After our recent trip to
Ross Farms Museum, I decided I would attempt to dye with the moss I have been collecting (windfall from around the city). Reading I have done indicated that the moss chemistry varied so much that you could never expect the same colour twice.
Old Man's Beard
The helpful interpreter at the museum told me I should soak it for three days; I decided to let it soak for around ten days (by decided I mean I forgot about it and was distracted by other things).
Soaking the moss
After letting it soak, I put it in a pot with more water (and the mould that had started to grow on it!) and let it simmer for around an hour.
Simmering Moss (a good name for a band?)
While it simmered, I mordanted small pieces of linen, silk, and wool in alum in preparation for dyeing.
At first the colour I was getting was disappointing... So I added some lemons I had left over from the marinade I made for supper. Decreasing the pH enhanced the colour a little but it was definitely not as dramatic as I'd hoped (when I used my pHmeter, it measured 3!).
Lemons to reduce the pH
As my friend, Lilou (my three-year-old mispronounces it "woowoo") was helping me that day, I have named the colour "Cream of Woowoo".
Cream of Woowoo
I did try to increase the pH by adding lye when I finished my first dye bath, and managed to get it up to 9, but that didn't change the colour of the second dip, which was weaker due to a less concentrated dye bath.
We're growing woad in our garden!
I heated the leaves in a large pot of water to 80C for 30 minutes; this produced a brown liquid. After adding soda ash to reduce the liquid, it darkened.
Then I aerated it by pouring it from one pot to another, causing the indigotin to precipitate!
Yay! Woad!
