Yesterday I dyed some fabric with my vat of sumac/larvae soup. It went well, though it wasn't quite as enjoyable as dying with goldenrod because of the larvae. They were disgusting, and there were lots of them. And not being at the cottage and doing it in an apartment with no outside hose or backyard was somewhat awkward. Ugh, scooping out the dead bugs and sumac bits was yuck. But, in the end, it all was worth it- look at that nice soft brown colour!! The Burr House guide to natural dying says the colour (when pre mordanted with alum) will be golden copper. Is that golden copper? I'd say no. But that's the joy of natural dying- the colour can be a bit of a surprise.
FYI, the fabric on the left is 100% cotton, and the one on the right is a cotton/linen blend. Clearly the cotton picks up the colour the best.
Anyone else want to dye with sumac? I have a pot of sumac dye bath sitting on my back porch. I put so much effort into making it that I don't want to toss it yet.
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5 comments:
what an awesome brown shade you got! i haven't tried sumac to dye yet, but now i want to!
thanks karyn! give it a try, its fun. but again, watch out for gross bugs.
Kate, how does the colour stay? have you washed it yet? Do you need to do anything special to set the colour?!
I am really interested in trying this. It has been something I've been wanting to do for a while!
I used alum as a mordant and it produced the brown colour I got. I washed it after dying it, and the colour stayed. I suggest reading "Indigo Madder and Marigold" by Trudy Van Stralen. In it, she says that for sumac you actually don't even need a mordant since it has acidic properties which set the colour itself. But adding mordants can intensify the colour and improve fastness. I think the colour I got from the sumac would have been a softer beige if I hadn't used the alum. Also, if you use iron as a mordant with sumac you can get a gorgeous soft grey colour. I think you can make your own iron mordant by using rusty/non-rusty nails at some point in the process (I'd google that).
Hope that helps! I think the picklebee society was contemplating having a natural dye day at some point, possibly the end of September. That would be fun!
Thanks Kate. I really am interested. I'd be up for a natural dye day. Lets do it. Jesse's parents live on a big farm, so I am sure we could find some things to use....
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