I'm excited!
It's dandelion season, where most people be moan the dandelion, I treasure it.
Dandelions are really important to our environment, they supply pollen for our bees and butterflies. I seen rabbits help themselves to them when they seed out. And if you live someplace where the harvest mice live they actually fit in the dandelions.
You can also eat dandelion leaves and roots, when they first bloom. I know the leaves can go in a salad, but make sure they are very clean. Dandelion wine, jam or jelly can be made. Dandelion tea. I suggest you do research online if you plan to use dandelions.
Oh and dandelions are an herb, you can find them in a natural food store, but like with anything you need to always be careful when taking supplements, making sure they don't interfere with any meds you might be taking. Like my hubby can't take rosemary or ginger supplements or teas containing these two herbs because he is on blood pressure pills. These two herbs can make his blood pressure spike. But he is okay with them f they are cooked in a meal. So always, always be careful with supplements and essential oils.
Okay back to my personal love of dandelions!
Growing up in a big city like New York, dandelions were the flowers you picked for your Mom or your teacher. Or if the cute boy liked you, you might get a small bundle of dandelions. When you have children, especially toddlers, they are always go to the bright yellow flower to bring to their Mom.
So can we consider the dandelion a flower of love? Maybe...I do. So many good memories, especially when you live in the concrete jungle of city life.
Okay back to my excitement! IT is dying season! Yay!
It's that time of year for me to go out and carefully pick just the right amount (you never want to take more than what you need) of dandelions for my dye.
The first time I read about dyeing with dandelions was in a very old book that I found in the library. According to that recipe, the dye should have been a light green, but instead I always seem to get a yellow color. I found out later that it depends on your soil, and weather on the color of the dye.
Anyway... so this year will be the first time I will dye spun wool, I can't wait!
These are photos of last springs dying old cotton lace.
I don't weigh anything that I forage, I just get a feel for how much I will need and the pot I am using. I use a very small sauce pot with lid. It's an old steel enamel pot that is no longer used for cooking. And a reminder never use what you cook with to dye with, you don't want to accidently make yourself very sick. So spoons, wood spoon, measuring spoon, cups, whisks, strainers and anything else that is used in the dying process should never, ever be used for cooking foods.
I place my dandelions in a pot 3 to 4 cups of water (that's what my pot holds) and I bring it up to a gentle boil and then let it simmer gently for about an hour. If your using your stove, make sure the fan is on or a window is open, I do my dying during the spring, summer months because I can have windows open.
While I was waiting for my dye bath to be ready I washed my lace in a mild dish soap (just a drop or two if your doing a small dye) to remove any oils or dirt. Rinsed it until there were no soap suds. I use an old bowl to clean lace in.
Now if you want the dye to adhere to cloth you need a mordant. There are all sorts of mordants you can use iron, alum, tannins... I use alum, you can use alum that you buy at the grocery store which is a food grade or you can get alum that isn't food grade.
My alum is not food grade, I keep it in a sealed jar in a closed cabinet away from my nosey cats and away from the kitchen so it doesn't accidently get used in food.
I used about a 1/2 tsp of alum in warm water about 2 to 3 cups and soaked the lace in it for about an hour. This is my way, these items won't get used on clothing or washed over and over. If your doing cotton or wool cloth the procedure is a little more involved. I suggest the book the Wild Dyer. Oh and natural dying needs to be used on natural cloths, so your synthetics won't work. I thru in a bit of synthetic lace I had and it didn't take.
I rinsed the lace out quickly and put it in the warm dye bath after the flowers have been strained. And simmered it again with the lace in it for about 45 minutes. I took the pot off of the heat and just let it cool off in the pot. The longer you keep it in the dye bath the darker it will get.
Since what I was doing was about a yard of lace and other bits that I had, I put the cooled dye and lace in a jar and set it in a shady spot in my studio, shaking it once in awhile. In a couple of days I took it out and handwashed it lightly and rinsed it off.
A year later it is still dandelion yellow. YAY!
Peace and Love,
Enjoy Spring!
Dolores
I'll share this years dandelion dye.
