Wednesday, August 26, 2009

cedar apple rust fungus dye experiment #2

After I did the first dye experiment, I poured the left over dye bath into an enameled pot, added the fungus back to it and covered it with the lid. I left it in this pot for 4 months. After 4 months it still had a nice peachy orange color to it(shown in picture above). It did not smell bad or have any mold on it.
I strained the dye and put some Tunis wool into it. I let this set in a sunny(hot)spot for a few days. I was not getting much color so I poured it into my aluminum pot and covered it with glass(an old window pane). I let it sit for a few more days, it was so hot I could not remove it with my bare hands during the day. It took on more color. It did not get the peachy color as in the first dye experiment, but it is a nice khaki color. In the future I think I will dye with fresh fungus only for that nice peachy color.
You can't really see the color in the picture below. The first skein is from the first experiment and the second is from this experiment(it is actually darker than it shows up in the picture).

Saturday, August 8, 2009

cedar apple rust fungus dye experiment

I got this peachy tan color with cedar apple rust fungus.I collected some cedar apple rust fungus from some cedar trees back in March. I boiled them in an aluminum pot for an hour, then left them to soak in pot for 1 week. I strained the liquid and returned it to the pot. I boiled the yarn for 30 minutes. I did not intend to boil it but I got distracted. I used a mini skein of Norwegian wool, that was unmordanted.
Cedar apple rust fungus:

I tested a sample in a hot sunny window(in July) for 1 month and it did not fade at all. I will definitely collect alot more next March.