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.

Inspiration

I like to visit art museums and galleries to get ideas I can steal. We went to the Garrett Museum of Art Friday night, to see their current exhibit, "Women Take the Walls". The works by Susan Hensel were made with "digital embroidery".

Chromatic Wave I

When I saw the following piece, I thought to myself, I can do something like that with my imperfect inkle bands. The question is, Will I?

Seed Pods

Seed Pods, detail

Dyeing: I tried sun dyeing - put 400g of sunflower heads (before seeds had formed) into a glass container, covered them with tap water, and left it all in the sun for a couple of days. (I forgot the part about boiling the water before pouring it over the flowers.) The results just look murky. I'll ask about sun dyeing and dyeing with sunflowers at the natural dyeing workshop next weekend.

Before sunbathing

Knitting: I did rip back about 50 rows to fix the buttonhole problem. Then I performed the increase row too soon, so had to back out of that as well. Now I have scrap yarn in both the buttonhole band and where the increases occur, to remind me.
Spinning: It doesn't take long to forget how to do something: I tried my hand at core spinning "art yarn" again, but I seem to have lost my touch.
Weaving: The inkle band is off the loom, but I am not very happy with it, so it may be used to suspend a houseplant. This was also a case of forgetting - after a few days of not weaving, I struggled with my technique for maintaining straight selvages.

My schedule seems to be opening up a bit, so I am finding more time for fiber arts. I'm also trying to physically rearrange a few things to make my work spaces more conducive to, well, actually working. I'm never organized enough.