Last week, I met a stranger on the side of the road to score some weed. Devil’s Beggarticks is the weed, by the way. The stranger was a friend of a friend who was offering up some of this aggressive plant to anyone who wanted to dye with it. I’m so glad I tried it out.
Two batches: the first was flowers and leaves and the second batch was leaves and stems. I don’t think there’s much of a difference: the wool from the stem batch is a little lighter.
I soaked one piece of cotton and one hank of embroidery floss in milk and water for each batch to see if it made a difference. All of the fiber is mordanted but milk supposedly acts as a binder and I wanted to run a little, unscientific test. I think it made a difference. The darker pieces are the milk soaked ones. Really specifically, it was a little milk and mostly water.
The wool is overdyed, I used the batch I had solar dyed with Curly Dock seeds. It’s so vibrant!!