Playing with Natural Dyes

When I stripped the bark from some elm tree branches (going to use the wood to carve something into) not only was I once again duly impressed at how easily the bark comes off of newly cut branches (learned the phenomenon when I was stripping new-cut ash tree limbs to make myself a 'walking stick') but noticed that the inner surface of the bark took on a very pretty hue of orange.

Me being me, I wondered if I could cook the bark up with some fabric and get orange.

Me being me, I fired up my wood stove and put a bunch of the bark into a big kettle along with a plain white dish towel. Cooked them together for an hour or so before going to bed and leaving them to steep in their kettle on the cooling wood stove while I slept.

Ha!

The one on the left is the light orange I got out of this experiment. The one on the right is an older experiment - concord grapes.

note: the orange color deepened as the fabric dried and has stripes where it hung against the fence. 

I can't believe how simple that was! Now we'll have to wait and see how well the color holds.

Right now I've got a strip of 100% cotton drying - I just dipped it in the kettle (bark still in there with the now-cold colored water) for a few minutes. Another strip of cotton is still in there soaking, and a bit of white felted 100% wool. I think I'll let them soak for another hour or so and see what happens.

I cannot believe I've just been burning this bark along with the wood for all this time!  

Ah well.

Live and learn.