Cloth from the Walnut Pot. The left side is soft cotton cloth, walnut and rust. It took three FULL days to get to this silvery grey with dark rusty spots. I can do this in 20 minutes in the steamer on the stove with just a few household ingredients so no need for walnuts for this silvery grey color. I had hoped for more but now think plain white cloth is the wrong substrate for walnut. The green cloth. Was (still is) a good quality commercial cotton of a most obnoxious acid yellow. Purchased when I was buying intense color cloth. I came across it in the basket and shuddered. Now, I love it.
I washed it with Dawn and hot water, rinsed it and wrapped it around a fresh new tin can. Added rubber bands and tucked in dark brown onion skins. Only a few hours in the walnut pot- it was ice cold when I put the cloth covered can into the pot (pot is in the garage and it's 30 degrees in the garage) and set the pot on high. I also added plain water to cover the can diluting the mixture even more. I came back after 3 hours and took it out- it was very, very dark but I knew that was "fake news." It washed out to this very interesting green cloth. Parts of it are much darker than others (notice the small square cut out) and rubber bands left faint markings that look like stripes. The brown onion skins always leave a golden "glow" on cloth and I just love that.
Going forward with the walnut pot--I am going to be cooking commercial cloth. Giving some of the ugly ducklings a chance to shine. And using more rubber bands. So much better than string.
The word that came to me- about the walnut process- Ameliorate. To make or grow better. To improve. I don't know where that came from- never used the word before- it just appeared and I wrote it down and looked it up in Websters this morning. Strange but true.
So...now I am going up into the Magic Attic to look for other ugly, "hurts my eyes" colored cloth and will tuck them one at a Time in the Walnut Pot and ameliorate them.
I am just very very happy with this new green cloth. Spring Cloth. And I will try to Ameliorate myself as well. Happy Day Light Savings Time.
"Ameliorate" is an excellent word. I have brought a few truly ugly things back to usability with indigo or other natural dyes. Walnut is enticing.
ReplyDeleteWell these are terrific markings on your cloths. I only use white cotton cloth and get very good results when naturally dyeing, especially with walnut so I don't know what to suggest to you Joanne. There have been a few times when I have dyed with colored cloth but the results for me were murky and there is something so gratifying to me about taking white cloth and completely changing it with natural dyes. I mainly use recycled white cotton cloth from napkins, pillow cases, sheets, tablecloths, skirts and blouses from thrift stores. On occasion I have been gifted special white organic cotton remnants from a wonderful quilter to use.
ReplyDeleteAs I've mentioned before, I'm not a conventional dyer in that I don't use the stove very much preferring to let the sun heat my dye solutions. The hardest thing for me to learn, especially when using walnuts was to let the pot with cloth just sit for anywhere from a week to two weeks.
Marti- I think when it gets warmer and I set the pot of walnuts and cloth out in the sunshine- and wait for weeks for something to happen- I will (might) get the rich browns that I want. I purchased an old iron pot at goodwill for just this purpose. I must wait for a few more months and until then I will use the walnuts in the pot to over dye the bizarre bright colored fabrics that I own.
ReplyDeleteI, too, prefer to use well loved and tender linen and cotton cloth for the dye pot. There isn't much of the old table linens that there used to be. But I have a tub of old cloth up in the Attic. Waiting for me to become proficient. in the eco dye practices.