Looking at the shelves, I see a sea of whites, and pastels before me. Now how did that happen? How have I gone through two newborn stages before and still have a cupboard so lacking in colour? It looks like colour was a bit slim on the ground before 3-6 months. Hmmm, need to change that.
How about some playing with natural dyes and see what I can come up with? With yellow on my mind lately, I remembered this post from this lovely lady. It seemed turmeric was looking like a good choice and having come home with some fresh turmeric from my favourite market stall a few days before, an even more logical choice.
Some fresh turmeric dyeing action it was going to be.
First up, some turmeric sliced into pieces and put into enough water to just cover the items I want coloured.
looking lemony yellowy looking after 24 hours of soaking… now to cook it.
After an hour of gently boiling. The colour looks good, but will it stay? (Turmeric seems to be one of the few natural dyes that don’t need a mordant.)
After one wash in the machine and line dried… looking rather lemony again, not the brighter yellow I was after. The wash wasn’t what did it, it seems the sun fades it, and rather quickly.
Try again…
This time with one teaspoon dried turmeric and enough water to just colour the material, cold water soak for an hour. Rinsed until the water runs clear, and how’s it looking? Looking like a wonderful bright yellow.
On the line to dry again, and once more it seems to fade a bit with the sun. This time I’m ok with that though. The colour is more vivid, and if it fades well so be it, it’s a natural dye. A natural dye that has its own rhythm and opinion it seems and if I really want to vamp the colour up again, well I just need a teaspoon of turmeric and little cold water.
Have you had great natural dyeing action? What are your favourite colours or items to use?
cityhippyfarmgirl 
Love the color of the raw turmeric…wish it would dye it that color, but perhaps it would be too bright for your use. The lemony color is pretty and soft, too. I haven’t done much natural dyeing but can guess that cranberries based on straining my cranberry liqueur through cheesecloth that they might result in some pretty colors…don’t know if they have staying power though. Fun!
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Cranberries I would imagine would leave a gorgeous colour!
I’ve never seen fresh ones here though…
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Have you seen India Flints book “Eco Tints” on natural dying? She has all sorts of amazing things in it! I’d get it just for the pictures alone. Its Australian and she dyes with gum leaves as well! Tea and coffe and onion skins make good dyes as well!
Good luck! 🙂 – Kara
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I will have a look at that book, thanks for the tip Kara.
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I’ve not dyed anything intentionally … By accident, lots of times. I once dyed my boys undies pink when a red t-shirt was tossed into the machine. Nightmare.
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There is a little reluctance for pink undies for a lot of boys 🙂
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How about pink soccer socks? Certainly made my son stand out!
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I dye soap with turmeric sometimes.
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Does that cross over to the skin at all, even for a little bit?
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tea is a great dye..but probably not the look you’re after..:)
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Not for the small one to come 🙂 I will have to play with it for some of my clothing though…
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What fun! I second the recommendation for India Flint’s book – it’s fabulous.
Could you maybe try a little vinegar in the cooking pot with the tumeric water? That is what I use when experimenting with dying fleece…I believe it helps to ‘set’ the colour.
PS – if you’re after an orangy tone anytime, try beetroot..or it’s pickling juice..it’s very freaky!
Oooh…how about some purple onion skins..that would be fun to try!
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Ok, I will definitely have to have a look at this book, and i’m intrigued by the beetroot going orangey!
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I’ve tried dying calico with turmeric to use as curtains, but it did fade a lot very quickly. Might revisit it though and try again. I’ve used turmeric, paprika and wheatgrass in my soaps.
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Sonya I would love to have some of your gorgeous soaps. People must snap them up!
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Just me again! How is this for a coincidence – Sister Sun has posted on turmeric dyeing today, too!
http://sistersun.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/dying-with-turmeric.html
🙂
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Ha ha! That’s funny 🙂
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Whoa…coincidental or what?! Christine just told me that you had posted about turmeric too and I popped over to see how yours went!
I think it is the sun that fades them a lot…… my bright yellow has faded in areas where the sun hit hardest.
I’m going to try again and dry it indoors but I am wondering if it will fade a bit each time it gets washed. We’ll see….
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Awesome timing I say, it’s good to see how someone else went with it. I agree, drying it inside I think would be a way to prolong the colour. Washing it I didnt find I lost too much, but the sun definitely.
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What a beautiful result. I hope it doesn’t fade too quickly for you. I cook with fresh tumeric and have ended up with bright orange stained hands! Tumeric has such a powerful colour!
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It does seep beautifully into my chopping boards!
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How clever! I can never seem to get my hands on fresh tumeric…I’ll have to find a good Asian grocer I think!
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I dont often see it either Anna, but when it was, I grabbed the chance.
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I’ve used beetroot before and it can be really pretty. You can make it as strong or wek as you like as you found with your tumeric. I like strong colours, so I just left soaking for longer…..fun playing though:)
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What a great approach – especially for a little one who doesn’t need artificial dyes. I’ve never taken dye to anything in my life (except my hair on the odd occasion!) and love that you did this with tumeric and water alone.
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I think I might have just opened up a whole new dyeing world for myself… may there be nothing light coloured in my household again 🙂
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Why is it that you can’t seem to get unwanted stains out of clothing and battle to keep them dyed. The end result is lovely – hope it doesn’t fade too quickly.
🙂 Mandy
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Thanks Mandy, I’ll definitely keep playing with the different shades.
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I remember making some home dyeing efforts with brown onion skins many years ago. Moderately successful, but took a while to save up enough onion skins.
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I would imagine that would be rather a lot of onion skins!
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Perhaps Saffron? Might be a touch expensive though….. 🙂
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oh what a lovely idea. So many dyes are so nasty.
And yeah i found that most newborn clothes were pretty plain too. Either pastel pink, pastel blue or white. Which are all nice but i once found a teeny tiny brightly rainbow coloured tie-dyed newborn singlet and it remains one of my favs.
And with all the mulberry eating (and spilling) that’s been going on around here i have wondered about them as a source of dye!
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Surely mulberries would have to be a great source of natural dyeing!… they stain everything when ever I’ve picked them, (and I always seem to be in a white top whenever I come across them.)
I’ve got just the one little newborn tie dyed singlet too- hooray for splashes of colour.
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That’s great! Tumeric is a wonderful herb – an excellent natural antibiotic for babies and adults. I didn’t think of using it for clothes dye though! I did a workshop in natural indigo dye a couple of years ago – picking the plants, soaking them and dyeing material – it was fantastic.
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That would have been a great workshop to do! I definitely want to play more with natural colours now.
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Oh wow! Hooray. So glad you enjoyed the process. I used dried tumeric for mine and the colour seems to have held reasonably well. I’ve just prepared a mordant and am wanting to try cabbage leaves next. The softness and lifecycle of the colours is something really beautiful.
Thanks for the link too. x
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It was you that kick started my yellow 🙂
I should make up a mordant, feeling a little lazy though…
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I get torn between the natural fabrics and the startling colours of unnatural dyes – as I like my colours, sylvia never wore lots of whites but I have never got into natural dyes – beetroot and spinach are the colours I wonder about – and would carrots also give some interesting colour
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I’ve just tried using purple carrots, so will see how they go. It’s looking good so far though.
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I just dyed a sample of soft spun superbulky merino with fresh turmeric, and it came out brilliant orange-yellow. Grated the turmeric into 1L water, microwaved until boiling (3-4 mins), dropped in yarn and left overnight, followed by vinegar and water for a few hours. Maybe you didn’t leave it long enough?
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