My friend taught me to sample natural dyes by putting 1/2 oz. skeins in qt. canning jars & pop them into a canner on the rack. (Of course it's separate from my food canner.) I'm making a tapestry of the samples with the columns of no mordant/alum/tin/copper/iron. The different plant materials are the rows.
On the walnut tree issue, it's worth noting that there are quite a few plants that actually fare well next to them. A few I know of that are also said to make good dyes include marigolds, black eyed susans, hollyhocks, yarrow, beets, onions, iris, sunflowers, ironweed, and many others.
Honestly using buckthorn is awesome! As an incredibly invasive shrub, i think it's great stewardship to use invasives so they aren't totally wasted while also removing it! also greatly appreciate that you were careful to not accidentally spread the berries! Much love from an environmental scientist â€ïž
Black walnut causes problems for many plants because of juglone. Look into vertical planters to avoid the poison. Because of lack of space, I use the Greenstalk planter. I will be starting a dye garden in the Spring.
Lol, I love your âferal catâ simile. It really does feel like taking a shot in the dark! Iâm so glad you shared some of your dyeing experiments and tips with us! I admire your dyeing skills so much!! An interesting project Iâm interested in trying soon (and maybe you might be too?) is creating dye pots from locally foraged clay. Turns out the natural metal salts (mordants) in the clay can affect the tone of your dye - so you can give all your natural dyes a local flair and use your natural soil as a sustainable mordant! Isnât that insane!? Iâm so excited to give it a shot - and to take some inspiration from your dye garden ideas. Sending you all the best!!
Ooooh! I've been wanting to try making pottery from foraged clay and firing them in the back yard. There's a youtuber I watch that does that. I'm sure a quick search will turn him up--his content is endlessly fascinating if you haven't found him--"Andy Ward's Ancient Pottery." He shows a ton of ancient pottery techniques. Gosh, even if I never do it, I'll never tire of watching someone else do it! Ha! I'm such a nerd!
@@jenthulhu lol, I too am a total nerd! Thank you so much for the channel recommendation! I love a good olde historical approach to pretty much anything! I will definitely be trying it out this winter season to keep myself from going stir crazy.
You can also use walnuts for natural dyeing. My parents have a few walnut trees and have the same issues with planting other things. One of these years I need to ask my parents to save some walnuts for me to attempt to dye with *edit to add the e to dyeing
I am in Germany, and we have a guest house, so we have lots of onion skins, Avocado and red cabbage. Also we are in a wine village and I can get the left over grape trester. I love trying out the different colours.
Onion skins are great and stable dye, however red cabbage and avocado are 100% fugitive (non-permanent). Grapes are an unstable dye (aka stain). If you want vibrant, permanent colours, choose rhubarb root, marigolds, goldenrod, oak bark, weld, cochineal etc.
A dyegarden is such a frustrating project! My woad did grow but then I went on a holiday and when I came back home it was completely eaten by snails... So no woad for me. So I've been dyeing mostly with what was already in my garden: walnuts, oak leaves, continus leaves, stinging nettles and Ivy. But one day! One day I'll have my woad, even if I have to guard it from snail 24/7 đ
I think itâs a beautiful colour!. I normally get boring beige or bright yellow from foraged dyestuff unless I use different mordants or after modifiers. And green is usually quite difficult without over dyeing yellow with the more difficult indigo or woad. So all good! â€
Just an aside: Buckthorn is a big family! In California we have native buckthorns: California Buckthorn (or Coffeeberry) and Ceanothus. I've never tried dyeing with it but my Ida Grae book says that it makes a light to medium green. Hmm. I will definitely try it sometime!
California buckthorn is actually a different genus! It used to be considered a Rhamnus, but is now classified as a Frangula, so it is not as closely related to common buckthorn as previously thought :)
Thanks you so much for your link to the old dye book. I will get a good look at it. I love natural dyeing, it makes me so happy. It is a always a suprice how it turns out. So the first thing in never to expect a color, just let it suprice you. That makes a lot of difference đ The Japanese indigo will grow new roots from clippings. That is how I get a abundant crop from just one plant. Clip a sturdy "stem" and it will root in a little bit of water within a week or so. So harvesting the stems for new plants and the leaves for cold water dyeing. Pick the very fresh leaves put them in a blender and add some very cold water. Mix it quickly and siff the dye matter from the liquid. Add washed yarn or wool and put it in the cold liquid. (You can keep it in the fridge for a couple of hours) . It will give you a soft seeblue. That will darken with every fresh leave dye. You don't need lots and lots of leaves though. And no mordant needed. My experience with weld it that it will only grow in fresly disturbed ground. I had it grow better in my gravel path than my dye garden. For a nice easy dyeplant try coreopsis. It is easy to grow and gives lotts and lots of orangey colors from yust a handfull of flowers. Happy holidays.
Thats interesting result. I did not let my buckthorns to ferment and did let them stay whole. With my test mini skein and rowing I got bright lime green. Will continue trying to reach blue next autumn.
Try using tulle fabric To protect young seedlings or young plants by covering them up squirrels and chipmunks do not like the mesh fabric because they can get their claws in tangled in it and the plants will still get plenty of sun and air to grow
Sounds like you have enough catnip for toys & tea for the rest of the decade. It will dry well and your fur babies will love you for it. The best way to keep it from over running your garden/yard/etc. is to put the roots inside a tin can so they can't spread. Then plant the can with a little ridge above the soil.
I'm a little late to the party, but a word on Japanese indigo; you can grow it as an annual! Also, indigo is one of the few dye plants that can be used fresh and without a mordant. Here's how: 1) Take a bunch of indigo leaves and the material that you want to dye. Use enough leaves to completely cover the material. 2) Add a good few tablespoons of salt to the leaves, and start massaging the leaves and material. You can't "oversalt" this mixture, since the point of this is just to draw the water out of the indigo leaves. Use as much salt as you see fit! 3) Add more leaves if they wilt too much and leave the material exposed. Keep massaging and massaging until your material is completely saturated. 4) Expose your freshly dyed material to air. Indigo turns blue only when exposed to air, since it oxidizes. If it's not blue enough for you, keep massaging in the leaves. I hope this helps someone haha
Very interesting video đ Concerning fermented food; itâs very healthy for most people, but for us with histamine intolerance, itâs poison. I learned this the hard way and became very ill. If I had kept on eating it, I would have became totally bedridden. Lucky I realized the cause of my illness. đ
I live in germany and I never saw black / bluish buckthorn, only bright orange / yellow ones with red tones in it. You can consume the bright ones, it has way more vit c, than oranges for example or peppers. It is called the "lemon of the north" where I live. But the black ones, as I just googled, cause diarreha and stuff. But it is the one for dying something. So interesting
Yes! Buckthorn berries are one of the most popular berries in Russia - I've had buckthorn ice cream there, and bought buckthorn-flavored chapstick. It's delicious as well as really good for you. I wish I could grow it, but I'm in New England, and have never found it in the wild.
Hi, ich hab das auch grad nachgeguckt weil Google meinte mit Sanddorn ĂŒbersetzen zu wollenâŠdas stimmt natĂŒrlich nicht! Sie hat ja im Video die Spezies erwĂ€hnt, und wenn du mal Faulbaum auf Wikipedia nachschaust findste da 2 Spezies, einen von denen ist im Video gezeigt worden, und die andere kenn ich aus gepflanzten Heckenanlagen mit rot/schwarzen BeerenâŠda kann man sicher auch mal den LandschaftsgĂ€rtner anhauen ob der einem Bescheid gibt bevor der Radikalschnitt gemacht wird.
@@lynnm6413 verstĂ€ndlich. Ich hab offenbar irgendwie blöd gegooglet, vielleicht einfach nur die Ăbersetzung, weiĂ nciht mehr, aber ich hatte die Info nicht gefunden. Aber so spannend
This is so cool!! And you weren't too late at all- the "time of St. Michael" would be Michaelmas, observed Sept. 29th in the Western European tradition, or Nov 8th if you're in Eastern Europe. Fermenting dye baths is super fun, I love doing kitchen ferments too. Stinging nettle is edible and makes a lovely dye (and spinning fiber for the patient) but if it's invasive in your area I'd suggest growing it in pots. The yarn looks great!
That green is very similar to a color from a local indie dyer that I love. I consider it a neutral of sorts because itâs gorgeous with grape jelly purples, Royal blues, reds/oranges/yellows, mustard/brown/rust, etc.
Thank you for sharing your experience with this process! I found it fascinating, and that green you got from the buckthorn đđđ absolutely stunning.
You are my twin! I have been binge watching your channel and I have sauerkraut fermenting on my channel right now, watched your barbie video and we liked the same things as children. It is REALLY uncanny. I am watching you because I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to spin and I only recently learned that I can. Working on getting a hand spinner AND some fiber.
This is really interesting! I just did my first dyeing with cranberries after seeing a house painted with them. I harvest cranberries, so supplying those was not a problem, but I did them unmortanted, and am just waiting to see if their is any fade
I just laid hands on a whole lot of Alder Buckthorn berries to do this. Earlier in the spring, I had gotten a whole lot of cambrium scrapings to work with. The berries were much more interesting. I got a lovely deep moss green with it. If you want to really get into Natural Dying, get a hold of Jenny Dean's book Wild color. Very accurate in my experience. I love to know how to get a blue out of them.. As an fyi: should you persuade your Japanese Indigo to survive the winter indoors, it can be broken into pieces about 3 joints big and rooted before putting them back outside. they root from each joint.
I would highly recommend looking at Jenny Deanâs natural dyeing books, perhaps the most highly rated and recognised natural dyer here in the Uk, although the plants she uses are more uk based, she certainly includes Buckthorn, with most plants available in the US and Canada as well.
i'm 80% done knitting myself a setesdal inspired jacket in fingering weight superwash in the round... ijust learned that superwash is not advised for jumpers and big knits, steeking and that it grows 30% of it's size whilst blocking... i already found the project a bit looser than imagined and i hoped to slim it down a bit during blocking... well now i'm gonna research a yarn i'm not used to using before spending 2 weeks 8hrs a week on a project i've been wanting to wear for almost two years... (i also made a sew - in hem rather than a tubular ede because i prefer the look of it but it's probably gonna look real stupid when it's gonna be litteraly twice my size and all of the cold air inn the world is gonna sweep freely underneath this glorified sleeved cape smh) mind you i don't even care for the advantages of superwash, i wouldn't have minded a stiffer fabric, i don't plan on washing it more than absolutely necessary ( the metal clasps kinda scare me) and it's pretty much always gonna be worn over a shirt of some kind on the good side i just noticed that i tend to knit my sleeves shorter and skinnier than i should and i have plenty of yarn left to knit a 30s pullover (i would probably wash more often, than could benefit from that synthetic-ish look but with the actual confort of wool and i will calculate for the 1 FRIDGING THIRD of growth it'll gain) i want to make a whole evolution of jumper-like european garments from the late middle ages to to-day, à la Roxanne Richardson, superwash (mine is about 1,50⏠a hank of yarn) might be a nice supstitution to silk for me to make those 17th century jacquard undershirt from the danish and norwegian traditions
I love this color, I think it will go very well as an accent color between white/light and darkbrown wool, maybe for another weaving technique, I enjoy those because I can follow along without having to have bulky equipment in my 1 room basement apartmentâŠlol I am a Brown haired, olive twisted lass and this sort of green if used as an accent is a beautiful highlight in a lot of my brown wardrobe.
Don't give up on the Japanese Indigo! I live in northern WI and have had great success growing it (and it self-seeds for the next season). So far, just fresh leaf dyeing projects, but this might be the year to try a vat. Thanks for all your great content!
Lovely colour. I recently made up 3 different dyes from avocado skins and stones. Have so far coloured 1 ball of fingering. will need to get some more fingering to do sonme more dying. It is interesting to see what the wool colour is once finished. I have go some baby Indigo seeds in the garden - fingers crossed that they grow and that i get to harvest fordying.
I love buckthorn, I got a lovely bright mustard yellow on some wool fabric from the bark, and I still have some left that I'm going to try and ferment for a reddish shade!
Maybe freezing your Buckthorn berries for a week or two first might soften them. This is what you can do with Sloe berries before making Sloe Gin. It mimics what the frost would do naturally and splits the skin and softens the fruit to allow more of the juice out.
I left my comment before I saw the bit about harvesting them before the first frost. I imagine that it changes the colour that you get from the berries, maybe?
Oscar the Grouch is the colour you got! Can't wait to see what you get from the stems and leaves. And the fermentation is an interesting concept, I wonder if that might make some of my very fugitive but pretty dyes stick around longer...
Great video! hahaha I told people one monday that I had taken a natural dyeing class on the weekend and they reported me to HR as potentially depressed. It really does sound terrible spoken out loud.
the final color is gorgeous!! I was worried at first because it reminded me of goose poop đ But it turned out really amazing and I can't wait to see other dyeing adventures!
What a gorgeous color! I wonder if Rhamnus purshiana (common name Cascara) could be used to the same effect, coming from the same genus as Rhamnus cathartica. Cascara bark can be used as a medicinal laxative too, but only after allowing the bark to age for a year because it's that strong... It's also native to western North America from southern B.C. to northern California so it could make a non-invasive alternative for west side friends đ Looking forward to experimenting with this, thank you for the idea!
That floor you made would be highly prized by Crewe embroiderers! Also, it would be gorgeous in a scarf or sweater with a nice, rich maple red and pumpkin orange!
đđđđ I love the chemistry with natural dyes. Cabin Boy Knits is a natural dye fiend. He's a magician. đ This is one of my favorite videos đ€đ€đ€ I'm going to try and grow some flax and cotton at my mom's farm next year, she talked about planting a few dye plants! She's into weaving now and is intrigued. :)
I thoroughly enjoyed this video Evie. Well done! Full of info and learning gems! I can totally see this buckthorn berry colour worked into a gorgeous argyle pattern with your (successfully harvested ;-) indigo and a natural yarn. I'm loving this natural dye journey- hoping this is a first of many future successes for you.
I tried dyeing with red cabbage once or twice. It was fun but unfortunately I've never been able to get the purple I was going for. It always came out green. I had a lot of luck dyeing with onion skins though. Those mini skeins came out beautifully
In order to get purple, your dye bath has to be a neutral pH--neither acidic (low on the pH scale--below 7) or alkaline (high on the pH scale--above 7). Your pH was so high (alkaline) that it activated both the anthocyanin to make it blue AND believe it or not--anthoxanthin--a yellow pigment also present in red cabbage. I'm curious if your water is very alkaline or if you added something to mordant that shifted the pH? I don't know what mordant is normally used with red cabbage. If it's alum, it usually shifts the pH lower, not higher, but I'm not a chemist and something else might be going on there.
@@jenthulhu The water here is extremely hard. It makes fabric dyeing an experience. I used the pH kit but clearly did something wrongđ€·ââïž In chemistry class during an experiment I made some lime green crystals. The teacher said he'd never seen that happen before. He was impressed but I swear I followed the directions. I came to terms with this particularly strange super power I have. I used to rinse out the milk jugs & set them in the recycling bin & they would get a suspicious lime green liquid in them too.
@@tashacano3324 Oh my goodness! I used to live in West Lafayette, Indiana and the water there was similar to what you describe--without the strange green liquid! For future consideration, you can usually buy distilled or reverse osmosis water at grocery or big box stores for about $1 a gallon. If you dyed using that water, you might be able to get your purple. That said, when I lived in Indiana we had a water softener so I didn't have to clean stagmites off every sink, toilet, and shower every week. And I also invested in a reverse osmosis system for under my kitchen sink with a special spigot. I can't remember how much that cost, but I remember thinking it was worth every single penny--however, I'm picky about water, LOL! Fun to chat with you about this. These sort of topics that combine my love of fiber with my love of science kind of make me cuckoo with nerdiness. I love it so much! :D
@@jenthulhu I like the idea of chemistry but that's about it. I wing it too much for me to be successful with itđ I live with my parents & they absolutely refuse to put in a water softening system.
I recently came across mushroom dyeing!!! That's another one I want to try. Iv done catkins off my trees for a pink color. I'm excited to see what comes of your other plants. Try putting some fertilizer on your indigo. Less nitrogen more phosphates and potash
Such a nice color! Thank you for recommending people not plant this species of buckthorn in areas where it is not native. I agree that it is just bad stewardship of the land to plant it in the Americas. However, there are some American species of buckthorn, which makes me wonder if this would be worth exploring! We have a native variety on our land, and the birds really love the berries. It might be fun to try a few if I can beat the birds to them. đ
I donât know whether you have read this tip b/f, but you can put the dyestuff into a fine mesh bag b/f soaking it to extract the dye. This can greatly decrease the amount of vm floating around in the dye bath. Of course, the little bits of dyestuff need to be bigger than the holes in the bag in order for this to help. I have a question: have you considered using time rather than heat (or even trying solar) to attach the dye to the yarn/fibre? I have very successfully left yarn in bottles to naturally dye outside for weeks/months âŠactually, I just got up to the fermentation bit of the video đ€Łđ€Łđđ
I have had issues with freezing dye stuff. Though I successfully dyed with fresh and canned beets, frozen beets didnât work at all. Hopefully buckthorn wonât have the same issues I had.
Japanese indigo can be propagated by stem cuttings. Itâs one of the fun things I learned when I was trying to get my little plot going. I clipped a couple of my plants and got the cuttings to take root.
This was very interesting đ€ to learn. đĄ idea what about dying from the walnut tree đł? I tried to grow flax here in Idaho, but that didn't go well. I ended up with weeds. My mother had Oregon grape growing in here yarn that I thought đ€ trying to use it's berries as a dye. My nephew removed it before I got some. I also like to try the black walnuts from a tree . Which I heard đ€ it's a nice brown. Also elderberries might be a fun thing to dye with. đ€ Which one of these should you think I might try first? I wonder which one the pioneers used đ€ here in this area? I like đ this video đč.
Lots of things will grow well under walnut trees, but you do need to find plants that are tolerant of juglone toxicity. Juglone is the compound created by the trees that is toxic to a lot of other flora.
Enjoyed this so much, I am not a natural plant dyer but your wool and the skein came out beautiful! Very even for a natural dye. I volunteer at a plantation in Charleston and they do a lot of indigo dyeing since they grew it here historically.
This was great. Although I spend a lot of time watching dying videos (or at least listening while I knit or spin). For now, I'm going to stick to spinning, weaving and knitting. But I will eventually take up dying as well. So please share your natural and acid dying experience.
Has anyone dyed wool with wild elderberry? What color do you think elderberry would đ€ come out? Would it be a bluish in color đ€? I just might have to try it next year.
I discovered your channel a few months ago and have been binge watching your videos since. You are a lovely person, an absolute treasure! You deliver so much great information in such a clear and concise way, while also creating a really relaxed and welcoming feel. I appreciate the work your putting in to sharing knowledge and I look forward to your future videos †(addendum....I am technologically inept and initially added this to someone else's comment đ)
I love the color you got. Is the dye from the berries fugitive? Update us on the longevity of the color. We used walnut sawdust as a mulch in one area of our yard, maybe 20 years ago. Nothing grew there. Unfortunately, my husband later graded this area and dumped the soil into our pile of garden bed soil. Nothing thrives in this soil. I now leave it in a big pile in our pasture, we bury the chicken coop stuff in it. Its the chicken playground. If I ever see weeds start germinating, then I might be willing to try growing in it again. I think of walnut as nature's evil pre-emergent poison.
I'm just curious, you didn't mention scouring your wool first.... I have been experimenting with natural dying and whether it's protein fibers, or cellulose fibers, the rule of thumb is to scour your fibers first. Synthrapol is what most natural dyers use, but any mild pH neutral detergent will do. since I'm just doing experimenting at home, I'm just using a small amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid......I don't know if it would have made a difference in your yarn, but you may want to research that online as well.đ€
Ohmigosh I finally managed to get 5 little Japanese indigo plants to germinate for me last summer and a chipmunk ate every one of the seedlings,! What is up with that?! đżïž
I am having a hard time finding references to darker fabrics. Obviously, cotton and wool are white, but at some point people must have used darker substances for fibre, like deer, moose, reindeer or rabbit fur. Any suggestions?
My friend taught me to sample natural dyes by putting 1/2 oz. skeins in qt. canning jars & pop them into a canner on the rack. (Of course it's separate from my food canner.) I'm making a tapestry of the samples with the columns of no mordant/alum/tin/copper/iron. The different plant materials are the rows.
That sounds really awesome! Please post pics when done. I would love to see that.
Genius! Are you documenting this anywhere? A blog? Social media? I'd love to see! I wish CZcams allowed picture posting...
I enjoy this content. My grandmother born in the 1880's was a weaver, all naturally dyed from the sheep raised on the family farm.
On the walnut tree issue, it's worth noting that there are quite a few plants that actually fare well next to them. A few I know of that are also said to make good dyes include marigolds, black eyed susans, hollyhocks, yarrow, beets, onions, iris, sunflowers, ironweed, and many others.
Honestly using buckthorn is awesome! As an incredibly invasive shrub, i think it's great stewardship to use invasives so they aren't totally wasted while also removing it! also greatly appreciate that you were careful to not accidentally spread the berries! Much love from an environmental scientist â€ïž
â€đ±
Black walnut causes problems for many plants because of juglone. Look into vertical planters to avoid the poison. Because of lack of space, I use the Greenstalk planter. I will be starting a dye garden in the Spring.
Lol, I love your âferal catâ simile. It really does feel like taking a shot in the dark! Iâm so glad you shared some of your dyeing experiments and tips with us! I admire your dyeing skills so much!! An interesting project Iâm interested in trying soon (and maybe you might be too?) is creating dye pots from locally foraged clay. Turns out the natural metal salts (mordants) in the clay can affect the tone of your dye - so you can give all your natural dyes a local flair and use your natural soil as a sustainable mordant! Isnât that insane!? Iâm so excited to give it a shot - and to take some inspiration from your dye garden ideas. Sending you all the best!!
Ooooh! I've been wanting to try making pottery from foraged clay and firing them in the back yard. There's a youtuber I watch that does that. I'm sure a quick search will turn him up--his content is endlessly fascinating if you haven't found him--"Andy Ward's Ancient Pottery." He shows a ton of ancient pottery techniques. Gosh, even if I never do it, I'll never tire of watching someone else do it! Ha! I'm such a nerd!
@@jenthulhu lol, I too am a total nerd! Thank you so much for the channel recommendation! I love a good olde historical approach to pretty much anything! I will definitely be trying it out this winter season to keep myself from going stir crazy.
That color is amazing!
You can also use walnuts for natural dyeing. My parents have a few walnut trees and have the same issues with planting other things. One of these years I need to ask my parents to save some walnuts for me to attempt to dye with
*edit to add the e to dyeing
Yes, walnut trees aren't favorable to other plants. You need another location for your garden.
Would love to see a video of how you ferment your veggies
I am in Germany, and we have a guest house, so we have lots of onion skins, Avocado and red cabbage. Also we are in a wine village and I can get the left over grape trester. I love trying out the different colours.
Onion skins are great and stable dye, however red cabbage and avocado are 100% fugitive (non-permanent). Grapes are an unstable dye (aka stain). If you want vibrant, permanent colours, choose rhubarb root, marigolds, goldenrod, oak bark, weld, cochineal etc.
A dyegarden is such a frustrating project! My woad did grow but then I went on a holiday and when I came back home it was completely eaten by snails... So no woad for me. So I've been dyeing mostly with what was already in my garden: walnuts, oak leaves, continus leaves, stinging nettles and Ivy. But one day! One day I'll have my woad, even if I have to guard it from snail 24/7 đ
What color does stinging nettles make? That stuff is everywhere!
I think itâs a beautiful colour!. I normally get boring beige or bright yellow from foraged dyestuff unless I use different mordants or after modifiers. And green is usually quite difficult without over dyeing yellow with the more difficult indigo or woad. So all good! â€
Just an aside: Buckthorn is a big family! In California we have native buckthorns: California Buckthorn (or Coffeeberry) and Ceanothus. I've never tried dyeing with it but my Ida Grae book says that it makes a light to medium green. Hmm. I will definitely try it sometime!
Your project produced a beautiful color!
California buckthorn is actually a different genus! It used to be considered a Rhamnus, but is now classified as a Frangula, so it is not as closely related to common buckthorn as previously thought :)
Thanks you so much for your link to the old dye book. I will get a good look at it.
I love natural dyeing, it makes me so happy. It is a always a suprice how it turns out. So the first thing in never to expect a color, just let it suprice you. That makes a lot of difference đ
The Japanese indigo will grow new roots from clippings. That is how I get a abundant crop from just one plant. Clip a sturdy "stem" and it will root in a little bit of water within a week or so. So harvesting the stems for new plants and the leaves for cold water dyeing.
Pick the very fresh leaves put them in a blender and add some very cold water. Mix it quickly and siff the dye matter from the liquid. Add washed yarn or wool and put it in the cold liquid. (You can keep it in the fridge for a couple of hours) . It will give you a soft seeblue. That will darken with every fresh leave dye. You don't need lots and lots of leaves though. And no mordant needed.
My experience with weld it that it will only grow in fresly disturbed ground. I had it grow better in my gravel path than my dye garden.
For a nice easy dyeplant try coreopsis. It is easy to grow and gives lotts and lots of orangey colors from yust a handfull of flowers.
Happy holidays.
Thats interesting result. I did not let my buckthorns to ferment and did let them stay whole. With my test mini skein and rowing I got bright lime green. Will continue trying to reach blue next autumn.
Your walnut tree should give you a really nice greeny-brown from the husks around the nuts.
Beautiful color!
That colour would look dynamic in a woven project with navy and yellow!
Try using tulle fabric To protect young seedlings or young plants by covering them up squirrels and chipmunks do not like the mesh fabric because they can get their claws in tangled in it and the plants will still get plenty of sun and air to grow
Chartreuse is my favorite color! I need to get my hands on those berries!
I thought of Mr Yuk, for the first time in forever, not ago. I wondered when he went out of style. :)
Very interesting video and the color you got is gorgeous đ
Looking forward to the "Buckthorn Adventures " in future editions.
You're so funny and I always enjoy your videos. I really like how this turned out for you! Can't wait to see what you make with it.
Sounds like you have enough catnip for toys & tea for the rest of the decade. It will dry well and your fur babies will love you for it. The best way to keep it from over running your garden/yard/etc. is to put the roots inside a tin can so they can't spread. Then plant the can with a little ridge above the soil.
Wow! What an unexpected shade of green. Good luck with your dye garden. Once you get it established it will be much easier.
I'm a little late to the party, but a word on Japanese indigo; you can grow it as an annual! Also, indigo is one of the few dye plants that can be used fresh and without a mordant. Here's how:
1) Take a bunch of indigo leaves and the material that you want to dye. Use enough leaves to completely cover the material.
2) Add a good few tablespoons of salt to the leaves, and start massaging the leaves and material. You can't "oversalt" this mixture, since the point of this is just to draw the water out of the indigo leaves. Use as much salt as you see fit!
3) Add more leaves if they wilt too much and leave the material exposed. Keep massaging and massaging until your material is completely saturated.
4) Expose your freshly dyed material to air. Indigo turns blue only when exposed to air, since it oxidizes. If it's not blue enough for you, keep massaging in the leaves.
I hope this helps someone haha
Oh boy! I can 100% see how that could be a crazy awesome rabbit hole to go down in its own right hahah. Beautiful process if I do say so! Great video!
Very interesting video đ Concerning fermented food; itâs very healthy for most people, but for us with histamine intolerance, itâs poison. I learned this the hard way and became very ill. If I had kept on eating it, I would have became totally bedridden. Lucky I realized the cause of my illness. đ
Oh no! I'm glad you figured it out!
I live in germany and I never saw black / bluish buckthorn, only bright orange / yellow ones with red tones in it. You can consume the bright ones, it has way more vit c, than oranges for example or peppers. It is called the "lemon of the north" where I live. But the black ones, as I just googled, cause diarreha and stuff. But it is the one for dying something. So interesting
Yes! Buckthorn berries are one of the most popular berries in Russia - I've had buckthorn ice cream there, and bought buckthorn-flavored chapstick. It's delicious as well as really good for you. I wish I could grow it, but I'm in New England, and have never found it in the wild.
Hi, ich hab das auch grad nachgeguckt weil Google meinte mit Sanddorn ĂŒbersetzen zu wollenâŠdas stimmt natĂŒrlich nicht! Sie hat ja im Video die Spezies erwĂ€hnt, und wenn du mal Faulbaum auf Wikipedia nachschaust findste da 2 Spezies, einen von denen ist im Video gezeigt worden, und die andere kenn ich aus gepflanzten Heckenanlagen mit rot/schwarzen BeerenâŠda kann man sicher auch mal den LandschaftsgĂ€rtner anhauen ob der einem Bescheid gibt bevor der Radikalschnitt gemacht wird.
@@lynnm6413 Wow. Vielen Dank fĂŒr die MĂŒhe. Wieder was gelernt. Hab mich schon gewundert
@@ArtemensiaK Ich hab's ja auch nicht gewusst.. aber das GrĂŒn war so schön da musste ich es doch gleich nachlesen *gg*
@@lynnm6413 verstĂ€ndlich. Ich hab offenbar irgendwie blöd gegooglet, vielleicht einfach nur die Ăbersetzung, weiĂ nciht mehr, aber ich hatte die Info nicht gefunden. Aber so spannend
Fabulous, that whole thing must have been so satisfying. Really interesting, thanks, Evie. đ„°đđ»
Thatâs a pretty color for sure
oooooooo that mossy green is SO PRETTY. id love to make smth w that color
This is so cool!! And you weren't too late at all- the "time of St. Michael" would be Michaelmas, observed Sept. 29th in the Western European tradition, or Nov 8th if you're in Eastern Europe. Fermenting dye baths is super fun, I love doing kitchen ferments too. Stinging nettle is edible and makes a lovely dye (and spinning fiber for the patient) but if it's invasive in your area I'd suggest growing it in pots. The yarn looks great!
When animals eat buckthorn in the winter and urinate in the snow it turns blue when exposed to sunlight. Buckthorn is invasive, but pretty cool.
I love that green - and the whole video!
That green is very similar to a color from a local indie dyer that I love. I consider it a neutral of sorts because itâs gorgeous with grape jelly purples, Royal blues, reds/oranges/yellows, mustard/brown/rust, etc.
Thank you for sharing your experience with this process! I found it fascinating, and that green you got from the buckthorn đđđ absolutely stunning.
I remember Mr. Yuk stickers.
You are my twin! I have been binge watching your channel and I have sauerkraut fermenting on my channel right now, watched your barbie video and we liked the same things as children. It is REALLY uncanny. I am watching you because I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to spin and I only recently learned that I can. Working on getting a hand spinner AND some fiber.
So envy you the possibility of growing woad and Japanese indigo. Both are considered noxious weeds in my state. :o(
This is really interesting! I just did my first dyeing with cranberries after seeing a house painted with them. I harvest cranberries, so supplying those was not a problem, but I did them unmortanted, and am just waiting to see if their is any fade
I just laid hands on a whole lot of Alder Buckthorn berries to do this. Earlier in the spring, I had gotten a whole lot of cambrium scrapings to work with. The berries were much more interesting. I got a lovely deep moss green with it. If you want to really get into Natural Dying, get a hold of Jenny Dean's book Wild color. Very accurate in my experience. I love to know how to get a blue out of them..
As an fyi: should you persuade your Japanese Indigo to survive the winter indoors, it can be broken into pieces about 3 joints big and rooted before putting them back outside. they root from each joint.
Interesting, In Sweden we have the orange kind. Sea Buckthorne or Hawthorne.
I would highly recommend looking at Jenny Deanâs natural dyeing books, perhaps the most highly rated and recognised natural dyer here in the Uk, although the plants she uses are more uk based, she certainly includes Buckthorn, with most plants available in the US and Canada as well.
Very nice dyeing experience Thanks !
Fascinating!
You should collect and dry the berries and leaves so you have them on hand anytime.
Evie~~~ Thank you so much for sharing your incredible experiences!! I loved hearing about your processes and the yarn is gorgeous!!
i'm 80% done knitting myself a setesdal inspired jacket in fingering weight superwash in the round... ijust learned that superwash is not advised for jumpers and big knits, steeking and that it grows 30% of it's size whilst blocking... i already found the project a bit looser than imagined and i hoped to slim it down a bit during blocking... well now i'm gonna research a yarn i'm not used to using before spending 2 weeks 8hrs a week on a project i've been wanting to wear for almost two years... (i also made a sew - in hem rather than a tubular ede because i prefer the look of it but it's probably gonna look real stupid when it's gonna be litteraly twice my size and all of the cold air inn the world is gonna sweep freely underneath this glorified sleeved cape smh) mind you i don't even care for the advantages of superwash, i wouldn't have minded a stiffer fabric, i don't plan on washing it more than absolutely necessary ( the metal clasps kinda scare me) and it's pretty much always gonna be worn over a shirt of some kind
on the good side i just noticed that i tend to knit my sleeves shorter and skinnier than i should and i have plenty of yarn left to knit a 30s pullover (i would probably wash more often, than could benefit from that synthetic-ish look but with the actual confort of wool and i will calculate for the 1 FRIDGING THIRD of growth it'll gain)
i want to make a whole evolution of jumper-like european garments from the late middle ages to to-day, à la Roxanne Richardson, superwash (mine is about 1,50⏠a hank of yarn) might be a nice supstitution to silk for me to make those 17th century jacquard undershirt from the danish and norwegian traditions
I love this color, I think it will go very well as an accent color between white/light and darkbrown wool, maybe for another weaving technique, I enjoy those because I can follow along without having to have bulky equipment in my 1 room basement apartmentâŠlol
I am a Brown haired, olive twisted lass and this sort of green if used as an accent is a beautiful highlight in a lot of my brown wardrobe.
*TaintedâŠsorry, autocorrect got me
Love the color!
Don't give up on the Japanese Indigo! I live in northern WI and have had great success growing it (and it self-seeds for the next season). So far, just fresh leaf dyeing projects, but this might be the year to try a vat. Thanks for all your great content!
How fun! I love that colour. Looking forward to seeing what colour the leaves and branches give.
Lovely colour. I recently made up 3 different dyes from avocado skins and stones. Have so far coloured 1 ball of fingering. will need to get some more fingering to do sonme more dying.
It is interesting to see what the wool colour is once finished. I have go some baby Indigo seeds in the garden - fingers crossed that they grow and that i get to harvest fordying.
I love buckthorn, I got a lovely bright mustard yellow on some wool fabric from the bark, and I still have some left that I'm going to try and ferment for a reddish shade!
Would LOVE seeing you do soapmaking and fermentation!
YESSSSSS!!!!! Second channel to not hurt the fiber algorithm, maybe?!
Maybe freezing your Buckthorn berries for a week or two first might soften them. This is what you can do with Sloe berries before making Sloe Gin. It mimics what the frost would do naturally and splits the skin and softens the fruit to allow more of the juice out.
I left my comment before I saw the bit about harvesting them before the first frost. I imagine that it changes the colour that you get from the berries, maybe?
I'll find out whenever I have time to use the extras I put in the freezer!
@@JillianEve Natural dyes are so exciting!
@@JillianEve Oooh! I hope you film that!
i was a little worried what color you would be getting when it was in the pot but the final result is a really lovely green ! :)
Oscar the Grouch is the colour you got! Can't wait to see what you get from the stems and leaves. And the fermentation is an interesting concept, I wonder if that might make some of my very fugitive but pretty dyes stick around longer...
Great video! hahaha I told people one monday that I had taken a natural dyeing class on the weekend and they reported me to HR as potentially depressed. It really does sound terrible spoken out loud.
Love the music!
I think your buckthorn results are very cool. I think your friend will really appreciate the yarn
the final color is gorgeous!! I was worried at first because it reminded me of goose poop đ But it turned out really amazing and I can't wait to see other dyeing adventures!
I loooooooove that color! I'm glad you had one success with your dyeing this season.
What a gorgeous color! I wonder if Rhamnus purshiana (common name Cascara) could be used to the same effect, coming from the same genus as Rhamnus cathartica. Cascara bark can be used as a medicinal laxative too, but only after allowing the bark to age for a year because it's that strong... It's also native to western North America from southern B.C. to northern California so it could make a non-invasive alternative for west side friends đ Looking forward to experimenting with this, thank you for the idea!
That floor you made would be highly prized by Crewe embroiderers!
Also, it would be gorgeous in a scarf or sweater with a nice, rich maple red and pumpkin orange!
đđđđ I love the chemistry with natural dyes.
Cabin Boy Knits is a natural dye fiend. He's a magician. đ
This is one of my favorite videos đ€đ€đ€
I'm going to try and grow some flax and cotton at my mom's farm next year, she talked about planting a few dye plants! She's into weaving now and is intrigued. :)
My initial thoughts - it matches your apron. This was fascinating.
YOU BEAUTIFUL!!! йЫ ĐĐ ĐĐĐХйЏ!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video Evie. Well done! Full of info and learning gems!
I can totally see this buckthorn berry colour worked into a gorgeous argyle pattern with your (successfully harvested ;-) indigo and a natural yarn. I'm loving this natural dye journey- hoping this is a first of many future successes for you.
Such a cool color!! I feel your natural dye pain, and I'm so excited this one went well!!
The green colour happens to be my favorite one...well done !!!
I tried dyeing with red cabbage once or twice. It was fun but unfortunately I've never been able to get the purple I was going for. It always came out green. I had a lot of luck dyeing with onion skins though. Those mini skeins came out beautifully
In order to get purple, your dye bath has to be a neutral pH--neither acidic (low on the pH scale--below 7) or alkaline (high on the pH scale--above 7). Your pH was so high (alkaline) that it activated both the anthocyanin to make it blue AND believe it or not--anthoxanthin--a yellow pigment also present in red cabbage. I'm curious if your water is very alkaline or if you added something to mordant that shifted the pH? I don't know what mordant is normally used with red cabbage. If it's alum, it usually shifts the pH lower, not higher, but I'm not a chemist and something else might be going on there.
@@jenthulhu The water here is extremely hard. It makes fabric dyeing an experience. I used the pH kit but clearly did something wrongđ€·ââïž In chemistry class during an experiment I made some lime green crystals. The teacher said he'd never seen that happen before. He was impressed but I swear I followed the directions. I came to terms with this particularly strange super power I have. I used to rinse out the milk jugs & set them in the recycling bin & they would get a suspicious lime green liquid in them too.
@@tashacano3324 Oh my goodness! I used to live in West Lafayette, Indiana and the water there was similar to what you describe--without the strange green liquid! For future consideration, you can usually buy distilled or reverse osmosis water at grocery or big box stores for about $1 a gallon. If you dyed using that water, you might be able to get your purple. That said, when I lived in Indiana we had a water softener so I didn't have to clean stagmites off every sink, toilet, and shower every week. And I also invested in a reverse osmosis system for under my kitchen sink with a special spigot. I can't remember how much that cost, but I remember thinking it was worth every single penny--however, I'm picky about water, LOL! Fun to chat with you about this. These sort of topics that combine my love of fiber with my love of science kind of make me cuckoo with nerdiness. I love it so much! :D
@@jenthulhu I like the idea of chemistry but that's about it. I wing it too much for me to be successful with itđ I live with my parents & they absolutely refuse to put in a water softening system.
You mention that you have a walnut tree, walnut trees are also a natural dye item. Keep them hulls!
I recently came across mushroom dyeing!!! That's another one I want to try. Iv done catkins off my trees for a pink color. I'm excited to see what comes of your other plants. Try putting some fertilizer on your indigo. Less nitrogen more phosphates and potash
Such a nice color!
Thank you for recommending people not plant this species of buckthorn in areas where it is not native. I agree that it is just bad stewardship of the land to plant it in the Americas.
However, there are some American species of buckthorn, which makes me wonder if this would be worth exploring! We have a native variety on our land, and the birds really love the berries. It might be fun to try a few if I can beat the birds to them. đ
I donât know whether you have read this tip b/f, but you can put the dyestuff into a fine mesh bag b/f soaking it to extract the dye. This can greatly decrease the amount of vm floating around in the dye bath. Of course, the little bits of dyestuff need to be bigger than the holes in the bag in order for this to help.
I have a question: have you considered using time rather than heat (or even trying solar) to attach the dye to the yarn/fibre? I have very successfully left yarn in bottles to naturally dye outside for weeks/months âŠactually, I just got up to the fermentation bit of the video đ€Łđ€Łđđ
⊠did you think to try a âweedâ dye bath when you cleaned up the garden?.?
I have had issues with freezing dye stuff. Though I successfully dyed with fresh and canned beets, frozen beets didnât work at all. Hopefully buckthorn wonât have the same issues I had.
Japanese indigo can be propagated by stem cuttings. Itâs one of the fun things I learned when I was trying to get my little plot going. I clipped a couple of my plants and got the cuttings to take root.
This was very interesting đ€ to learn. đĄ idea what about dying from the walnut tree đł? I tried to grow flax here in Idaho, but that didn't go well. I ended up with weeds. My mother had Oregon grape growing in here yarn that I thought đ€ trying to use it's berries as a dye. My nephew removed it before I got some. I also like to try the black walnuts from a tree . Which I heard đ€ it's a nice brown. Also elderberries might be a fun thing to dye with. đ€ Which one of these should you think I might try first? I wonder which one the pioneers used đ€ here in this area? I like đ this video đč.
Walnuts are tried and true for lovely browns. Unfortunately I'm allergic and we have hungry squirrels anyway so I didn't get any from my tree.
So interesting for an archeology/history fan. Iâm planning to plant flax next year đ€
Look into natural pH indicators. You might be able to source some plant-based ones.
Lots of things will grow well under walnut trees, but you do need to find plants that are tolerant of juglone toxicity. Juglone is the compound created by the trees that is toxic to a lot of other flora.
Hermoso color, viste alguna diferencia entre el color logrado en la madeja y el de la fibra?gracias por compartirlođ
The colors were very close, but the yarn seemed just a little darker.
Enjoyed this so much, I am not a natural plant dyer but your wool and the skein came out beautiful! Very even for a natural dye. I volunteer at a plantation in Charleston and they do a lot of indigo dyeing since they grew it here historically.
Very informative and interesting, but also... can you share what lipstick you're wearing??
This was great. Although I spend a lot of time watching dying videos (or at least listening while I knit or spin). For now, I'm going to stick to spinning, weaving and knitting. But I will eventually take up dying as well. So please share your natural and acid dying experience.
Has anyone dyed wool with wild elderberry? What color do you think elderberry would đ€ come out? Would it be a bluish in color đ€? I just might have to try it next year.
I discovered your channel a few months ago and have been binge watching your videos since. You are a lovely person, an absolute treasure! You deliver so much great information in such a clear and concise way, while also creating a really relaxed and welcoming feel. I appreciate the work your putting in to sharing knowledge and I look forward to your future videos †(addendum....I am technologically inept and initially added this to someone else's comment đ)
I've been trying to remember the name of Dharma trading for days. Thanks!
Wow!! I love the colour you got from the Buckthorn. I would really love to try it out but I'm doubting that I could get it in Australia sadly.
You probably have a native equivalent. :)
@@jenthulhu not sure
I love the color you got. Is the dye from the berries fugitive? Update us on the longevity of the color. We used walnut sawdust as a mulch in one area of our yard, maybe 20 years ago. Nothing grew there. Unfortunately, my husband later graded this area and dumped the soil into our pile of garden bed soil. Nothing thrives in this soil. I now leave it in a big pile in our pasture, we bury the chicken coop stuff in it. Its the chicken playground. If I ever see weeds start germinating, then I might be willing to try growing in it again. I think of walnut as nature's evil pre-emergent poison.
Sources say it is surprisingly light fast but I haven't personally tested it yet.
I'm just curious, you didn't mention scouring your wool first.... I have been experimenting with natural dying and whether it's protein fibers, or cellulose fibers, the rule of thumb is to scour your fibers first. Synthrapol is what most natural dyers use, but any mild pH neutral detergent will do. since I'm just doing experimenting at home, I'm just using a small amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid......I don't know if it would have made a difference in your yarn, but you may want to research that online as well.đ€
Yes I use synthrapol. The issue is that most mills oil the fibers for processing so you need detergent to clean that out.
Ohmigosh I finally managed to get 5 little Japanese indigo plants to germinate for me last summer and a chipmunk ate every one of the seedlings,! What is up with that?! đżïž
Have you tried using the walnuts from that tree?
The squirrels got every single one! đżïž
QUESTION: Is it better/ easier to dye wool before or after it has been spun?
I am having a hard time finding references to darker fabrics. Obviously, cotton and wool are white, but at some point people must have used darker substances for fibre, like deer, moose, reindeer or rabbit fur. Any suggestions?
Is the tree at least a black walnut so that you can at least use that as a dyestuff?
Yes, except for all the squirrels.
Did the color stay a year later or shift over time?
What is the piano piece in the background?