Sooooo, following on from yesterday's post about tea dyeing, I had ANOTHER silk top that was gifted to me by a lovely friend. The pale lilac colour really washed me out though so I'd never worn it. When googling info on tea dyeing it occurred to me that coffee might have similar dyeing/staining properties. After all, I've spilled enough coffee down my front to know that it doesn't always come out in the wash! (I am a clumsy cow!) Sure enough....
I followed exactly the same process and timings as I did for the tea except this time I used a 100g jar of Tesco own brand coffee priced at £1.50. Unfortunately their 47p one wasn't available in our local Tesco Express, grrr....!
Again, the finish was streak and blotch free and the colour much, much, much more me! Hurrah!
The one thing with both these projects that has yet to be determined is how the colour results stand up to washing. I'm fairly confident about this. For a start, these are silk tops and as such will be handwashed only which will limit the impact on the colour. Plus, everything I've researched online prior to trying this, suggests that it doesn't require a fixative to be permanent; and at the very most it may fade a little, but for all intents and purposes is permanent. I will be sure to let you know how I get on with that!
In the meantime, I have plans afoot to try out some other "grocery" dyes. Turmeric and beetroot are both renowned for staining so it seems logical to me to try them on some silk. Onion skins are another source of natural dye that I fancy trying. Of course, all manner of plant materials and fibres have dyeing properties. Dyeing fabric goes right back to ancient times and would have been wholly achieved by using natural raw materials before the advent of chemical dyeing processes during the industrial revolution. Some of it though is akin to alchemy and beyond my level of patience!There are more experiments to come though! For now, I've run out of silk tops to experiment with. Best get down the charity shop and have a rummage; and you know how I hate that ;)
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6 comments:
If you get into some of the natural dyeing, you might want to look into the mordants that make the colours permenant.
you can get a smokey grey from tea dyeing if you soak the silk/linen in vinegar first (I dried it before doing the tea part.) Some natural dyes are made more permanent with alum - used to be able to get in the grocery shop because it was used in pickling cucumbers. There are loads of sites on the internet about natural dyeing.
I am looking forward to seeing what else you come up with! Unfortunately for me, those browns, golds and other colours from natural dyes don't suit me. But I often use it in my textile art work. (recently learned about using indigo and can't wait for summer! Blue is a 'me' colour!)
Sandy in the UK
ooooh, this one is beautiful too!!!
What an awesome way to dye clothes without crazy chemicals. I'm contemplating on dying a silk blouse with Beet Root. Looking forward to seeing how yours will turn out!
fantastic!
the colour came out great...look forward to seeing more of you "experiments"!
ooh I love this! it makes me want to try coffee dyeing b/c I have always been interested in it, this is absolutely lovely Portia!
LaLaLauren
EOD
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