Natural Dyeing results

Yay! You can see the variables we encountered with our natural dyeing trials we first mentioned here. We used a beautiful Blue Faced Leicester (pronounced "Lester") and a lustrous Bombyx Silk we'd sourced from vendors in the past (Sorry, don't have the info. to share.) . We used vinegar with each of the dye baths, but also included a copper scrub pad as mordant with all but the 'Golden' Lichen batch.  The herbs were harvest fresh from our property or the neighbor's (lichens) with no chemicals used in their growth...all except the Tumeric and onion peels - those were from Azure Standard.
Our experience only served to challenge our creativity and consider other plants on the property - and others to plant next year. We've been harvesting mosses and other lichens that the winds are bringing down and with further reading we're learning about the color potential of some of the bark and leaves on our property. Reading a biography of George Washington Carver only further stirs our imagination, considering every God-given color around us. If Mr. Carver could create dyes with peanuts, sweet potatoes and clays...we'll certainly enjoy the outcome of our many plant experiments.
Another pleasing outcome has been learning the herbal dyes leave a naturally sweet odor in the fiber. Like fresh air after a cleansing rain...

  I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune Him in.   - George Washington Carver