Friday 2 May 2014

Dyeing with Lichen 6



The end result of my dyeing with Stag's Horn Lichen (Evernia prunastri )  having dried the fermented lichen I then packed it into the end of an old pair of tights and added rain water,  our water is very hard here,  put it in the saucepan and boiled it with the yarn.  I was hoping for something a little more purple but it very definitely has a pink hue. The last photo taken inside is the closest to the colour.
  Lichen is a wonderful dye as a small amount seems to dye a lot of wool.  Here is 200 grams of yarn and I have also dyed some Wensleydale fleece and I am going to try some Galway fleece today before I throw it out.  This time there was no smell from the boiling pot,  mind you it was pretty overpowering when I took the lid off the fermenting jar in our kitchen.   As with most natural dye the colours are really soft compared to commercial colours

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4 comments:

  1. Unknown2 May 2014 at 08:31

    Wow that is very different than I'd expect! I saw you had run "From Fleece to Yarn Wool Workshop" previously. Do you plan on running them again?

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    1. Unknown3 May 2014 at 07:53

      Hi heather I am not sure if I going to run an actual workshop weekend again, but I hope to move myself into a small workshop this month where I will demonstrate spinning most mornings and take classes that are pre- booked. I will put it up on my blog when I organized

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  2. Taller de lino / Linen artisan3 May 2014 at 04:02

    Mary, Lichen is a fungi..isn't it !! you must collect them from the forest ?
    It is an honour to wear something all them natural..wool and wood ..LOL
    I love it, the colour in laptop screen seems more brown-purple than pink..is that ok ?
    could you get better pics ?

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    1. Unknown3 May 2014 at 08:04

      Lichen is a fungus living with an alga. The Stag's Horn lichen grows fairly high up in trees, favourite trees are in old orchards . It needs clean atmosphere and a wet climate. Here we 'enjoy' a temperate rain forest climate. It is most obvious in the winter but maybe that is because there are no leaves on the trees. I gathered this in January.
      The colour is difficult to describe, too dark for mushroom, maybe brown purple is nearer. Sat beside something that is bright pink it does not look brown. The bottom pic on my monitor is very close to the colour. In fact almost identical.
      Hope this helps you,
      Mary

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