try try again

I am home safe and sound.  It was an easy trip but I am still getting the bugs out of the car.  Now, if I can get the Check Engine message to trip for the mechanic!

I came home to a box of plant dye and that was exciting.  Before my travels started this summer, I had started to play with plant dye.  There is hibiscus and red cabbage in the picture above.  But the linen I dyed was a very old linen nightgown and it did not seem to hold the red cabbage.  After a wash, it came out basically white.

I got two red cabbage and decided to try again.  I soaked my very old linen nightgown in soda ash for the mordant.  I cooked the cabbage in water for 45 minutes. I strained out the cabbage solids.

In went the nightgown.  With the soda ash, the cabbage give a light green.  I let the nightgown soak overnight.  Actually, it was more like 24 hours.

                                                  photo courtesy of Koda Bear

The nightgown was a lovely pale green.  It was not the lavender blue I was expecting but it was pretty.  The next step was to wash it and let it dry.  The mordant is supposed to help the dye sink into the fiber and become fast.  Unless I understood incorrectly.  Which is extremely possible.

Because when I washed it, all the colour came out.  It does appear cleaner and whiter which is one aspect of soda ash. 

I have some alum which I think I will try next.  I need to pick up two more cabbages and give it another try.  I would sigh but I figure I am learning more by trail and error then I would learn in a class. 

That is where my life is.