Natural Dye Journal – Entry 2 – Continuing with Black-Eyed Susan

The Black-Eyed Susans are still in full bloom, allowing us a second harvest.

-Dye vat with dye-ables was heated and cooled twice over the course of 24 hours.

After leaving the dye bath, the fiber was soaked in wood ash for approximately 2 hours.

Below you will find a list of the items used for the wood ash post-soak process:

5 gallon bucket

2-ish gallons of water

wood ash from bonfire

12″ square piece of cloth

1 pony tail holder

- Pour a decent amount of the wood ash into the center of the square piece of cloth.

- Using the pony tail holder (or rubber band), tie up the cloth into a sealed pouch.

- Soak pouch in bucket of water, gently squeeze pouch of wood ash.

Fabric was pre-soaked in Soda Ash from Dharma Trading Company.

** soon we will be using Alum as a pre-soak, and suggest using this instead of Soda Ash if you have access to it**

- After wood ash post-soak, fabric/fiber was removed and washed in cool water with mild soap.

Dye-ables:

5 different varieties of all natural fabrics ranging from

Cotton canvas to soy/cotton knit – approximately 1 yard total

Cria alpaca and senior citizen llama fiber – 50 yards total

Dye Strength:

2 lbs Black-Eyed Susan flowers

Here is a snapshot of the cornucopia of greens that have emerged.

**For more information about alum and other mordant options, Earthues is a great resource: