Mushroom dyeing - Suillus luteus

Dyeing is fascinating.  One never knows exactly what the outcome is going to be and trying new things to dye from is always a thrill.  I have been especially interested in dying with lichens and mushrooms.  Just because it's different, I guess.  So if I see books about those subjects I just have to have those.

I have been buying quite a few books about dyeing.  Old books mostly.  Some of them I have bought for a few dollars and one I even got for a few cents.  I discovered that old out of print books can be found on the internet and many even on Amazon.  So now I have a pile of books on dyeing, most in English but I've also acquired some in other languages.  I even have one in Finish (a language which I absolutely do not understand, but I've used Google translate to help).

There is always something to learn from a new book, even if on occasion the lesson is mostly about how not to write a book on the subject.  I was lucky enought to find a used book market on a recent trip to Copenhagen and found one book in Danish about plant dyes and another in Swedish about spinning wool and linen.  Can't wait to read them.

It's mushroom collecting time and I've gone once with my mom to collect them.  Although I only picked berries and let her take the mushrooms.  There weren't that many of them of the right size for eating.  As I understand it though, the bigger and more unappetizing, the better they are for dying.

I have mostly gotten beige and brown from mushrooms so far.  The really exotic types that give purples, reds, greens and blues don't seem to grow here at all.  But I was really pleased with the results I got from The Slippery Jack mushroom - Suillus luteus.  My mom had dried quite a few very wet mushrooms in the oven.  The liquid that dripped from them was a bright yellow so she gave it to me to experiment with.

It dyed a wonderful yellow colour, even unmordanted wool.  When I make these experiments I always dye both unmordanted and mordanted wool and then I use modifiers to see if I can change the colour.  I always try an acid and an alkaline soak and also iron water and copper water.  The Suillus turned a very pretty orange in the washing soda bath and a paler yellow in the acid bath.  The iron made it dark brown and the copper turned it a lighter brown.  I love the fact that I didn't have to waste the mushrooms to use their colour and I will certainly go and look for some more after the next rain.  I'm planning to knit a sweater with a pattern where I can use lots of different colours, all with natural dyes.  I've harvested some of my home grown dye plants.  The woad and the Japanese indigo are just incredibly fun to work with.  To make a blue colour from green leaves.  It's magic.

Enzyme cleaner - does it work?

I made enzyme cleaner.  Way back in the beginning of March.  And then again at the beginning of April.  The recipe is very easy:
1 part brown sugar (I don't think it needs to brown)
3 parts citrus peel (or any other fruit peel, pinapple is supposed to really good)
10 parts water

Put some lemon and orange peel (or pineapple) into a 2 liter plastic bottle and then put in the sugar and water.  Close the bottle and shake it to dissolve the sugar.

Let stand for 3 months and be careful to let off some of the gas that starts to develop in the bottle or it will explode.  After the 3 months are up, strain and use by diluting 1:10 with water to clean most things.  The first webpage where I saw this, The happy homemaker was really happy with the results and it seems so is everyone else, but I'm just not getting it.

I did everything according to the instructions and then I also did another batch using pineapple scraps and I know that pinapple is supposed to have a lot of enzymes and should work really well.  I just decanted the pinapple cleaner.  I had that standing from April 7 until Aug. 20 and it never developed any mold.  It looks nice, it smells pretty similar to the lemon & orange peel one (almost like a plastic smell, does that sound right?) and I think it works just about the same.  Which is to me: Not really.  I really wished this to work although it annoys me, not to understand the chemistry, so if anyone can explain this I would be grateful.  I have no idea what went wrong or if I'm just misunderstanding something.

I guess I can use this as an excuse to my sloppy housekeeping in the last few weeks, although perhaps a more truthful story would be the nice weather.  We have had a record in nice weather, for more than 20 days in a row the temperature has reached 20°C (that's a whopping 68°F) somewhere in the country.  But now we have rain and more rain so now I really need to find out why my enzyme cleaner doesn't really work because I don't have any excuses anymore.  Or maybe it does work and I just have to let it  sit for a while before I wipe it off.  Does anyone know?  Or even care?  Maybe I shouldn't either.

Eco dying - Tutorial, T-shirt makeover

I have made four really unpresentable T shirts come alive using Eco dying.  I love doing the process.  It's really easy to do and it's fun.  I learned a lot by reading India Flynt's book Eco Colour (which I of course bought in the end).

What is needed is a piece of fabric, some string, a collection of leaves and flowers and a small branch from a tree or a bush, ideally slightly smaller than you largest pot.  Since this dyeing is not done with harmful materials it is ok to use your regular pots, but should you decide to start to dye it is generally recommended to have a separate pot for that.

Take an old T-shirt (or a brand new one if you want or any other piece of cloth for that matter, but not synthetic).  I used a dropper to put some Iron water and Copper water spots on the fabric, but that is not necessary.  And be aware that Copper water is poisonous so I do not suggest you use that.  Making Iron water is easy though, just put some rusty object into a jar filled with a mix of two parts water and one part white vinegar (5%).  Let the rusty objects sit there and disintegrate.  The water will turn a rusty (naturally) orange colour in a few weeks.
Now go outside to your garden or the nearest park or wilderness and carefully snip off a few leaves and flowers that catch your fancy.  Naturally, well known dye plants will give the most colour.  In this shirt I used Geranium, Cherry leaves, Apple leaves, Euphorbia leaves (gives a great green colour) among others. Then you can start arranging the leaves and flowers on you fabric.  Some leaves print really well, white others don't really come through, but sometimes act a a resist.
Then start to wrap up the fabric.
The size should be just slightly smaller than the size of the branch you are using.
Wrap the fabric tightly around the branch.  The tannins in the bark will act as a mordant to fix the colors to the fabric.  If you have any rusted objects lying around, like nails, bottle caps, hairpins or anything like that, feel free to add those to you bundle.  The iron will also act as a mordant and will produce gray and black colors and patterns in combination with the plant material.  Alternatively use an iron pot and you'll get a gray colour.
Now tie the bundle tightly with a piece of string.
Now put the bundle into hot water and simmer it for at least an hour or two.  If your bundle is larger than the pot, just turn it a few times during the simmer.  I used the left over dye water from an Avocado pit/skin dyeing experiment.  But clear water can be used.
I let my bundle sit in the dye bath overnight.  Some people steam their bundles.  I've never done that.  Simmering them in water works fine for me, but steaming is a possibility for those who have an easy time doing that.
I let the bundle sit for a while in the sink before I unravelled it.  I am not a patient person, so few hours is all I've ever managed.
The unravelling!  There is no way to predict what comes out, really.  I have started to recognize how some leaves print, but there are always so many factors that affect how this turns out.  One thing for certain is that with rinsing, the colors will fade a bit.
My revamped T-shirt.  The Avocado didn't really stick, but I got some really nice markings. I have done 4 T-'s so far and am still working on an off white sweater that got a small stain.  I was going to trow it out, but decided to try and treat it to the plant experiment.  It's sitting in my cast iron pot (great gray colour) and I'm going to let it sit for a few days to soak up all the iron.  So far it looks very dark gray.  I unravelled it a bit, but saw that the iron water hadn't penetrated the whole bundle, so I'm letting it sit for a bit longer.  I can't wait so see what comes out.  Also, the sweater is part synthetic so I'm curious to see if how the dye will take to a blend.   I've only ever dyed cotton, wool and silk and synthetics don't accept natural dyes that well.  But we'll see.