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[gone!] dye materials, onion skins, bodark, two natural dye books...US only

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 7 years ago

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I'm in the habit of saving onion skins...store bought organic, not home grown...so I have lots and this winter I'm not getting around to using them.

...and I think I have more bodark than I'll ever use (shavings, not sawdust), so could share some of it also. Since Steve has stopped carving with osage orange I've been hoarding it.....

either or both, free for the asking

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 5 years ago

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Here I am again

I'm still in the habit of saving and have not been doing much dyeing lately...organic onion skins, bodark and probably some cosmos flowers....maybe more if I really dig into my dye cupboard.

If you are new to natural dyes these are easy and reliable. Cosmos will only dye protein fibers though...a beautiful deep orange.....onion skins and bodark dye cottons, linen, hemp, silks and wool.

I have too many projects sitting around and need to purge every so often and refocus....

Let me know and I'll ship within the US next week.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Carla Burke

Rusticator

Posts: 8576

Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 5 years ago

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Hi, Judith!
I'm very much interested in doing more natural dying, but (and this is so not unusual, for me, lol) I've so many things going on, already, that I believe if I attempt to add even one more tiny thing, it's entirely possible that my hubby will move my craft room out to the chicken coop!

I've done some turmeric dyes, of course coffee & tea, plus beetroot, henna, & blueberries. In my stash, I've some nails waiting to be oxidized into vinegar, some mica, and... crud. Now, I can't recall what the other one is. Anyway, those are waiting for me to come and play, already. Hubs is a retired chef (who loves to cook again, now that it's just us), and I love to cook, too. Needless to say, we have lots of the usual suspects to round up, on a pretty consistent basis - but not Cosmos! What a fun experiment that would be! If you don't find a good home for it, by the time I figure out how, maybe I'll try to sneak (yet another) project in, in another month or so...
You're awesome to offer this up! Thank you - whether I end up with it, or someone else does!

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 5 years ago

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Hi Carla,
I would be glad to send you some, just let me know...they really won't take up much space

The things that you mention

turmeric, coffee, beetroot, henna, & blueberries

are for the most part what are known as 'fugitive' colors...stains more than actual dyes and don't hold up well to light and washing.

Onion skins are an easy, permanent color in shades of yellow and golds...same with bodark. Bodark is one that actually deepens with age to a beautiful bronze/gold color

I mordant with a very small amount of food grade alum (from the pharmacy) although all of these will dye wool or silk well with no mordant as long as the fiber or cloth is well scoured.

I have enough to send three or four people enough for a moderate sized dye bath of each plant material.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Carla Burke

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Posts: 8576

Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 5 years ago

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Hmmm... You've definitely got me thinking, lol! I may go ahead, and take you up on it - very soonlyish! Thank you!

In my experiences with those items, turmeric and henna lose some of their vibrancy, only softening to awhat strikes me as a comfortable, pleasant strength? The others, though... they just turn muddy. The mordant may be the deciding factor, though. With both the turmeric and henna, I've only used vinegar. I used to henna my hair, so from that, I learned it only sets well, with an acid. In the case of the turmeric, I learned by a humiliating accident, that acid works best there, too. How did such a learning experience come to be so humiliating, you might ask... ~le sigh~

I was going with friends to Chicago, in December '85, to see The Nutcracker Ballet. It had gotten very cold, and I didn't have a winter coat appropriate for the occasion, so my (then) mil offered her beautiful, soft-gray, wool dress coat. After the ballet, we went to dinner, and I shook the bottle of mustard, without checking to see if the lid was on, tightly. It. Was. Not. Mustard flew everywhere! All over me, over the half-wall dividers, between our table, and the one next to us (thankfully, no one was sitting there, at that moment)... And all over the beautiful coat, my mother in law had so generously entrusted to my care. Possibly the most incredibly humiliating social faux pas I can recall making - especially so publicly. Later, I went to the library, and searched for some way to remove it, to no avail. The dry cleaner said there was nothing he could do, to salvage it, from such a strain, but dye it black - and even then, if you looked closely for it, you'd still see the mark. After getting my mil's (understandably) grudging approval, I paid to have her coat dyed black. He was right. You had to look very closely, and in just the right light - but, it could be found. I'm not sure she ever actually forgave me, though she did, many years later, jokingly tease me about it.

Anyway, for that reason, and from my stitchery, where glosses and yarns are often dye-set in cold vinegar water, for a while, prior to drip -drying, for use, when I began playing with natural dyes, my usual first grab, is vinegar. The first time I heard of using alum, many years later, was in my frustration with getting onion skins to 'work right', and a friend taught me that vinegar really doesn't set everything, lol.

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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Carla, I will send some cosmos and bodark on Monday then.

I love the mustard story. I have tumeric stains on t shirts from cooking...it just does not hold that beautiful color for long.

The cosmos will only dye wool and silk. I have had good luck finding bits and pieces of natural fibers clothing, yarns, etc. at the thrift store for some dye projects.

Here's a photo from my natural dye thread here
This was made from a lucky find at the local thrift store...skeins of natural single ply wool...I scoured and mordanted the skeins with alum...the deep yellow/gold is bodark, the orange is cosmos, the darker yellow is onion skins, the lighter yellow weld and the pinkish is one I changed the ph with vinegar but I forget which one? All will dye without mordanting but the colors don't usually come out as deep.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Carla Burke

Rusticator

Posts: 8576

Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 5 years ago

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Thank you, Judith! What beautiful, rich colors!!! I'm really looking forward to playing around with them!

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

Francis Oh

Posts: 2

posted 5 years ago

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Judith Browning wrote:Here I am again

I'm still in the habit of saving and have not been doing much dyeing lately...organic onion skins, bodark and probably some cosmos flowers....maybe more if I really dig into my dye cupboard.

If you are new to natural dyes these are easy and reliable. Cosmos will only dye protein fibers though...a beautiful deep orange.....onion skins and bodark dye cottons, linen, hemp, silks and wool.

I have too many projects sitting around and need to purge every so often and refocus....

Let me know and I'll ship within the US next week.

Hi Judith!! Do you still have the onion skins? If so, I would LOVE some! Ill send you PayPal for postage...

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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Francis, just send me PM with your mailing address and I'll be happy to send you some.
I probably won't get them in the mail until early next week.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Francis Oh

Posts: 2

posted 5 years ago

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Judith Browning wrote:Francis, just send me PM with your mailing address and I'll be happy to send you some.
I probably won't get them in the mail until early next week.

THANK YOU! I just did. I just saw your note, as the notification went to my trash! Sorry I've added permies to my email book so I get notifications now. Let me know your paypal address and I'll send you shipping money

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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I still have some bodark to share and some onion skins...FREE, for the shipping cost.
On a warm day I'll dig in and see what else...I have not gotten back to dyeing for awhile so probably need to pass on what I have and start fresh.

I can only ship within the states.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

Posts: 14666

Location: SW Missouri

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posted 5 years ago

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Judith: bodark is shavings from Osage Orange trees? Also known as Maclura pomifera, Hedge, Hedge Apple, Bois d'Arc? Making sure we are thinking of the same trees... I have several on my property, I know the wood is beautiful for carving, it dyes too? COOL! Thank you for that info! I had missed that in my "what can I do with these trees?" thinking. Adding it to my lists!

Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
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Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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Pearl Sutton wrote:Judith: bodark is shavings from Osage Orange trees? Also known as Maclura pomifera, Hedge, Hedge Apple, Bois d'Arc? Making sure we are thinking of the same trees... I have several on my property, I know the wood is beautiful for carving, it dyes too? COOL! Thank you for that info! I had missed that in my "what can I do with these trees?" thinking. Adding it to my lists!

That's the one

It is one of the few natural dyes that deepens as it ages...wonderful color. I find it is hard to rinse out thoroughly though, probably because I make the dye bath too strong.

I know some who dye leather with it also.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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bump!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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I'm adding two books to this...they are older and add to a broader view of natural dyes...not definitive, just more information.

IMG_9677-(2).JPG

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Carma Nykanen

Posts: 103

Location: PNW zone 7

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posted 5 years ago

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Judith, it strikes me that not only is there the gift of passing along excess, but also the love and knowledge of the art!
I just had 7 Romney and Gotland fleeces turned into roving and yarn! 😳 i was gobsmacked at the cost of it. I'm fast needing to learn the ins and outs of marketing.
I absolutely love the natural colors. But I'm curious to try dying. Especially mustardy yellows and greens.
I have been eyeing some plants around me for what i have available. My son picked up a few wads of fallen mosses for a purple but i havent sourced the ...acid? ? For it.
Id love more info and dying supplies! I could trade for roving or yarn. You could give me feedback?

It's about becoming like granny.

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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Hi Carma, I would be happy to send you some dye stuffs and the books.

If you have no other dye books these are not the best ones to begin with...only good lists of what's possible but not necessarily 'recipes' that you would want to use.
An excellent recent book on dyeing is Jenny Dean's Wild Color but I would also say that there is so much information on line (and in the dyeing forum here at permies!) a book is not absolutely necessary.

Thank you for the offer of a trade...a few years back I would have jumped at the chance for more wool...now I'm trying to get out from under too many projects and spinning is one of them

You mentioned moss? for purple? I wonder if it was lichen instead? There are certain lichens that when fermented produce wonderful purples.....

Orchil, also called Archil, a violet dye obtained from some lichens by fermentation. It is also the term for any lichen that yields orchil (Roccella, Lecanora, Ochrolechin, and Evernia) and refers to any colour obtained from this dye.

They are a whole complex area of natural dyes.

If you are just beginning I would suggest some onion skins for yellows and the bodark for yellows to golds...and look up some procedures on line and/or start a thread here in the dye forum and we'll all help you along.

You can get some greenish casts to the yellow using a tannin or different mordants.
I would really recommend Jenny Dean's book for some clear basic information.

Here's her website

and here's a link to my dyeing with onion skins thread here at permies

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Carma Nykanen

Posts: 103

Location: PNW zone 7

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posted 5 years ago

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I'll be sure to check out those references! I'm very interested in learning.

I understand about not wanting to take in more!

I appreciate your willingness to share.

Perhaps i will start a thred! Thanks for the suggestion!

It's about becoming like granny.

Chris Kott

pollinator

Posts: 3847

Location: Marmora, Ontario

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posted 5 years ago

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Pearl Sutton wrote:Judith: bodark is shavings from Osage Orange trees? Also known as Maclura pomifera, Hedge, Hedge Apple, Bois d'Arc? Making sure we are thinking of the same trees... I have several on my property, I know the wood is beautiful for carving, it dyes too? COOL! Thank you for that info! I had missed that in my "what can I do with these trees?" thinking. Adding it to my lists!

This one hit my "what on earth..." button. But yeah. Bois D'Arc americanised becomes bodark, I suppose.

-CK

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

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Chris Kott wrote:
This one hit my "what on earth..." button. But yeah. Bois D'Arc americanised becomes bodark, I suppose.

-CK

yes, yes, Chris

it happens.....
encyclopedia of arkansas: bodark

The name “bodark” is a slurring of the French “bois d'arc,” meaning “wood of the bow”—a reference to the Osage Indians' practice of making bows from the tree. ... Indeed, its wood is still quite valuable due to its density, which makes it suitable for everything from fence posts to artistic woodcarving.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 5 years ago

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Carma Nykanen wrote:I'll be sure to check out those references! I'm very interested in learning.

I understand about not wanting to take in more!

I appreciate your willingness to share.

Perhaps i will start a thread! Thanks for the suggestion!

Carma, great!
I sent you a PM.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

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Pearl, I'm sending my 'extras' to Carma so we can close this thread until I build up an excess again

Thanks!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

Posts: 14666

Location: SW Missouri

10099

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posted 5 years ago

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Marked gone, tell me if you want it reopened :)

Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

Posts: 14666

Location: SW Missouri

10099

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posted 4 years ago

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Unlocked at Judith's request :D

Judith Browning

Posts: 8898

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2389

posted 4 years ago

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Carma, I sent you a PM

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

You didn't tell me he was so big. Unlike this tiny ad:

the permaculture bootcamp in winter (plus half-assed holidays)

https://permies.com/t/149839/permaculture-projects/permaculture-bootcamp-winter-assed-holidays