Botanical Dyes using Rose Petals 'n Herbs
The idea of using flowers and herbs for BOTANICAL DYES is not a new one. In fact, plant dyes have been used for 1000s of years in various cultures across the world. We need only look at how our First Nations People in Australia used natural dyes of ochre, white and black from the earth and charcoal. The source of blue dye even as recently as the last century was made from woad; a plant I have grown before but never actually made a blue dye from. It is an intensive process to extract the blue dye from woad and requires a greater level of skill than I possess to be successful.
The use of botanicals in fabric dye has more recently become something of an artisan craft which is gaining in popularity. Rather than decipher which mordants to use for a specific colour palette, I decided to experiment using natural fibres, such as silk, and follow a process that allows the natural colours to 'stain' the fabric. My first trial for this process used brightly coloured roses and green herbs from my garden.
This procedure involves wetting the silk fabric with water and laying out the fabric on a flat surface. Place the silk fabric out as smoothly as possible without too many folds and wrinkles. Next, identify which half of the fabric you will place the petals and herbs on. At this stage you can create a very specific pattern with the petals and leaves, but I preferred to scatter these over the silk ensuring the petals and leaves were dispersed evenly.
I used bright pink rose petals from a Hybrid Musk rose, Nur Mahal, which has intensely pink petals. The herb I used was from the ornamental salvias which grow abundantly among the heritage roses. This particular salvia has small leaves (microphyla) and a fresh green colour.
I had no idea if these botanicals would transfer their true colours onto the fabric, but expected the colours to be more muted and almost transparent, rather than retaining the bright tones of the plant material.
To continue the botanical dyeing process: After evenly scattering the petals and leaves over one half of the damp silk fabric, I then folded the other half of the fabric over the top of the piece with the plant materials. This then sandwiches the fabric with the petals and leaves in between. I tried to keep this as flat as possible without displacing the plant material. Ensure the fabric stays damp throughout this process. If it is a hot day, you could try spraying fresh water over the layer of fabric to prevent it drying out.
Once the sandwich of silk fabric and plant material is complete with petals and leaves inside undisturbed, it is time to carefully roll the fabric into a long sausage shape. Once you are satisfied with the roll you have created, take clean string that won't leave a mark on the wet fabric and tie this criss-cross over the sausage from end to end. The purpose of the string is to ensure the fabric and plant material remain in close contact with each other, without moving from the position you originally placed them in.
Now that you have a securely tied the roll of fabric, there are a number of ways you can proceed with the dyeing process.
I decided to use a slow method of leaving the roll outside in a shaded spot for 24 hours, before unrolling a little of the 'sausage' to see what effect this had, if any. After checking to see the result, I was not happy so decided to improve the botanical transfer by trying a less gentle method.
This involved steaming the fabric roll over a pot of water, placing the fabric in a perforated basket that did not touch the water, and covering with the pot lid. Once the water boiled I lowered it to a simmer for 10 minutes. I turned the pot off and allowed the water to cool, leaving the roll in place to sit overnight before untying to check for the result.
The next step involved untying the string and shaking off the petals and leaves. Best to do this step outside as it can be rather messy. This had a more observable effect with a faint pattern of pink and some green on the still wet fabric.
At this stage, I decided to accept whatever the result might be knowing that I could re-do the process again with the same piece of fabric and fresh plant material.
Once I had shaken off all the little pieces of petals and leaves, I then rinsed the fabric under running water and hung it to dry in the shade. After the silk fabric had dried completely, the pink and green of the plant material had faded to a muted effect with little colour. However, after my initial disappointment, I was quite pleased with the muted tones and decided not to go ahead with doing a second round of placing more plant material on the fabric etc.
The ultimate effect was a lovely, very subtle and soft imprint on the plain white silk (this photo does not show the soft sheen of the silk overlayed with a wash of botanicals as well as I'd hoped). The petals and leaves did not leave a clear imprint of their outline nor colour on the fabric, but left just a ghostly whisper that they had been in contact with the silk.
I loved this effect as it went well with the ultimate idea of a subtle botanical wash over the silk. I have also used the same method on silk velvet with similar results. Each of these fabrics were dyed without using any mordant at all, which I know would have given a stronger result in terms of colour and pattern.
I will be using this method again when I dye further batches of silk and silk velvet. And I look forward to experimenting by using different mordants on the fabric. The first mordant I'll try is soy milk which apparently does well on natural protein fabrics (silk being a protein based fabric, wool being another). I believe that this will give a softer effect than maybe a metallic mordant such as iron might.
This current length of dyed silk and velvet has been used in gorgeous torn ribbons for my bouquets and posies, both fresh and dried. I just love that these complement the gorgeous heritage roses that left their ghostly imprints on the ribbons.
And I'm using remnants of these naturally dyed fabrics for another project, but more about this later ...
@lillianheirloomroses
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