Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Enjoying My Dye Garden at Home - My Work

Even though the Eco-Dye unit is over with my students, I still find myself completely enthralled with the possibilities and continue to collect flowers and leaves, much to my husband's dismay (since they are every surface drying out  LOL)

Anyways, my most recent experiment was with geranium petals and birch leaves and twigs.  I also threw in some sunflower petals I'd been saving.  Oh, and a few weeds I pulled from my garden (they had reddish roots which had a promise of color) 
So I bundled it all together and put it in a copper pot with a bit of vinegar water and let it sit out in the elements for about a month (yes, it was really hard to wait that long :)

The front side.
I was super pleased with the results when I opened it up, but now I'm so scared to wash it.  Don't know if the great color will hold.  Any suggestions?  
The red geraniums turned a wonderful purple, and the birch a rich earthy green.  The sunflowers petals and weeds didn't do a heck of a lot, but there is evidence here and there.

The back side.
My favorite part is on the back left shoulder where the birch mingles with the geraniums for a great elongated pattern. 

  Wish me luck on the laundering! 

1 comment:

  1. Wow - that is really cool! I wonder if you could set the dyes with a hot iron before washing? Looking forward to seeing the results.

    ReplyDelete