sample dyeing

with Xanthoria Parietina, on the left and eucalyptus leaves from a tiny shrub in my garden. I planted it last year, one in the ground and one in the pot. Both have survived, but while the first thrived the other struggled. I snipped the tops so that they grow wider rather than taller and the few leaves found their way to the dyeing pot. The color at the start was pastel yellow and later turned duller, perhaps due to present tannins. The paler is unmordanted, the more yellow is mordanted merino.

The lichen extract took very long time to dye fibres with, so long that all the dyebath evaporated. Now I remember reading it takes several hours to dye with it. This sample I did after 10 days, the color is very pleaseing salmon/coral no matter whether dyeing mordanted or unmordanted fibre. I am going to wait now for at least another 20 days before dyeing with the rest as I don’t want to waste so much energy just for little samples.

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