After all that experimenting with natural dyes I thought I could also try solar dyeing. Seems fun and easy: get some plant material, water and some mordanted wool. Mix all the above in a jar (I have a 3 l one) and let it in the sun for at least 2 weeks or how long your heart desires. This is the basic recipe, but in my case, I did things a bit different.
I had some avocado skins and pits in the freezer and 100 gr of un-mordanted wool and enough alum solution for it, so I said, ok, let’s do this! I first left the avocado skins and pits to ferment in a jar for about 2 weeks. Then, I added the alum solution and the wool to the jar and left it on the balcony. Then I forgot about it *ups* That was about a month ago.
Yesterday I saw the jar and noticed some mold on the surface of the dyeing bath. Bad!!! Very bad! Mold can influence the colors that you get. So, I ended the experiment, retrieved the wool, wash it and dried it. Theoretically, from avocado skins and pits you should get pinkish, peachy shades. And what did I get? A mix of shades that were anything else BUT pinkish and included also some neon-yellow! I have no idea why this happened but it is in the end not such a bad result. Unexpected ... yes :)
I had some avocado skins and pits in the freezer and 100 gr of un-mordanted wool and enough alum solution for it, so I said, ok, let’s do this! I first left the avocado skins and pits to ferment in a jar for about 2 weeks. Then, I added the alum solution and the wool to the jar and left it on the balcony. Then I forgot about it *ups* That was about a month ago.
Yesterday I saw the jar and noticed some mold on the surface of the dyeing bath. Bad!!! Very bad! Mold can influence the colors that you get. So, I ended the experiment, retrieved the wool, wash it and dried it. Theoretically, from avocado skins and pits you should get pinkish, peachy shades. And what did I get? A mix of shades that were anything else BUT pinkish and included also some neon-yellow! I have no idea why this happened but it is in the end not such a bad result. Unexpected ... yes :)
