Natural Dyes: Our First Attempt

After much hemming and hawing, my friends Adrienne and Michelle helped me finally set up a miniature dyeing studio in my very small, urban backyard. It consists of a single burner bought at Long's, a bunch of buckets, a pot, mason jars, and rubber gloves. I love it!

The first night we mordanted the yarn in alum. We used hand-spun bluefaced leicaster.


We chose to use the double boiler method -- that way we could use three different colors: madder (red), logwood (grey), and onion skins (yellow).


The dye pot boiled for an hour at 200 degrees.


Tomorrow, we will wash the dyed wool and hang it to dry.