Dyeing with madder root

[halay]

Galina sent me some pieces of silk fabric and some fibers and asked me to dye them. Since I've just bought some madder root dye I wanted to experiment. First I soaked the roots overnight and then put them into a blender added water and simmered for about an hour and a half. I was eager to see what colour I got so I dipped a piece of silk in it. I got intense coppery or perhaps better marigold colour . Then I strained the dye and heated the liquid again. First I soaked Galina's silk in alum mordant dried the fabric and put it in the pot. And surprise, surprise, I got a different colour.

I've read somewhere that madder releases more browns at the beginning and this is why after soaking the roots you should discard water and refill the pot with new water (I didn't do that). But obviously after reheating the strained liquid, some chemistry occured and yielded a nice coral red colour.
Well, natural dyeing is full of surprises. Actually I like both colours.
I haven't thrown the residue away. I'm going to dry it and try another experiment later to see what I get.

[MTRuth]

Cool Nada, both very nice colors. Do show us what the residue results are too

[Pandagirl]

Beautiful colors Nada! I will be doing some natural dyeing this summer. There are so many factors that effect the outcomes. It's always a surprise!

[elizabeth]

One of the dying classes at MSW last month was an all-day Madder class. They got about 10 different colors from madder by just changing the mordant and pH (I think). There's a photo in the write-up I did that should be posted next week.

[zed]

I love that copper colour

[chookie2]

Lovely result for both colors Nada. How exciting to be able to get so many results from one dyelot.
Look forward to that writeup Elizabeth.

[Shepherdess]

The colours are great. I particularly like the coppery silk.

[halay]

Since the outcomes of dyeing with natural colours is so unexpected, it is always good to prepare sufficient amounts of fabric, embellisments as well as wool for a project. I usually end up with too little of what I am planning to make. It is also good to test them all to see if the colour will change after felting. Once I remember the colour of wool changed under the influence of soap, while other fibers retained the same colour. This is also one thing we need to keep in mind.