I’ve been using these hot days lately to do a bit of solar dyeing. Some of it rust and some of it naturals. Picked up some appropriate fiber (cotton/silk) items at the local thrift shop last week and have been enjoying the surprises that arise when you open up a dyed bundle.
On some clothing I used some of the wild black cherries that have been dropping onto our deck for the past month. They have been super abundant this summer (what does the tree know that we don’t?) – we’ve been squishing them underfoot a lot and some little critter/s have been gnawing them to bits, including the tiny seed inside. I’m assuming it was a raccoon that overdosed on the cherries last week – a couple interesting piles of scat were left.
On silk and with vinegar, the cherries produce a lovely deep
blue-black which stays after washing. On cotton, the cherries leave a quite lovely rosy color with just vinegar and a more ruddy color with tannin (used some osage orange tannin I had on hand). Both of those shades faded to predictable grays in the wash water, but still lovely.
Some of the thrift shop items were just rust dyed mostly using steel wool. And I have some thrift shop items that I want to mud first before dyeing.