Creating a Post Consumer Life & Homestead in
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Making Our Own Fuel, Power, Food & Medicine, Building Materials and Domestic Goods since 2006.
Wendy thinks these globe amaranths that we have on our property will make a colorful dye. I'm not sure how she plans to extract the die (recommendations welcome), but I'm all for using this plant for food and coloring.
Eco Print by India Flint is a great book for natural dying. It's pretty new, and I can't share anything because I got my brother to buy it for me for christmas, and he won't let me read it until then. Maybe your library would order it in?
I wonder if you just soaked the flowers in water or some other liquid for a while, then used something to extract the liquid (I'm picturing a coffee press or something).
You'll probably have to use some kind of organic solvent to extract the dye. Industrially I know they use some pretty nasty stuff, but I bet grain alcohol would work pretty well.
Pioneer thinking has an alternative method if you don't plan on storing your dye:
The dye extracted from plant materials is usually different from the color originally seen. It will most likely be brown, green, or yellow. It also might not be light fast, meaning it will fade in time. Have you tried any of the methods in the websites listed in the previous posts yet? Good Luck!
4 comments:
Eco Print by India Flint is a great book for natural dying. It's pretty new, and I can't share anything because I got my brother to buy it for me for christmas, and he won't let me read it until then. Maybe your library would order it in?
I wonder if you just soaked the flowers in water or some other liquid for a while, then used something to extract the liquid (I'm picturing a coffee press or something).
You'll probably have to use some kind of organic solvent to extract the dye. Industrially I know they use some pretty nasty stuff, but I bet grain alcohol would work pretty well.
Pioneer thinking has an alternative method if you don't plan on storing your dye:
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html
The dye extracted from plant materials is usually different from the color originally seen. It will most likely be brown, green, or yellow. It also might not be light fast, meaning it will fade in time. Have you tried any of the methods in the websites listed in the previous posts yet?
Good Luck!
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