Natural Dyes

Over Labor Day weekend, a group of us got together and experimented with natural dyes. Our first experiment was using indigo. I had spun some South Down lamb wool, Shetland, and Finn. I wanted to know if the breed made a difference for how much color was accepted. There was not much difference between the Shetland and Finn, but here is a picture of the South Down (on top) and the Finn (below):

Both hanks were in the dye bath at the same time, for the same amount of time (about 5 minutes). The lamb's wool took more color. I had not expected this. The first shearing vs later shearing made more of a difference than the breed (or at least the breeds I used).

Our second experiment was using lily of the valley leaves from my garden. We used alum as the mordant. We chopped and then simmered the leaves for about an hour. We kept the mordant separate, soaking the fibers in the mordant bath and then placing the wool in the dye bath. I had only Finn left to dye, but a friend had some lamb's wool. Once again, the lamb's wool accepted more color. Her wool came out a pale golden yellow (you'll have to trust me, I don't have a photo). Here is a picture of my wool:

The roving is undyed. As you can see, there is very little difference between that and the spun wool. It is barely off-white, even though it was left in the dye bath for a very long time. I don't feel like it was worth the effort. But it certainly brought home the point that lamb's wool is the easiest to dye.