I like it when guilds want to hold their meetings at my place. I usually get to those meetings!
Today, DSG member, Jen had offered to set up several natural dye pots. We used several heat sources to heat the dyes. Jen brought all the dyestuffs along with plenty of pots and jars and we all dyed sample skeins of wool.
Pomegranate rinds.
Oak galls.
Onion skins.
Peach leaves.
Black walnuts.
A watched pot…
While waiting for the pots to cook we chatted and spun. Jen spun brown cotton directly from the bolls that she grew herself.
Time to check the yarn. This is madder root dye.
Removing fiber from one of the pots.
Jen had wood shavings from several exotic hardwoods and extracted the dye by soaking them in vodka. (She wondered about what the guy in the store thought when she asked for the strongest, cheapest vodka in the biggest quantity that he had.) We used one pot to dye with all five of those extracts by using half-gallon jars in the pot.
Look at the color of the Red Heart!
Here is yarn dyed with peach leaves coming out of the pot.
These are the yarn that I dyed. From left to right: oak galls, black walnut, Red Heart wood, peach leaves, onion skins, pomegranate.
The dogs were allowed to join us after awhile. Ginny, ever hopeful that someone will throw a toy for her.
Thanks so much to Jen for organizing this and bringing all the equipment and dye. And thanks to the Davis Spinners Guild for being such a fun group!
Meridian Jacobs' Blog 
Wonderful pictures! What did you use for a mordant(s)?
Alum was the only mordant used, but black walnuts, pomegranates, and oak galls don’t need it.
Thanks, such an inspiring post!
Do you know of a source for the recipes? Such as amount and ph?
Hi Colleen–
A general rule of thumb is to use equal amounts (by weight) of fiber and dye material. The only dye that we used yesterday that was finicky about pH is madder. Some dyes, like the black bean dye that we did, change color when rinsed in an alkaline or acidic afterbath–a little baking soda or vinegar in water will do the trick. There are lots of books with more detailed recipes–some of the ones I have are listed in my ravelry library (I’m on there as threadofsong).
Wow, finding you was not that easy! I still can’t find your library.
Colleen
Are you trying to find the Davis Spinners Guild? They just started up again after a hiatus. They don’t meet at the library now but in homes. Email me robin@meridianjacobs.com for into.
Robin, thanks again for hosting! It was a fun day, and great weather to have an outdoors meeting.