To region his kingdom, Jason sailed to Colchis with the Argonauts to bring back the Golden Fleece from the golden ram. The lambs of Tunis sheep are born gold and later turn white but retain gold faces, ears, and legs. Today there are gold-fleeced Angora goats in California.
Lacking golden fleece, gold and yellow are sure colors to obtain from natural sources at any time. From spring to fall we can find endless supplies of plants and barks that make yellows. When the seasons pass and these sources have gone, we still have the onion, which will give gold, yellow, orange, green, and brown.
Dyers must accept the fact that natural dyes won't always be the same. Location, soil, and weather alter the pigment and its strength in the plant or bark. And each fiber takes the dye differently. This is good, as we will have many different, yet harmonious, hues. If you require consistency, however, you may need synthetic dyes.
Materials you might want to try with natural dyes include a good washed sheep fleece—either white or colored—small skeins of handspun yarn, bought yarns, Angora-goat wool, cotton, linen, and silk. However, vegetable fibers like cotton and linen are tricky. They need to be simmered and soaked in washing soda and a bit of detergent so that the fibers will open. This is a lengthy process, better left for another article. All materials should be wet when put into the mordant or dye.
Basic mordant—A mordant is what makes the dye bond to the fiber. Sometimes mordants can be added to the dyebath, but we'll use a premordant. For 1 lb. of wool, my basic mix is 3 oz. to 4 oz. alum (alumi¬num potassium sulfate) and 1 oz. cream of tartar in 3 gal. to 4 gal. of water, or enough water to let the wool float.
Bring the brew to a simmer—don't let it boil—in a porcelain-coated, stainless-steel, brass, or copper pot. Add the wool and simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Silk requires only a few minutes and needs careful han¬dling. Sometimes I don't mordant it at all.
There are several ways of handling mordanted fibers. You can remove them directly from the mordant to the prepared dyepot. You can leave them in the mor¬dant overnight (okay for most fibers) and dye them the next day. You can wet-store them in a cool place for 3 to 4 weeks—just lift them out of the pot when they're cool enough to handle and put them into a plastic bag, checking every so often to be sure no mold has formed. Or you can dry the mordanted stuff and then store it, making sure to wet it thoroughly with plain water before you dye it.
Never squeeze the fibers. Usc a wooden ladle or dowel to lift them from the, mor¬dant or dyepot, and keep a plastic-coated wire basket or dish drainer handy. The less handling, the better.
Onion dye—My onion dye recipe for I lb. of wool (or other fibers) is simple: 1 lb. onion skins or 3 lb. cooking onions with their skins, chopped. Soak the onions overnight in 3 gal. to 4 gal. of water. The next day, simmer them 20 minutes.
If you leave the mash in the pot with the wool during dyeing, the color will be stronger, but the materials will become variegated. Fleece, of course, will card out evenly. If you strain the mash out, the dye will be more even. Simmer the wet, mordanted wool for about 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse and dry it; then wash it with a mild detergent to eliminate powdering-off of the color. For silk, strain the mash out, simmer only 5 minutes, and let it stand overnight. Rinse, it and spread it out to dry.
When I'm finished, I pour the used liquids into a hole I’ve dug in my garden. This seems better than allowing the chemicals to go into the septic tank or sewer.
Variations' with on ion—There are other ways to use onion dye. If you start enough mordant and onion for 4 lb. of wool, you can get 1 lb. each of four colors. Mordant all the fiber together, but divide the dye into four batches. For a bright, clear yellow, top-dye 1 batch with the plain onion over the basic mordant. For an olive green, add oz. iron (ferrous sulfate) to the sec¬ond dyepot. For a brigh t yellow-orange, add 1f4 oz. tin (stannous chloride) to the, third batch of dye. For a brown, add 1/4 oz. to 1/2 oz. chrome (potassium dichromate) to the, fourth dyepot. Simmer 15 to 20 min¬utes, drain, rinse, and dry. Keep your face away from the pot, as chrome and other meta II it* salts are health hazards.
Other' yellows in season—You can obtain yellows from other plants besides onions. You can also get them from trees.—You can obtain yellows from other plants besides onions. You can also get them from trees.
As with onions, use alum and cream of tartar to mordant the wool; then soak and simmer the plants. The following plants are all worth trying: St.-John's-wort (gives different yellows at different stages of growth), Queen Anne's lace, nettles, thistles, jewelweed, ragweed, sedge grasses, dahlias, sweet fern (sweet gale), coreopsis (also gives red with chrome mordant), tansy, asters, agrimony (used for snake bites), marigolds, horsetail, burdock, curly dock, coltsfoot, goldenrod (48 varieties), chervil, celandine, carrot tops, spinach, plantain, and yarrow.
To obtain tree dyes from barks, prunings, or small cuttings, soak the barks about 5 days. Then simmer them 20 to 30 minutes. Add the fiber and simmer an¬other 5 to 20 minutes. Try the bark and leaves of willow, elderberry (soak leaves until well decayed for a good gold color), barberry, mountain laurel (poisonous to sheep); the peeled bark of apple, cherry, peach, osage orange, sassafras, birch, lilac, forsythia; sumac wood or fruit (white su¬mac is poison); walnut or butternut bark and nuts. Nuts can either be hulled or left in their shells. I soak nuts for 2 weeks, then simmer them for up to 1 hour.
In my classes, we keep notes and sam¬ples to record the results of our dyeing ex-periments. But don’t expect to reproduce your results exactly, even if you use the same yarns and plants. Be glad to have a subtle range of colors that work well and mellow well together.
