[Regia-NA] Samples of natural dyed yarn

[Jan Ward]

Hi Hazel,
I haven't tried bleaching linen myself. For one thing,
I live in a retirement community in the desert, and
they cover the yards in gravel. I do have one small
patch of crabgrass in the back, about enough to do two
yards of linen, but there are birds and the neighbor
has a mulberry tree. 
Everything I tried took to the madder. Ditto the weld.
The woad has been the most disappointing. I started
with a light concentration, so I could do a number of
dips and get a range of blues. I worked all day
Saturday, and toward the end of the day discovered
there was a teeny-tiny pit in the enamel pot I was
using. Sunday, I started over using a stainless steel
pot, and a medium concentration of dye. I got a much
nicer color on the wool. The yarn from the enamel pot
had a slight greenish tinge. 
The linen, both bleached and unbleached, hardly
showed. I finally lost count of the number of times I
dipped those yarns, and I still have  nothing but
skeins of pale blue. The silk wasn't much better
I had an accident with the weld, mistaking it for woad
(came in exactly the same kind of little tub). After
mixing up the stock solution of dye, Spectralite
(thiourea dioxide) and soda ash I noticed the color
was a very ugly mud-green. Looked at the tub again.
Swore mightily.
I decanted the weld solution into a little jar, where
the additives settled to the bottom. I took a couple
of teaspoons of the yellow liquid and put it into a
pot of water with two skeins of wool. I kept it under
175 degrees for about 20 minutes and then removed the
wool. Added two more skeins. Got distracted and let
the pot get to a boil. The first two skeins were a
very bright lemon yellow. The second two had gone to a
creamier, lighter color. 
I put one of each skein into the light woad bath. The
brighter skein came out screaming chartreuse. If I'd
been capable of doing a cartwheel, I'd have done it. I
don't know how many times I've heard people say "that
color wasn't possible with natural dyes".
Unfortunately, I think they might be right. Most of
the  woad washed off when I washed the yarn. Dang.
Might also just be my lack of experience using woad. I
will have to try again.
I noticed that I wasn't able to get very much color
added by doing multiple dips. I followed the
instructions, which were translated from the French
recipe for using the woad powder. I also found that
the dye was fairly uneven. The recipe said to just
lower it gently into the vat. I think it needed to be
"worked" a little, to get it to soak into all the
yarns. I tried to open each skein to get it oxidized
well when I hung them up to air, but that wasn't
enough to get nice even  color.
I still have the vat, and a little of the woad left.
Perhaps when I get back from Colorado I can try again.
I'd love to see your dye experiments, too. I did see
your madder colored wimple on the web-shots. Nice job!
Jan