A dye bundle was made with a flower stalk and leaves of lupine on silk shantung with vinegar mordant. A clematis bloom snuck in as I was rolling it up.
Lupine and clematis are two plants I love dearly. They don't grow with abandon here like in some places, but it has been a successful year for them thanks to Sister Rain. I'll miss them when they're all bloomed out, but maybe the cloth will be a memory keeper. We'll see.
Anyone had success with either of these?
Thats interesting that you call it a Lupine. Over here we call them lupins and they were/are a main stay of the traditional english 'cottage' garden.
ReplyDeleteI have never ever had success growing them wherever ive lived. They always get attacked by greenfly! Though my old dad used to grow them and they bloomed for him in all shades and grew tall and elegant.
Will be interesting to see if they share their colour with the fabric.
l was just going to tell you about lupins too! L have also just bundled some clematis..we shall have to compare results!!xlynda
ReplyDeleteLyn, we do pronounce them the same!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping they reseed all over the place -- mine aren't very tall, I can imagine your dad's though -- like in a picture -- just too bad I was born on the wrong continent.
Lynda -- yes! I'll be watching for yours and what color clematis you use and your choice of dye/mordant, too!
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't have either lupine or clematis in our garden to tell you. I think you will get nice color from them. I used vinegar dye method quite a bit while I was in Japan. It was fun - Hugs Nat
ReplyDeleteNat, I hope you talk about using vinegar in Japan on your blog. I always feel like I'm playing it so safe to use vinegar so much! I'd really like to know what you all did with it.
ReplyDeleteLupine is widely used in Iceland as a dye plant. The flowers give a great lime green colour with our any after treatment. some use alkalis to get it more green than yellow. I have used it to dye both wool and silk. The leaves give a more yellow colour.
ReplyDeleteAmbra -- Thank you, that's so interesting, what color are the flowers that give the lime green color? I'm going to unroll this bundle tomorrow. It had grown some mold so I put it in the freezer and it's been out again at room temperature for a few weeks. Soon, I'll see!!
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