While cleaning up the yard earlier this fall I trimmed up my pear tree by cutting off a few of the suckers near the base of the truck. I was about to take them to the fire pit when an idea hit me. I will dye with them!!! I then decided to take the branches and chop them up with the leaves and put them in a bucket. I filled the bucket with water and let it stew for about 5 days. I didn't plan on leaving the mixture that long but life got in the way and they had to wait.
After the five days I put the mixture in a steel pot with 3 gallons of water and brought it to a simmer. I let it simmer for 90 minutes and then turned it off and put the lid on and let sit overnight. The next morning I simmered it again for 60 minutes this time. Turned the heat off and let it cool to room temperature and strained it. The dye sat on the stove in a pot for a few more days before I could get to dyeing.
 |
| Chop the leaves up. I didn't do that. |
 |
| Gorgeous pale orange dye |
I had pre-mordant on 4 cotton napkins and started with those. I soaked them in water for 20 minutes. And gently squeezed the water out and placed in them in the dye pot. I slowly brought the dye to a simmer and let it stay simmering for 35 minutes. Turned the heat off and let the napkins stay in the pot overnight. The next morning I decided to let the napkins sit for another 24 hours to see if more dye would absorb. The following day I removed the napkins and put them in plastic bowl and rinsed them out in room temperature water. I rinsed until the water ran clear and added a drop of Dr. Bonner's peppermint soap to clean them up. Then I line dried them. And this is what happened....
 |
| The pale peach color is darker than this photo. It is beautiful!! |
Next I dyed a cotton t-shirt that I up-cycled from a second hand store. I followed the same steps as above. It is gorgeous too.
 |
| The color is stunning!! I am so pleased. |
 |
| Not as dark as the other t-shirt but okay. |
Finally, I dyed 2 skeins of yarn. Their composition is 50/50 alpaca and merino. I did a pre-mordant on them with alum and cream of tartar. I also soaked them in room temperature water for 20 minutes before adding them to the dye pot.
This is how they turned out. Again, I love the color. I decided not to iron dip these. I am pretty satisfied with the end results.
Comments
Post a Comment