NOTES ON ALUM & OTHER MORDANTS
Recently I was asked some rather probing questions about the various names given to alum and the other chemicals used for mordanting. So since then I’ve been working on supplying some answers but, as my understanding of chemistry is limited to what I need to know as far as dyeing is concerned, I realise how many gaps there are in my knowledge. However, I hope the following information may be helpful.
Alum
For a detailed explanation of the history of alum production I’d recommend Dominique Cardon’s book “Natural Dyes”, published by Archetype Publications. This is a huge, scholarly work and, although it is costly to buy, it is well worth the expense if you are looking for an all-encompassing reference book.
Alum is not poisonous but it should be handled with care and not ingested. The 4 types of alum used by dyers are: aluminium sulphate, potassium aluminium sulphate (or potash alum), ammonium aluminium sulphate (or ammonium alum). – (Note: sometimes these last two are written with the word “aluminium” first) – and aluminium acetate. As far as I understand it, the different names refer to the different methods used in the processing of alum to refine it. In the early days of production, refining was necessary to make sure the alum was free from iron contamination and this was mainly done using either potassium or ammonia (or stale urine which contains ammonia). Pure aluminium sulphate (without the potassium or ammonia) contains the highest proportion of aluminium of the 3 sulphates, but by only a small margin, and is a later 19th century development, resulting from improved methods for removing the iron from alum shales. All the three aluminium sulphates mentioned above can be used for mordanting, although ammonium alum is less commonly used as a mordant. Aluminium acetate is used to mordant vegetable fibres and silk only.
The alum available in the past in chemists’ shops in the UK tended mainly to be ammonium alum, used, I think, for pickling and for applying to the skin in poultices. The aluminium content of ammonium alum is slightly lower than that of the other two aluminium sulphates, but not sufficiently lower to make a significant difference. The other alum sulphates may occasionally have been available in chemists’ shops but alum in any form is rarely available over the counter in chemists or pharmacies in the UK now. It may sometimes be possible to buy aluminium sulphate in garden stores as a soil treatment and as long as it doesn’t have any iron contamination (usually in the form of specks of brown in it) it is fine to use as a mordant.
The difference between aluminium sulphate and aluminium acetate is that the former is processed using sulphuric acid and the latter using acetic acid. Alum acetate is usually used for mordanting vegetable fibres and silk only, not animal fibres such as wool, mohair etc.
I think the alum sulphate most suppliers sell for mordanting is probably potash alum, although it is often simply described as alum. In the 1990s, when I had my mail-order business selling dyes and mordants etc, I supplied aluminium sulphate (iron free), and not potash alum. The reason for this is simple – when I took over the business, the previous owner recommended that I should continue to supply granular aluminium sulphate (iron free), purchased from the wholesalers in 50kg sacks, as this is what she had supplied. So this is what I did. Since then, I have always used aluminium sulphate myself, so when I mention alum sulphate in my writings that’s what I mean, not potash alum. But it really doesn’t matter which of the three forms of alum sulphate a dyer uses. However, it does matter that dyers understand the difference between alum sulphate & alum acetate & what each is used for.
Cream of tartar: the cream of tartar used together with alum in some mordanting recipes is potassium bitartrate (or potassium hydrogen tartrate). It was originally made from the salt deposits that formed on wine casks & could be either white or red, depending on the type of wine for which the cask was used. The culinary cream of tartar sold in supermarkets may sometimes be sodium pyrophosphate, which is slightly less effective than potassium bitartrate but still fine to use. Some dyers mordant wool and other animal fibres using alum without cream of tartar, although in some sources an alum + cream of tartar mordant is recommended as preferable to get good strong colours from cochineal & other insect dyes. I have found that mordanting animal fibres using 10% alum sulphate, without cream of tartar, gives me good results with all dyes, including cochineal, but the mineral content of my local water may also play a part in this.
Washing soda (or soda crystals) is sodium carbonate. Soda ash is also sodium carbonate but with the water content largely removed. However, as washing soda can be bought in supermarkets and hardware stores, it may be easier to obtain than soda ash and is equally effective. In all the recipes in my books I use washing soda/soda crystals rather than soda ash.
Iron is harmful if ingested and should be handled with care. It is usually supplied in the form of ferrous sulphate (or iron sulphate), which is a green powder. (Incidentally, when it gets damp it turns brownish but this doesn’t seem to make any difference to its viability). It may also be called copperas or green vitriol. Iron sulphate is also sometimes available in garden stores as a treatment for plants showing iron deficiency and it is sometimes cheaper to buy it this way, if you can find it. Home-made iron water (called iron liquor in the USA) is technically probably ferrous acetate, because it’s made using acetic acid, but I avoid the chemical term, as I’m not sure how accurate it is when used to describe a home-made product. Home-made iron water can be used instead of ferrous sulphate as a mordant or colour modifier and some writers suggest that iron water may be less corrosive on fibres than ferrous sulphate solutions.
Copper is toxic and should be handled with care and not ingested. It is usually supplied as copper sulphate, a blue powder, and is also known sometimes as blue vitriol or blue copperas. Home-made copper water (copper liquor) is technically probably copper acetate (see comments on iron acetate above) & is occasionally called verdigris. Verdigris is the green deposit that sometimes forms on copper piping etc and I think this is what is dissolved into the solution when making copper water. Copper water can be used instead of copper sulphate as a mordant or colour modifier.
Disposal
Before disposing of any liquids containing chemical residues, make sure they are well diluted with water. Iron and alum are the most common elements in the earth’s core and disposing of mordant or dye bath remains containing these chemicals should not present any problems, especially as they are used in very small quantities and most of the chemical content should have been absorbed by the fibres anyway. I usually pour solutions containing small residues of iron and alum around acid-loving plants, such as broad-leaved evergreens or blueberries. Otherwise remains may be poured down the drain or disposed of on the ground in an isolated spot, away from children, pets and septic tanks. Copper is toxic so should be handled with particular care but it should be safe to pour residues containing copper on the ground in an isolated spot as described above. Some dyers prefer to avoid using copper because of its toxicity and it is certainly possible to achieve excellent results and a wide colour range without the use of copper.
I do not use chrome or tin as they are toxic, difficult to handle safely and disposal of chrome and tin residues may present problems.
For more information, Helen Melvin (Fiery Felts) has written at length about mordants and alum on her blog. (www.growingcolour.blogspot.com) However, wherever one goes for information, one tends to find different mordanting & dyeing recipes, as dyeing can be a highly personal craft. So in the end the choices are individual ones. My aim is to make good, reliable results as simple to achieve as possible – probably because I’m an impatient person & I don’t see the sense in making things so complicated that one is deterred from even making a start.
But that doesn’t mean that my methods are better than anyone else’s, so try out different recipes and select the ones that suit you best and give results that you like.
More about Mordants
/in General Dye InformationNOTES ON ALUM & OTHER MORDANTS
Recently I was asked some rather probing questions about the various names given to alum and the other chemicals used for mordanting. So since then I’ve been working on supplying some answers but, as my understanding of chemistry is limited to what I need to know as far as dyeing is concerned, I realise how many gaps there are in my knowledge. However, I hope the following information may be helpful.
Alum
For a detailed explanation of the history of alum production I’d recommend Dominique Cardon’s book “Natural Dyes”, published by Archetype Publications. This is a huge, scholarly work and, although it is costly to buy, it is well worth the expense if you are looking for an all-encompassing reference book.
Alum is not poisonous but it should be handled with care and not ingested. The 4 types of alum used by dyers are: aluminium sulphate, potassium aluminium sulphate (or potash alum), ammonium aluminium sulphate (or ammonium alum). – (Note: sometimes these last two are written with the word “aluminium” first) – and aluminium acetate. As far as I understand it, the different names refer to the different methods used in the processing of alum to refine it. In the early days of production, refining was necessary to make sure the alum was free from iron contamination and this was mainly done using either potassium or ammonia (or stale urine which contains ammonia). Pure aluminium sulphate (without the potassium or ammonia) contains the highest proportion of aluminium of the 3 sulphates, but by only a small margin, and is a later 19th century development, resulting from improved methods for removing the iron from alum shales. All the three aluminium sulphates mentioned above can be used for mordanting, although ammonium alum is less commonly used as a mordant. Aluminium acetate is used to mordant vegetable fibres and silk only.
The alum available in the past in chemists’ shops in the UK tended mainly to be ammonium alum, used, I think, for pickling and for applying to the skin in poultices. The aluminium content of ammonium alum is slightly lower than that of the other two aluminium sulphates, but not sufficiently lower to make a significant difference. The other alum sulphates may occasionally have been available in chemists’ shops but alum in any form is rarely available over the counter in chemists or pharmacies in the UK now. It may sometimes be possible to buy aluminium sulphate in garden stores as a soil treatment and as long as it doesn’t have any iron contamination (usually in the form of specks of brown in it) it is fine to use as a mordant.
The difference between aluminium sulphate and aluminium acetate is that the former is processed using sulphuric acid and the latter using acetic acid. Alum acetate is usually used for mordanting vegetable fibres and silk only, not animal fibres such as wool, mohair etc.
I think the alum sulphate most suppliers sell for mordanting is probably potash alum, although it is often simply described as alum. In the 1990s, when I had my mail-order business selling dyes and mordants etc, I supplied aluminium sulphate (iron free), and not potash alum. The reason for this is simple – when I took over the business, the previous owner recommended that I should continue to supply granular aluminium sulphate (iron free), purchased from the wholesalers in 50kg sacks, as this is what she had supplied. So this is what I did. Since then, I have always used aluminium sulphate myself, so when I mention alum sulphate in my writings that’s what I mean, not potash alum. But it really doesn’t matter which of the three forms of alum sulphate a dyer uses. However, it does matter that dyers understand the difference between alum sulphate & alum acetate & what each is used for.
Cream of tartar: the cream of tartar used together with alum in some mordanting recipes is potassium bitartrate (or potassium hydrogen tartrate). It was originally made from the salt deposits that formed on wine casks & could be either white or red, depending on the type of wine for which the cask was used. The culinary cream of tartar sold in supermarkets may sometimes be sodium pyrophosphate, which is slightly less effective than potassium bitartrate but still fine to use. Some dyers mordant wool and other animal fibres using alum without cream of tartar, although in some sources an alum + cream of tartar mordant is recommended as preferable to get good strong colours from cochineal & other insect dyes. I have found that mordanting animal fibres using 10% alum sulphate, without cream of tartar, gives me good results with all dyes, including cochineal, but the mineral content of my local water may also play a part in this.
Washing soda (or soda crystals) is sodium carbonate. Soda ash is also sodium carbonate but with the water content largely removed. However, as washing soda can be bought in supermarkets and hardware stores, it may be easier to obtain than soda ash and is equally effective. In all the recipes in my books I use washing soda/soda crystals rather than soda ash.
Iron is harmful if ingested and should be handled with care. It is usually supplied in the form of ferrous sulphate (or iron sulphate), which is a green powder. (Incidentally, when it gets damp it turns brownish but this doesn’t seem to make any difference to its viability). It may also be called copperas or green vitriol. Iron sulphate is also sometimes available in garden stores as a treatment for plants showing iron deficiency and it is sometimes cheaper to buy it this way, if you can find it. Home-made iron water (called iron liquor in the USA) is technically probably ferrous acetate, because it’s made using acetic acid, but I avoid the chemical term, as I’m not sure how accurate it is when used to describe a home-made product. Home-made iron water can be used instead of ferrous sulphate as a mordant or colour modifier and some writers suggest that iron water may be less corrosive on fibres than ferrous sulphate solutions.
Copper is toxic and should be handled with care and not ingested. It is usually supplied as copper sulphate, a blue powder, and is also known sometimes as blue vitriol or blue copperas. Home-made copper water (copper liquor) is technically probably copper acetate (see comments on iron acetate above) & is occasionally called verdigris. Verdigris is the green deposit that sometimes forms on copper piping etc and I think this is what is dissolved into the solution when making copper water. Copper water can be used instead of copper sulphate as a mordant or colour modifier.
Disposal
Before disposing of any liquids containing chemical residues, make sure they are well diluted with water. Iron and alum are the most common elements in the earth’s core and disposing of mordant or dye bath remains containing these chemicals should not present any problems, especially as they are used in very small quantities and most of the chemical content should have been absorbed by the fibres anyway. I usually pour solutions containing small residues of iron and alum around acid-loving plants, such as broad-leaved evergreens or blueberries. Otherwise remains may be poured down the drain or disposed of on the ground in an isolated spot, away from children, pets and septic tanks. Copper is toxic so should be handled with particular care but it should be safe to pour residues containing copper on the ground in an isolated spot as described above. Some dyers prefer to avoid using copper because of its toxicity and it is certainly possible to achieve excellent results and a wide colour range without the use of copper.
I do not use chrome or tin as they are toxic, difficult to handle safely and disposal of chrome and tin residues may present problems.
For more information, Helen Melvin (Fiery Felts) has written at length about mordants and alum on her blog. (www.growingcolour.blogspot.com) However, wherever one goes for information, one tends to find different mordanting & dyeing recipes, as dyeing can be a highly personal craft. So in the end the choices are individual ones. My aim is to make good, reliable results as simple to achieve as possible – probably because I’m an impatient person & I don’t see the sense in making things so complicated that one is deterred from even making a start.
But that doesn’t mean that my methods are better than anyone else’s, so try out different recipes and select the ones that suit you best and give results that you like.
Testing
/in InspirationColours for My Granddaughter
/in Dyeing Tips & RecipesWe have one grandchild, Milly, aged nearly 9 months, and I am privileged in that I am allowed to knit for her. Many of my friends have been told that their grandchildren do not require handknitted garments, so I consider myself fortunate that my daughter regularly asks me to knit something for Milly. This time the request was for a dress and the desired colour scheme is grey and purply pinks. I am so glad that today’s babies wear such a variety of colours and not just the pale blues, pinks and lemons so common in the past.
So, after mordanting the wool skeins in alum, I set to work with the dyepots, using natural dye extracts this time. For the greys I chose Earthues Logwood Grey and for the purple/pinks Earthues Cochineal used with an alkaline modifier. To get more colour variations I added a small amount of Earthues Logwood extract to each exhaust dyebath. Here are the results:
This shows all the dyed skeins – rather too jumbled up for identification.
This shows, on the left, alum-mordanted skeins dyed with Cochineal, and on the right, the alum-mordanted skeins dyed with Logwood Grey. The results of the exhausts + Logwood are at the bottom on each side.
This shows some of the skeins wound into balls.
On the left from top to bottom: Logwood Grey, Logwood Grey exhaust, Logwood Grey exhaust + Logwood
On the right from top to bottom: Cochineal + washing soda modifier, Cochineal exhaust + washing soda modifier, Cochineal exhaust + Logwood (2 skeins including the centre one)
Now I just have to knit the dress!
Alum Mordanting Again
/in General Dye InformationAs I have used up almost all my alum-mordanted yarns, it is time to replenish my stock. So this week I have been mordanting wool with alum, following my usual methods. (For details of these, see the post “Alum Mordants”)
As I explained in the above post, I now use 10% alum sulphate without cream of tartar for mordanting wool. (i.e. 10gms alum – or 2 rounded teaspoons- per 100gms wool.) As I find it easier to measure out liquids rather than powders, I usually make a solution of 100gms alum dissolved in one litre (1000mls) water. At this dilution, 10% means I use the same quantity of alum solution in mls as the wool weighs in gms. (i.e. to mordant 500gms of wool I need 500mls of alum solution). To save time later, I tend to make several litres of alum solution at once, as any remaining solution can be stored indefinitely for use at a later date. (See note below for storage advice) The crucial thing to remember when making the alum solution is to make sure that all the alum has dissolved completely. I find it best to add the boiling water gradually, stirring well as I proceed. When I want to use the solution I always shake the bottle well first, just in case some alum has sunk to the bottom.
I have done tests with most dyestuffs and can see little, if any, difference in the depth of colour achieved on wool using a 10% alum mordant, when compared with the results achieved from the same dyebath using wool mordanted with a higher percentage of alum. As one of my aims as a dyer is to reduce as far as possible the quantity of chemicals used, without compromising the quality of the results, I can see no point in using a higher percentage of any chemical than is necessary for good results. However, I would also add that each dyer will tend to have his or her preferred mordanting methods and whatever gives the desired results, without causing harm to humans or the environment, is the best method for the individual dyer in question. Indeed, the number of different alum mordanting recipes available is remarkable and must be bewildering for a beginner. Dyeing books written in the early to middle 20th century tend to advocate the use of a higher percentage of alum than is necessary or desirable, often as much as 30%, but in more recent books the percentages recommended tend to be lower. In today’s environmentally- and safety-conscious world, where dyers have recognised the need to use the smallest quantities of chemicals possible, the abundance of different alum mordanting recipes available would seem to indicate that more people are experimenting to find the recipes that best suit their individual needs.
I don’t work with silk very often, although I do sometimes mordant and dye silk skeins for a friend who is a silk weaver. My preferred mordant for silk is now 5% alum acetate. In Japan, alum acetate is widely used as a mordant for silk and I find this recipe gives excellent results, although the 10% alum sulphate recipe I use for wool is also effective.
For vegetable fibres I also use 5% alum acetate, as this is so much simpler than the alum/tannin/alum method I used in the past and gives excellent results.
To return to today’s mordanting: After stirring 600mls alum solution into the water in the pot, I added 600gms of well wetted wool. I started off by raising the heat gradually then simmered the wool in the alum solution for about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the pot was rather full & the lid doesn’t fit very well, so the mordant bath overflowed during the simmering process and left my work surface swimming in water. After mopping up the liquid and squeezing as much as possible back into the pot, I then turned off the heat and left the skeins to steep overnight. I then removed them, squeezed the excess liquid back into the pot and dried all the skeins except those I want to dye in the next few days. These I left damp in a plastic bag, so I wouldn’t need to wet them out again.
I then added a further 600mls alum solution to the used mordant bath and added a further 600gms of wool. In order to avoid flooding my work surface again, this time I gradually raised the temperature to simmering point, keeping a close watch on the pot all the time, then immediately turned off the heat. I left this batch of yarns to steep in the mordant solution for about 36 hours, moving the yarns around gently from time to time. It doesn’t really matter which method one uses, as both are equally successful. In fact, it’s also possible to apply an alum mordant to wool fibres without heating the solution at all, as long as the fibres are allowed to steep in the cool solution for 3 to 4 weeks and are moved around in the pot regularly. However, when mordanting wool, I prefer to apply heat, at least to start with, mainly because wool tends to absorb liquids better with heat and I feel the results are therefore likely to be more reliable. This is also why a hot indigo dye vat is recommended for wool, whereas cotton, linen and other vegetable fibres can be successfully dyed in a cool vat. However, if wool is left for a longer period in a cool vat, it will gradually absorb the colour. Silk, whilst technically an animal fibre, seems to fall between the two fibre categories and tends to react equally well in both hot and cool vats.
Storage advice: Alum solutions can be stored in glass or strong plastic containers, with well-fitting lids. However, I don’t recommend the rather flimsy opaque plastic milk containers as they may absorb, rather than store, some of the solution. I know that when I used these milk containers to store woad solution, I ended up with dark blue containers & rather less blue pigment for dyeing than I had expected.
I use the strong plastic gallon/5 litre containers in which things like cider, apple juice, vinegar, detergent etc are sold & have found these ideal. (My husband tells me he thinks these are actually made from some sort of nylon, which is non-absorbent.) Otherwise, the clear strong plastic bottles in which water & juices are sold are also suitable. Containers for household bleach would also be OK, as long as they are thoroughly washed out first, and they have the added advantage of child-proof tops. Large glass bottles which contained pickled onions, gherkins etc would also be fine & if the neck is too wide, I use a funnel to make pouring easier. As long as the containers are well washed out, it doesn’t really matter if they still smell of whatever they contained, as any aroma is unlikely to be transferred to the materials being treated in whatever solution was stored inside them.
I usually store all my solutions in a brick-built outbuilding, which doesn’t get much natural light. In general, store solutions in a cool place, away from direct light & make sure they are clearly labelled, preferably in indelible pen. For extra security I usually fasten a plastic label round the neck, as I’ve found that snails tend to make their way into the outbuilding and sometimes eat away at my paper labels.
What do I do with all my dyed samples?
/in General Dye InformationThis is a question I am frequently asked and I’m afraid that the majority of my samples remain in cupboards until required for talks or displays. Some of them are fixed into sample books, of course, or made into display boards. But believe me, I really do have a large amount of dyed yarns, so when I can no longer find space for them all, I take some of them to the knitting workshops I occasionally lead and invite students to help themselves. It is a real pleasure to tip out the contents of bags and boxes onto the table and watch as students select the colours they find most to their taste.
When I do get round to using my dyed yarns, I like to design my own knitwear & chart my own multi-coloured patterns, sometimes for cushions or bags and sometimes for jackets. However, complicated patterns are usually for jacket borders and cuffs only, as I rarely have the patience to knit an entire garment in charted, stranded knitting. However, I plan to knit a jacket using only colours from mushrooms and I have been experimenting with colour designs.
This is the design I plan to use as an all-over pattern for my next jacket.
This cushion was knitted using only yarns dyed with madder. Some of the skeins have been modified for colour variations. The purple shade was achieved using an iron mordant followed by a washing soda modifier. The recipe is in my latest book “Colours from Nature”. For more details click on “My Books” on the home page.
This is another cushion knitted using only yarns dyed with madder. The patterns on both cushions are traditional Turkish sock designs. This one uses a typical Turkish sock technique of working the pattern design itself in the same colour throughout and changing the background colour.
A Treasure by Post
/in Diary & NewsThis week I took delivery of a beautiful book, “Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix” by Miriam Rice, with illustrations by Dorothy Beebee. Miriam Rice is the acknowledged authority on the subject of mushroom dyes and I ordered the book in the hope of extending my knowledge and understanding of dye-producing fungi.
The book is a treasure trove of information, with lovely colour photos and wonderful drawings by Dorothy Beebee. It will certainly inspire me to continue to search for fungi to use in the dyepot.
The book is available in the USA from www.mushroomsforcolor.com and in the UK from www.fibrecrafts.com
The Last of the Fungi?
/in Dyeing Tips & RecipesMy own searches for fungi haven’t proved very fruitful as far as dyebaths are concerned but, thanks again to Leena, I still had some stalks of Cortinarius semisanguineus waiting to be used and recently I managed to get round to using them. The earlier samples of colours from Cortinarius semisanguineus were from the caps only and I had been told that the colours from the stalks were usually more orange in tone. I know from past experience that different parts of the same plant may give different shades, so it’s often a good idea to separate flowers, leaves and stems when testing plants for the first time and prepare a different dyebath for each. It therefore came as no surprise to me that the same holds true for fungi.
The two skeins on the left are unmordanted and the other skeins are mordanted with alum.
The unmordanted samples are pretty, reasonably rich shades but they will probably be less fast to light & washing than those mordanted with alum. Time will tell.
The skeins are now in balls, making it easier to identify them.
Top (all alum mordant) left to right: (i) no modifier (ii) + acid (clear vinegar) (iii) + alkali (washing soda)
Bottom left to right: (i) no mordant, no modifier (ii) no mordant + alkali & iron modifiers (variegated skein) and (iii) alum mordant + alkali & iron modifiers (variegated skein)
In these experiments, a relatively small amount of dyestuff seemed to go a long way. I had 60gms of mushroom stalks and managed to dye a total of about 250gms of wool the shades shown above. I simmered the stalks for about 2 hours then strained off the dye liquid for the dyebath. I then simmered the stalks again to extract every last bit of colour and added that to the dyebath. I dyed the single-coloured skeins first and modified two of them as above. I then dyed the two variegated skeins. To do this, I first dyed the skeins in the dyebath then removed them and gently squeezed out some of the excess dye. I then added modifiers to the end sections of each skein as follows: I dipped one end of each skein in a solution of washing soda and the other end of each skein in an iron solution, leaving the centre section unmodified. I left the skeins to soak in each modifier until there was a clear variation of shades on each skein, then removed them & rinsed them very carefully so there was no iron contamination.
Note: When modifying sections of skeins, rather than the whole skein, it is important to make sure the areas to remain unmodified do not hang below the sections being modified, otherwise the modifer will leech into the rest of the skein. I used to tie the skein to a hook screwed into a beam above the work surface where I have my heat source. However, since my workroom has been re-roofed this beam is no longer available, so I now put a weighted saucepan on top of some bricks & fasten the skein to the handle of the saucepan. Much will depend on the length of the skein but it is often possible to put the two modifier pans next to one another, leaving only a small gap between, and then both ends can be modified simultaneously.
P.S. A final fungus dyebath:
Snow Again!
/in Diary & NewsLarge amounts of snow are such a rarity in this part of the South-east of England that I have been out with my camera capturing the moments. On Sunday evening we had about 3 inches of snow, followed by more during the last two nights, so there is now a layer of snow about 5 inches deep over the garden and it is still falling gently. Everywhere looks so beautiful.
This was taken while the snow was falling and shows the weathercock on the roof of my workshop silhouetted against a conifer tree.
PS to Fungi in the Garden
/in Dyeing Tips & RecipesFollowing some helpful comments from a mushroom expert, I think I have wrongly identified the second mushroom. As it was not growing on the ground, it is almost certainly not Giant Club Fungus but more likely a polypore, perhaps Polyporus floccipes?
Fungi in the Garden
/in General Dye InformationNow that I am aware of the potential pleasures of dyeing with fungi, I keep my eyes open for anything in the garden that may be a possible source of dye colour. I’ve been told that the darker the fungus is in colour, the more likely it is to contain useful dye pigments, so I must bear this in mind, as I don’t want to waste time or fungi by collecting indiscriminately.
Left to right: No mordant. alum mordant, no mordant + iron. Whilst the colours are not remarkable, the grey from the iron modifier is an attractive and useful shade. However, as this shade can easily be obtained from other sources (e.g. oak galls + iron), I shall probably not be using this fungus again for dyeing.