Summer Solar Dyeing

After dabbling with natural dyes for quite a few summers, I made a plan to kick start my 2022 experimentations with solar dyeing.  Colouring yarn and/or textiles with natural materials in sun drenched jars is well tried and tested and certainly makes for a most pleasing display.  As with all natural dyeing, however, there are no guaranteed colour results and solar dyeing can be even more frustrating as there is a much longer wait for the final outcome!  Having worked with some of the natural materials that give reasonable results in a conventional natural dye bath with heat, I made a plan to apply my acquired knowledge to my initial solar jars - here they are after a Spring and early Summer of sunbathing!

I set up my first jar in early March and three other jars quickly joined them.  I placed the jars in an inside area that was exposed to a reasonable amount of dappled sunlight - I understood that it was best not to let the jars get too sun scorched.  

I watched the colours emerge with interest in the weeks that followed, along with a fair amount of acumulated mould on the top of the water!  When I emptied my first jar containing indigo and cochineal on a late July morning, I was most pleasantly surprised to find variegated colour that held firm in washing out in tepid water and wool wash.

Encouraged by this colourful result, I am sharing what what I have learnt so far in support of others who would like to try out this technique.  I'll start with the dull, but very necessary prepartion of the fibre.  

First and foremost, the fibre or any other material that goes into the jar must be 100% natural and ideally protein - wool or silk.  While both of these protein fibres take up natural dye materials well, I have found that a preparatory 'mordanting' process greatly increases the take up and fastness of natural dye materials.  I used 12% aluminium sulfate and 5% bicarbonate of soda and mixed with tepid water and soaked a 100g hank of blue faced leicester yarn for several hours.

Then to the all important matter of dye materials.  These can be fresh or dried materials and a list of those I have found reliable are at the end this post.  

With all the natural dyeing I have tried, I put the materials I am using in a section of tied old tights as this makes is much easier to wash out the fibre at the end - in this example I had put in a small amount of cochineal.  I then put the hank of yarn and alum liquid into the jar to around 3/4 full.

Next to add a bit of interest with a contrasting colour and for this particular jar I opted for yellow which is easily achieved from a number of flower heads.  I've been growning Anthemis Tinctoria this summer and collected a few fresh flower heads and tied them into anther section of tights and put into a small glass with some boiling water. 

After leaving the flower heads to steep for a while, I placed the damp pouch of flower heads on top on the yarn and gently poured the coloured liquid on top, being careful to avoid any agitation.  My aim with this method is for a multi-tone effect on the yarn - the colours will seep together over time and likely mix to some degree.  Finally to carefully label contents - for all that I think I will remember some months down the track what I included, I know that it reality it is most unlikely that I will!

Natural dyeing is best approached with an enquiring mind and willingness to learn from results.  Backed up with a bit of solid information by those who have long tried and tested, pleasing dye colour can be achieved and here is a short list of potential natural dye materials that I have to be successful.  Use fresh where possible or keep materials in an airtight jar until ready to use.  Dried materials can also be successful and items beneath marked * are relatively easy to source in the UK from reputable suppliers such as Fiery Felts and Wingham Wools.

Yellow:- Buddleia Flowers, Anthemis Tinctoria Flowers

Orange:-Correopsis Tintoria Flowers, Dahlia Flowers

Red:- Madder Root*, Cochineal*, 

Pink:- Advocado

Purple:- Logwood*

Green:- Weld, 

Brown:- Walnut Hulls, 

Blue:- Woad, Indigo

And a special note about blue.  A natural dye colour that many aspire to achieve, it is one of the most complicated and time consuming to achieve from natural sources.  

After a little experimentation with fresh indigo and woad, I came across an indigo derivative called 'Saxon Blue' which I have found to be very reliable and easy to use in conventional dye pots and solar jars.  

Feeling pleased with my initial solar dye experiments, I was inspired the following year to use a selection of naturally coloured yarns.  I purchased these on a cherished return trip to the Orkney Isles, with a particular focus on sheep and seaweed!  I was delighted to find Orkney Tweed - in Victoria Street, Kirkwall close the the magnificent St Magnus Cathedral.  Owner Nancy has been breeding Zwartble sheep for some years and this great selection of natural colours was perfect for my ongoing experiments.

And here are the results of solar dyeing with a similar mix of materials as in the previous year - I was delighted with the results.  

I am particuarly grateful to Susan and Ashley of Nature's Rainbow for their inspiration and pointing me in the direction of using natual dyes on wool other than cream.  While the results are a touch harder to predicts, the excitement from surprising results is far greater :)