dyes from the kitchen

I've just read a brief reference to using purple basil to dye with no mention of the color it gives. Any guesses?

Permalink Reply by kimberly baxter packwood on October 4, 2008 at 11:58am: The dye color would be fugative at best but any remaining color you did get would be a greyish color with a green cast. Where did you read the information about dyeing with basil?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kris Nardello on October 5, 2008 at 11:31am: kimberly baxter packwood said:
The dye color would be fugative at best but any remaining color you did get would be a greyish color with a green cast. Where did you read the information about dyeing with basil?

The reference was on a website for the Monroe County Historical Society showing 5 of their favorite natural dye plants.
http://www.monroehistoricsociety.org/dyeing.html
It gave general directions for dyeing with plants and acknowledged that colorfastness might be sacrificed without using nasty chemicals (my words). They added a cup of vinegar after 30 minutes in the dye. I bought three bunches of purple basil yesterday at our local farmers market and have just mordanted the yarn with alum and cream of tartar, and will let you know what happens when I dye my handspun. Why do you feel the color will be fugitive or did you mean just the plant alone without a mordant?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kris Nardello on October 6, 2008 at 11:41am: Purple basil yielded a medium tan with alum & cream of tartar. I'll probably over dye it with marigolds, dahlias or silver dollar eucalyptus next.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kimberly baxter packwood on November 13, 2008 at 7:45am: I found that pounding it into alum mordant cloth with a mallett and then composting it helped the color to remain far longer, as said before you won't keep the purple color but will obtain greens and greyish greens. The bulk of work I use purple basil and purple cabbage in is never washed, I have pieces that still the same greens that are 10+ years old now ~ Kimberly

india flint said:
purple basil does give a nice ecoprint though, as does the green variety....also when used for hapa-zome (and then fixed with steam iron) it's quite deligthful (but latter does eventually fade after a dozen or so washes); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by maneet on March 3, 2009 at 12:27am: recently we dyed the fabric with onion peels,(kitchen waste )for cotton yarns and brilliant yellow and green in jute yarn ,both the yarns were mordant with alum.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kimberly baxter packwood on March 9, 2009 at 9:39pm: maneet said:
recently we dyed the fabric with onion peels,(kitchen waste )for cotton yarns and brilliant yellow and green in jute yarn ,both the yarns were mordant with alum.

Would love to see photos~!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by wolmuts on April 16, 2009 at 3:19am: Rita Buchanan gets greens from purple basil (or also purple perilla frutescens) giving it a ammonia afterdip and purples and mauves using vinegar.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kimberly baxter packwood on April 21, 2009 at 8:19pm: I do believe that that is on wool only. Again after several years the color fades, this isn't necessarily a bad thing if you enjoy overdyeing.

Kimberly

wolmuts said:
Rita Buchanan gets greens from purple basil (or also purple perilla frutescens) giving it a ammonia afterdip and purples and mauves using vinegar.; ▶ Reply to This