Natural Dye Sample Project: Part 3

Over the past few days I've told you about our natural dye experiments, the process we used, the mordants and afterbaths and the fibers.    In this last part, I'm going to talk a bit about each of the dyes.     The photo shows the alpaca samples.   Refer to Part 2 for pics of other samples that turned out super well. 

From left to right, the dyes we used were:   indigo, comfrey, goldenrod, osage orange, walnut, apple twigs, madder, brazilwood, cochineal, logwood.

I've done posts of some of these before, so follow the links [red or purple] to more information.

Indigo:   This dye requires an oxygen poor environment in which to bind the dye to the fiber.   This means you have to create a 'reduction vat'.   There are several ways to do that.  We used Rit Dye Remover as the reducing agent.   Worked great!     In the past I have also used sheep urine to achieve a reduction vat.   It worked, but smelled awful.     Tradition has it that the best thing to use in indigo vats was the urine of adolescent boys.    We didn't go there.

Comfrey:  This is a mostly medicinal plant that was brought over from Europe and has now naturalized.    I found some on this place and planted it around [Extremely effective for bruising, scrapes, cuts, etc.].   One of the dye books mentioned that it gave a green dye so we tried it.   It did give a nice light olive dye, but it takes a lot of leaves.    The photos don't give it justice.

Goldenrod:  We have acres of goldenrod out here.  Gather the flower tops.  It's best to use just as the flowers are opening.   You can cut it and dry it and save it for later and it works just fine.

Osage Orange: This is a tree native to this part of the world. Maclura pomifera has large soft seed balls.  It is an extremely useful tree - good for bug repellent as well as gorgeous orange dyes.    We used sawdust for the dye. 

Walnut:  Black walnuts in the hull give great dyes.   I saved ours and we used them after they had turned black.   It takes a couple of days of boiling to get a lot of dye out, but it sure gives gorgeous browns.

Apple twigs:  We pruned our apple tree early one spring and a few hours later noticed bright orange staining on the wood.    I did a little research and sure enough, it has been used for dyeing, so we tried it.    I gathered smaller twigs - finger sized - cut them up and boiled them in a pot.   I loved the color.

Madder:   Plenty has been written on the use of madder in dyeing.   We purchased the dried roots and used those.    It takes an extra day of soaking to release the dye, so plan ahead.

Brazilwood:  This is hard to come by these days and has become very expensive.  If you can get some, do!   It gives gorgeous colors and the wood chips can be used multiple times until exhausted.   This was one of my favorite dyes to use because of the wide range of colors it yielded.

Cochineal:  This is an insect.   Also very expensive these days.    When you buy it, you'll get a packet of dried grayish bugs.   Grind the bugs up to release the dye.    A little goes a very long way - we thought we were going to get medium shades of red and we got very very very dark shades.   This is a dyebath that will yield many exhaust baths, so prep lots of yarn. 

Logwood:   Another tree Haematoxylum campechianum  yields great color.  We were shooting for lavenders, but got lots of gray.    It's possible that we were using too much dye or the pH was wrong.     The alpaca in the photo above showed the best color variation for this dye.

Where to buy natural dyes?   A lot of these dyes can be found near you - collect them from the wild.  Remember to ask permission before you go into someone's field or yard to gather something. 

For the more exotic dyes you can get great natural dye kits and extracts from Earthues and dry dyestuff from  Dharma Trading Company.  

A couple of things to remember:

• Natural dyeing is not precise.    You won't get the same color twice.   That's why synthetic dyes were invented.   
• Natural dyeing is not necessarily safe or organic.   Stick to alum and tartaric acid or cream of tartar if you want safe mordants.   Wear gloves.
• Prep plenty of fiber so that you can exhaust the dyebath completely - you'll get a lot of shades that way. 
• Natural dyeing is a long process.  Give yourself plenty of time. 
• In order to get even color over your fiber, you'll need to stir.  However!  Stirring can cause felting with protein fibers so have a plan for gentle swishing and don't be surprised if the fibers come out streaky.   

Good luck!   And keep us posted on your own dye experiments.

Comfrey: Part 2, Medicinal Herb

Comfrey [Symphytum officinale or a hybrid of it] is a fabulous plant to keep around the house.   It's beautiful and extremely useful.

As I mentioned last week, we inherited a couple of these plants and I was thrilled when I realized what they were.   I planted them in several areas and they've volunteered in others.

It is native to Europe and is now widespread both there and here in North America, where it was brought by early settlers and where it no doubt did a lot of healing.

Comfrey grows into a casual clump of stalks about 3 feet tall.   It blooms in pink or blue clusters that uncurl from the top of the plant.   There are several cultivars that are highly prized garden specimens - Vita Sackville-West had a whole long walk lined with a shorter, bright blue variety at Sissinghurst. 

The leaves are long, faintly crinkled and hairy.   Don't let the prickly hairs keep you from using it.  

Comfrey is not a fussy plant.   It'll grow wherever you put it.   If it gets dry, the leaves will pout and perhaps even begin to dry and crumble around the edges, but, like hostas, it takes a lot of punishment and doesn't die easily.

It transplants easily - just dig up a bit of an existing plant.   If you try to move it, then make sure you dig up all of the root, because it will come back if you leave even a tiny bit.  

Comfrey has been used traditionally as garden compost.  It adds nitrogen and potassium.  Just cut the leaves and toss them in the garden.   The leaves enrich the soil as they break down.  If you want to use it in the garden, but you don't want it to self sow, then make sure you've cut all of the flowering parts off before you toss the rest of the plant in the garden.   It'll volunteer whenever it can. Alternatively, you can make a tea with the leaves [dump them in a bucket with rainwater] and use that to water with. 

Legend has it that comfrey was 'soveriegn in and out' meaning that it was the best healing herb for both internal and external use. 

Modern medicine recommends that it NOT be used internally now.   There is evidence that it can cause liver failure.

There are no warnings against external use and I have had excellent results with it. 

I have used a comfrey poultice to dress all kinds of injuries, including a serious laceration on our dog when he got hit by a car.   Overnight, the skin began to heal rapidly.   You can see a grey film beginning at the edges of the wound - that's new skin.   As long as the wound smells clean and not putrid or rotting, then there's no problem.    Note:  I do not recommend that you use comfrey instead of taking an injured animal to the vet.   We did take the dog to the vet, and then supplemented with our own poultice.  [We kept it on by putting a diaper over the poultice-covered wound.]

After tripping and ramming my kneecap into the edge of a limestone step, we packed my knee in comfrey for the next three days.   I had a deep dent in my kneecap and you can still feel a slight indentation, but the knee healed completely and didn't bruise.   Not kidding!  My other leg had bruises all over it, but the smashed knee didn't bruise.  At all.  I am a huge fan of comfrey poultices on skin injuries.

To make a poultice,  tear off the leaves [I use the older and larger leaves at the bottom of the plant] and crush them with a mortar and pestle.   If you don't have a mortar and pestle, then put them in a ziplock bag and crush them with a hammer.   Crush them long enough that you don't feel the hairy prickles when you put it on your skin.   The plant will ooze and the juice will quickly turn brown.   Comfrey juice stains, so if you use a cloth with your poultice, make sure it's one that you don't mind staining.   Your skin might stain, too, so don't be surprised.   It'll wash off in a day or so.  

I have left poultices on for several hours and even overnight.   Get a fresh one in the morning and before bed.  Take time to clean the wound and do a thorough visual check for infection.

I've used comfrey to make a soothing skin balm by steeping the leaves in hot olive oil and mixing it with lavender oil and beeswax.  Warning - comfrey that is steeping in olive oil smells like something that died...in poop.  That's why I use lavender oil with it - to cover the stink.    Experiment away from critics. 

Comfrey root is also useful.  It is dark - almost black in color.  You can use it fresh, or you can dig it, wash it, and dry it.  It will get very, very tough, so you might want to cut it up before you dry it.   Then, when it is very, very dry, you can grind it up and use it in soaps and things.    I didn't enjoy doing the drying and grinding and my soap wasn't that much improved, so I stopped digging.   Besides, I like my roots in the ground, growing things.   I much prefer to have the leaves to use, especially since the leaves and roots have the same healing properties.

Comfrey: Part 1, Natural Dyeing

Comfrey [Symphytum officinale] is a most useful plant.    We were lucky enough to inherit a couple of wild-ish ones when we moved here.    I say wild-ish because I'm pretty darned sure that the previous owners didn't know what they were, and I know they didn't plant it, but it's not the kind of thing that shows up by itself.   Someone, sometime planted it.

Then it was neglected.  Ignored.  Abused, even.   Poor thing.

But here's the deal:  These things don't die.   They are some of the toughest plants I have ever seen.   Seriously.    When I put in the veg garden, I laid gravel walks.   I dug up one of these that had been in the middle of the path and put 4 inches of gravel on it. 

It lived.   It thrived.  It grew up through the gravel and stayed put.   It didn't die even this summer when it was 9 million degrees and the sun beat down on it for months at a time.    I'd like to be that tough. 

As you can see in the pic above, these are beautiful leafy plants.   They have a wonderful flowers and some day I'll find my photos of them and show you.   Hopefully by the time I write up Comfrey:  Part 2, Medicinal Herb.   Hopefully. 

We used comfrey leaves in our natural dye study group to see what kind of color we could get. 

The pics aren't great, but they give you an idea of what we got.   Lovely sage greens and tan!

Notice that the samples on the left are a lot lighter than the samples on the right.   You're looking at the difference between how this particular dye takes on cellulose fibers [left] and protein fibers [right].    With comfrey, it makes a big, big difference.     With other dyes, like osage orange, it isn't nearly so noticeable.

The cellulose samples were so light, the only color on there was probably from the mordants.

Next time we try it we're going to use alum acetate to treat the cellulose stuff to get better colors.   Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, the protein fibers look wonderful.   [They're greener in person than they are in the pic - a beautiful sage-y green.]

Comfrey dyes more than just fibers.  I've been reading up on using natural stuff to color hand made soap with and comfrey is the most recommended material to use for green.   Here's a tutorial at soap-making-resource.com.  

By the way, if you haven't looked at Jenny Dean's Wild Color website, go there now!   You'll find a wealth of great information and beautiful colors from all kinds of natural dyes.