#dye process

Part two of hibiscus dye!!! The jar on the left has some alum (to test out what that does to the fiber/dye) and the jar on the right is just dye, no mordants or fixatives.

I’m doing a method while I cobble together bits of information from different sources. Unfortunately I can’t find any true sources focusing solely on hibiscus dye, and what I can find seems to say that they get incredibly light pink colors (aka barely any pigment) or even blue green ish, rather than my yarn’s vibrant magenta, which has not been my experience at all.

So anyway, I boil my dried flowers in a pot, reduce as much as possible, and then pour the hot dye into the jar with pre-wet yarn (no mordants used). I close the jars tightly so they can boil or steam themselves however it goes, and then I take them outside! I’ve seen this called solar dye, but essentially I put them in a sunny spot and leave them there for 24 hours, overnight and all. Could probably leave them longer but I get impatient and want to see the colors hehehe.

I squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then let them drip dry in my shower with ventilation. Lol, my tub is a little bit pinkish now, I have to say, hibiscus loves to stain. Planning to let them sit for a while before washing them out, maybe with a bit of gentle Soak soap too.

The remainder of indigofera experiments are solar dyes that have left in the sun for two weeks

I wrote the method on each of the containers, but the rain washed it off, so trusting to my untrustworthy memory here!

Vaguely following the instructions on Turkey Red Journal

large round containers: leaves + water soar dye

The fibres were one skein of Millpost merino, and one skein of and nylon blend with alum mordant and a faint E. pauciflora overdye.

These two were the most exciting results, there was a little bit of blue on each of them that developed on the strands that were at the top of each container. Blue! My theory is that indigo needs oxygen to bond with fibre, and maybe the blue only at the top because that's where the water level was? Keen to try again with a solar dye that's half full of water and regularly agitated.

Takeaway containers

After the unsuccessful smoothie method outlined in previous post, I tried the 'direct method' from Turkey Red Journal:

"Chop small branches and leaves and put them into a glass container, fill with water to the very top and seal with an air tight lid. Leave to soak for 48 hours in a warm sunny position.

Strain carefully, removing all the foliage, trying not to introduce any oxygen. Carefully return the liquid to the jar. Put it in a warm sunny position and introduce skein which has been pre-wetted. Leave the skein in the liquid for 20 minutes.

Remove the skein carefully, again trying not to introduce any oxygen. Hang it exposed to the air for 20 minutes, by which time it should have turned a pale blue.

Repeat the above procedure until the shade of blue required has been achieved or there is no further colour change."

I used the dyebath and previously strained leaves from the unsuccessful smoothie attempt, leaving out in the sun for approx 72 hours.

Again, there was no characteristic colour change upon contact with oxygen, and my theory is that there is not enough indican present to create the desired effect. The colour is pale brown bordering on yellow, and I'm interested to see if i can get a green in future.

Next time i want to try this process with leaves picked after a low rainfall period, and use a high ratio of leaves to fibre.

Collected Indigofera australis (austral indigo) with E from ANU campus on 26th September 2021. SE Australia is in a wet rainy cycle at the moment, so many big prolific bushes in flower!

My first time using I. australis, I decided to experiment with the leaves several different ways.

Modern dye techniques often use a very alkaline dyebath for indigo, which is toxic and cannot be disposed of via domestic sewerage. In my textile practice I wish to pursue low impact methods, meaning that I want to find an alternative to the high alkaline conventional method (even though the results were stunning and a lot of fun). The next few posts will document the results of these different experiments.

I. australis contains indigotin, the same blue molecule as other Indigofera plant species from Europe and Asia, so it follows that techniques developed for other species of Indigofera might work with I. australis. I read this very useful blog documenting one dyer’s experiments using I. australis using a Japanese ‘direct’ method: https://www.gumnutmagic.com/dyeing-with-australian-indigo/

They were following the method documented here: https://www.thedogwooddyer.com/blog/2019/8/25/fresh-leaf-indigo-experiments-at-john-marshalls-studio

https://www.thedogwooddyer.com/blog/2014/9/27/fresh-leaf-indigo-dyeing

These blogs said it’s best to use the plants on the same day that they’re picked, so I rushed to complete the process before dinner! I made a delicious smoothie out of indigofera leaves, using iced water to keep things cold. I strained the leaf bits out and dipped a skein in it for a couple of minutes before exposing to air, repeating the process several times. As I understand it, the indigotin molecule needs to be exposed to oxygen to bond with fibre, so a process of dipping in a dye vat and exposing to air made sense to me.

Nothing much happened. There was no telltale colour change when the fibre was exposed to oxygen. The greenish result in the final picture washed out immediately. I’ve got several theories about this – next time i will pick the indigofera in the early morning after a period of low rainfall, and use a very high ratio of indigo leaves to fibre, at least 2:1.

First attempt at solar dye

Red camellia petals packed into jar and topped up with water.

-left in sun for ~4 weeks

-hot microwave extraction with vinegar onto hemp raffia.

-layered petals and fibre in microwave safe container, poured over dye liquor and topped up with white vinegar. microwaved for 15 mins and allowed to cool completely before removing from dyebath and set out to dry

Dying with snow gum, E. pauciflora

-white hand knitted socks – merino nylon blend patonyle sockwool

-E. pauciflora leaves collected from dead and windfall leaves Mount Ainslie July 2021

-mordanted with alum potassium alum sulphate prior to dying, adding 12-20% alum per weight of fibre to water and gently heating to 80*c for 45 minutes.

-covered leaves in water, boiled in dyepot for 2-3 hours. left for one week until I had time to complete the process.

-removed some leaves from dyepot, added fibre, maintained heat below boiling for ~2 hours. Allowed fibre to cool in dyepot overnight.