Dyeing with sunflowers

Most of my natural dye experiments result in shades of yellow and green, and sunflowers were no exception. I poured boiling water over 250g of sunflower blossoms (in a glass container), then let the mixture steep in the sunshine for two days. The resulting dye bath was the color of weak tea.

All three skeins had been previously mordanted with alum using the cold alum method outlined in the book I rely on the most, Wild Color. I simmered them in the dye bath for about 45 minutes (I think). As you can see, the result was a dull pale yellow (on the left), which brightened up after an alkali afterbath (middle) and saddened after an iron afterbath (on the right). I wish I had dyed a fourth skein, so I could have seen what happened with an acid afterbath.

One thing I learned from the natural dye workshop I attended a couple of Saturdays ago is that I tend to not use enough dye material. This time the dye stuff was more than twice the weight of the yarn, but the color is not saturated without afterbaths to modify it.