Monday, February 16, 2009

to dye for

i've fallen in love with tin. i haven't done much dyeing yet (experimented some last summer and have been doing more in the past couple of weeks). using only natural dyes, i need to add a mordant (a mineral) to help "fix" the dye to the fleece. i've only used alum which tends to brighten the colour but have now discovered tin which is said to "sadden" the colour. this pot of dye is made from onion skins and tin. a wonderful dark pea green. i used some of this yarn in "where the wild things are" - now listed in my etsy shop.

4 comments:

Robyn said...

ohhh tin mordant! ooohhhhh plant dyeing! stop - you're killing me!!

Julie said...

Hi Shawn

One day last week, I was searching for some information on rug hooking and ended up in a site in the UK. Anyway, I saw your blog and was immediately interested because of the NL connection. I am in the west coast of the province too! Meadows.
Anyway, I am in the process of redesigning my blog and have included you in my blog list. Now, my two questions:

1) do you sell ball winders or know where I can get one?
2) are there other fibre artists in the west coast?

bye for now

Julie M.

Niki said...

what a wonderfully small world eh! We live so close yet meet and connect over incredible distances. I love it.
N

Sodia Like said...

OMG!! tin!!!