Though I’ve felt like our history projects have been blah lately, that dry spell was finally defeated with our pioneer natural dye project! Okay, so the term “pioneer” might need to be taken very loosely.
A long ways back I read that you can make pink dye from avocado skins and pits. Wild right?! That’s where the idea started of making this a history lesson about how clothes were dyed with natural substances that folks found around them.
Anyways, I’ve been hoarding all our ‘cado pits and skins for months in the freezer and finally had enough. But pink dye wouldn’t do for Handsome, so we foraged some red pine needles, which were advertised as being able to make a great green dye. After amassing dye stuffs, finally finding cute *cheap* 100% cotton clothes, and our alum mordant, we went to work.
We started with C’s sweatshirt. Not gonna lie- it was an epic failure (hence the lack of pictures of the project- it got a bit hectic). The green dye didn’t set a hoot despite the alum mordant. So, after some frantic boiling of other green substances in order to bring out our green color, I gave up. Green wasn’t gonna happen. But I did know a handy spice that I had on hand that would dye just about anything in it’s path- turmeric! I brought C up to speed in the change of plans and he agreed “Golden” would be a pretty great color too. So we set to work and this time- success!
He loves it! And the dye has set fast, holding up in several washes so far. Turmeric is one powerful spice y’all.
I was most antsy to try the avocado dye. Okay, yes, we know for sure pioneers didn’t have avocados, haha. So while I felt like a bit of a cheat, I explained to the kids it was really the process that we should focus on. Z and I scrapped those pits and skins all clean and made the dye. This also didn’t turn our exactly as I wanted, despite the over night soak but it also stuck fast which was a success. The girls look amazing in the color.
I am hopefully for another foraging expedition soon that can turn up some other great natural dye options such as acorns. They make a lovely warm brown and do not need a mordant to set them. I’m still hopefully for that elusive green as well, because I’m thinking our sheets would look fabulous as soft green. When I mentioned this to Husband he gave me a rather apprehensive look. I told him I really knew what I was doing this time and not to be put off by the frantic spinach boiling of earlier. Trial and error is all part of the learning experience, am I right?!
Cheers!