That beet juice stain looks great! I was doing a lot of dying with natural materials while in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mango leaves for a green/yellow color; oak bark can be red to purple to brownish-black depending what region the tree is in and how old the dye bath is; the adobe earth is orange; an incredible herb called mucli that is a green leaf, kind of the size and shape of basil, and when boiled produces a very rich, deep burgundy, opaque liquid and then dyes a bright, soft purple, it is really amazing; jamaica (hibiscus) flowers are similar to beets but a little lighter. One thing I've known about jamaica and beets, at least with clothing, is that when washed the dye can really bleed and they can loose their color all together. You might think about putting some sort of sealer on them for rain protection! Or maybe the rain will give it even more of the desired distressed look! Either way it looks great!
@YourGardenShow: You have a great knowledge of organic stains. I would love to be able to get some other colors. I don't know if some of those plants would grow here or not, but I will have to look in to it, and look for more local plants to try. I am sure the local Indians here must have many plants or?? that they used and I just need to investigate. Thanks.
@JMTKMS: Well, the beet juice washed off with 2 days of rain. I will experiement with veggie oil and or bees wax to preserve the color. Iam also making some Black Walnut stain to try that.
Looks great and love how the plant tags look too.....It is fun to experiment with natural dyes. I weave baskets.....not as much as I used to.....and have experimented with many different plants. Black walnuts also make a wonderful natural dye.
Yes, black walnuts do make a wonderful natural dye - just ask my sister who has a huge black walnut tree in her yard, and a black sidewalk at a certain time every year. lol. Seriously though, how do you harness that to use it for a dye? Don't really know much about this topic of natural dyes, but it's very interesting. I can't get over how good that beet dye looks!
@StoneCottageFarm...: They are messy. I just put them in a big bucket and then fill with water and let them sit. Make sure to put a lid on the bucket or the squirrels will get into it. When you have a nice dark brown stain, strain into another bucket and then it is ready to use. It's a good idea to wear gloves when touching black walnuts because they stain your hands easily.
Weave baskets? What do you use for weaving. I would really like to do some basket weaving, guess I will have to look up more information and see what it would take.
@JMTKMS: Commercial splint and reeds, but I have taken classes and we cut white oak and made our own splint and I have pounded black ash.....lots of work. You can also collect natural materials from the garden to make baskets: honeysuckle, wisteria, pine needles, lily leaves, grape vine, etc. It's fun, but can be messy.
@Liz: Well, I will look it up today and see what I can learn. Maybe the library has a book, as I really prefer books to internet. Maybe I can start collecting things to use, and then practice this winter when i cannot be outside. I made baskets out of yarn and cord when I was in Junior High School. They were not too fancy, but they were very useful and pretty. I have always wanted to try weaving again, so thanks for another great idea.
@SweetDomesticity...: Yes, I loved the color, but it washed off in 2 days of rain. I am going to try different ways to preserve it, as well as try black walnut stain (made from the actual walnuts).
I had a nice conversation with our neighbors Rita and Antonio this weekend about walnuts used as a colorant and from it we gathered that it is the encasing that you remove around the entire nut that produces the black color. I am going to try to make a walnut dye soon too; we should compare notes afterwards!
We have so many black walnuts and just touching them stains your hands.....I just throw the whole walnut, encasing and all, in a bucket and fill with water and let set. I do cover it because the squirrels will get into it if I don't.
@YourGardenShow: The longer I keep the walnuts in the water, the deeper the stain will get. I did boil my pot once in the kitchen and made such a mess.....I just throw them in a bucket now and just leave them. If I get the stain on my hands, it takes forever to wear off. If you boil your dye bath, I would recommend doing it on a hot plate outside.
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