Some Ecodyeing

Mu studio is in the attic and I turn the heat off or down on most nights.  Yesterday, while it was heating up, I decided to play with some plant material I put in my freezer two years ago.  I wondered if I could still get any color out of any of it.

Experiment #1 included frozen red rose petals, a piece of metal I unearthed in my garden, some tea bits and acorns.  I spritzed this with vinegar before I got started.

Experiment #2 included frozen rose petals, zinnia flower heads and petals, and avocado skins + pit, tea bits and acorns.  I didn't do any pre-treatment to this cloth.

My studio may have been heated up already, but I let the bundles stew for about an hour and a half.  I flipped them every 15-20 minutes so they'd have a relatively even steam throughout.  Clearly the petals still had some color to "give".

Here's Experiment #2, after I opened it up from steaming.

And here are the two colors after I rinsed them in cold water in which I had dissolved a bit of baking soda.  Presto chang-o!  Where did that purple and blue come from?

These are pictures of the wet cloth.  When I have a moment, I'll iron the dry fabric and post pictures.  I'm sure they'll be softer in color, but what fun!

I have to remember to harvest plant material from my garden again.  To that end, I started my lichen collection this morning.  I had no idea lichen gives off color too.