount of common vinegar to get the same results. I couldn't find a formula to calculate this precisely, so I ball-parked it.
Exhaust bath #1
For this experiment, the amounts for the mordant bath were:
- 4 ounces washed fiber
- 1.5 gallons water
- 1 quart 5% acetic acid (household vinegar)
I followed the same instructions to mordant and dye the fiber.
Obviously, there was still a lot of color in the dyebath!
Exhaust bath #2
- Used same acid mordant bath, adding another pint of 5% vinegar
- 4 ounces of fiber
- Added a second pint to the dyebath too.
Exhaust bath #3
- Started with a fresh mordant bath of 1 quart 5% vinegar to 1 gallon water
- 4 ounces of fiber
- no additions to the dyebath
As you can see, I got a lot more color out of the dyepot. Possibly, I could have tried one more because the dyepot water still wasn't clear. But this is where I decided I was finished.
Here are all the samples side by side.
I got a lot of color from that dyepot!
Would I try pokeberry dyeing again? Absolutely. Apparently, color depends on temperature, so that would be fund to experiment with. Likely, I'll collect another batch of pokeberries to freeze for more dyeing fun next year.
6 comments:
You are so methodical and patient. This was great fun to read and reminded me of my mom's hayday of dyeing and spinning.
Meg, I think what made this doable is the long times between steps. This particular recipe states that long soak, heat, and cool-down times help with color fastness. So I didn't really need to babysit anything, I just had to occasionally check temp and timing.
That side by side comparison was is a very interesting experiment. I wonder how this was applied in real life: first dyeing for the finest and best, then lowering the grade as the process continued.
TB, that's a really good question. The brightest colors would obviously fetch the best price, but if there was a demand for softer colors and pastels, then it would almost be like "free" dye to completely exhaust the dyepot.
One thing that's fun to do with those lighter colors, is to over-dye them, i.e. toss them into a different color dyepot to see how the colors blend.
You ended up with beautiful gradient colors that I'd be tempted to knit in a pattern designed for that!
Michelle, I love gradients for that very reason!
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