Sorry to have missed y’all last week. First Alger Market day of the year, and I was kinda pooped when I got back. But here’s the scoop on the other thing I did last weekend- dyeing with my home grown Queen Sophia marigolds!
I’ve got the marigolds I started from seed growing in both the hoophouse and in a garden bed- and they are growing like crazy in both locations.
I had been picking blooms to dry and use later, but there are just so many that the last time I got to picking I ended up with a couple pounds of flowers and I thought- “i should just cook them up fresh and go for it!”
Here they are in my big pot
I brought them to a boil then reduced the heat and simmered for an hour or so I guess. Then left covered and just let them steep overnight. The next morning I fished out the flowers and strained out the remaining debris, but then I was off to the market so it sat for a bit.
Project resumed Monday, then I gathered up the lucky candidates that were destined for the marigold bath
After selecting these different neutrals I also threw in a raspberry skein (can’t remember what it was oringally dyed with- It’s been in the stash for a while) and a small sample of indigo dyed yarn to see how an over-dye would work.
Here they are in the mordant bath (Alum and Cream of Tartar)
The raspberry color bled a bit onto both the felt and some of the yarn. Guess I should have seen that coming. Live and learn. At least the colors are complementary.
And here they all are, finally in the dye bath!
I brought the bath up to 180F, and then held at that temp for about an hour, gentle swishing things around and re-submerging as necessary. Then left covered to cool slowly.
Once rinsed and dried, the colors are softer- but I’m kind of amazed at how lovely and saturated they are-
The Black Knight Scabiosa are coming on slowly, but hopefully with have a chance to cook some of them down later on this summer too.
Things are busy in the garden, with beans, cukes, zukes, egglpplant and garlic coming on, but I am having a bit of a challenge this year with tomatoes. Battling some sort of fungus. 🙁 I’m pruning and spaying like crazy to keep it at bay. Hoping to at least get the first wave of tomatoes across the finish line before the plants succumb. Wish me luck!
And I have a tiny watermelon!! So excited. He’s the first one I’ve seen.
Cutest little baby watermelon ever 🙂
Ok, that’s all I’ve got. Have a good week folks!
I love your dyeing experiment. How fun! Of course your garden is way ahead of mine, per usual. I didn’t realize that you were still doing the Alger Market. I hope it went well.
thanks- the dyeing was fun, and satisfying. market was mostly a bust this time, but hopefully planting the seeds for later in the season 🙂