natural dyeing part two.

serendipitous pattern in the indigo during oxidization

and...part two, the fabric!  a combination of cotton and cotton/linen fabrics were used, and some ran through the dyes with the yarn in the very first dye batch resulting in super intense, relatively darker colors.  if you find yourself experimenting with natural dyeing in the future, burgess' book is a big help but i've found it's best if used only as a guide.  there are a number of natural dyes not covered in the book that i used such as cutch, alkanet and sandalwood, but there are a variety of resources online such as dharma and this site that can help with figuring out the quantity needed depending on how much stuff you're dying.  i also found that i preferred the lighter, muted shades of each dye rather than its brighter, more intense "true" shade - much of that will come with experimenting with different ratios of dyestuff to fabric and type of fabric than what will typically be relayed in the book.  just something to keep in mind.

left to right: madder first batch, madder later batches, alkanet

left to right: indigo later batches, indigo first batch

left to right: cutch first batch, cutch later batch, sandalwood first batch

left to right: indigo later batch overdyed with cutch, indigo later batch overdyed with madder

i also dyed a ton of little muslin bags i'd bought ages ago, this will hopefully serve as the packaging for some jewelry i hope to release in the next few months (more info about that when the time draws nearer).

left to right: madder, indigo, indigo + madder, indigo, indigo + cutch, cutch, madder

and since one batch of indigo dye goes a long way, i started rummaging through my closet trying to find additional things to dye and came upon this old "sleep shirt" of mine i haven't worn since it was all yucky and stained; one go through the indigo bath and voila, new shirt!  score.

o hai new shirt!