Friday 5 April 2013

Dyeing with Turmeric, by Kira

Turmeric is a substantive dye.
This means you do not need to use a mordant to hold the colour.
Other substantive dyes include lichen, safflower and indigo.
Now that I have done this using turmeric, I want to use lichen.
We have many types of lichen here that create some beautiful shades of green, yellow, brown and purple.



I used about a cup of turmeric and four litres of water.



A white shirt.


I boiled the turmeric for about 45 minutes, then put the shirt in and lightly boiled for another 45 minutes.
This is the brilliant orange that the shirt was when I pulled it out.
I rinsed the shirt until the water was running nearly clear.
Then I washed it in the washing machine and hung it on the line to dry in the sun.



It ended up with a beautiful goldenrod colour.


Now into the forest to collect lichen!

 

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