You would think that green would be an easy color to obtain when using green leaves for your dye. Not so; I've spent many days experiementing with green aspen leaves, carrot tops, yarrow and others. And the closest I've come has been this yellow, slightly green shade.
I guess I should mention that I have obtained some lovely green when doing an eco print of a leaf. I guess because the dye is directly transferred in a concentrated manner to the fabric. When suspended in water you get a more diluted effect. The following picture shows yellow cottonwood and aspen leaves bundled and tied and steeped in a carrot top bath. Kind of the same yellow green.
In another dyeing session I made a bath of yellow and red onions and got a golden brown. On a whim I decided to add a little alum and it turned a dark brown. Didn't like that so why not add some vinegar. It went back to a more dijon mustard color. So I steeped some habotai that was tyed with rubber bands for a couple of hours and left it to dry overnight. And the result was the greenest I have yet to get. I wasn't trying for green. I wanted a more golden color. So the moral of this story is to quit trying so hard and be happy with whatever magic happens. I truly love all of the colors that I have obtained, so in the end it really doesn't matter.
The next few phots are of random pieces. First is a cold bundle of lavender sweet peas, yellow and red nastursiums, pink petunias and parsley. Didn't get any of the flower colors but I did get this lovely mottled effect that I may go on to try some eco prints on. Trying to build layers of depth here.
This one is gambel oak. Didn't get any prints just this brown mottling.
Another oak bath piece tied and steep for two hours and then left for a week.
On to color---The following are all silk (habotai or dupioni) soaked in a cold blueberry bath. First one I added vineger, last two I added alum.
That's all for now.
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