Sunday, April 22, 2012

Colours.

I am getting ready for a new project - something between prayer flags and bunting. After reading annekata's post about dyeing with black beans, I decided to prepare the backgrounds by dyeing them with natural
dyes. I took five white cotton napkins (found at a car boot sale, where else?) and used (from left to right):
rooibos tea, red food colouring (yes, yes, I know, not very eco-conscious, but I had no beetroot and the shop-within-walking-distance had none either), black beans, turmeric, and, very disappointingly, spinach (far right).

























At least I could use the boiled spinach to make a delicious Indian palak sauce. (Well, let's just say that I thought it was delicious. L'Usband carefully ate the basmati rice that was untouched by the palak sauce, and then declared that he was not very hungry. Hmmmmmm.)
PS Update on The Bust will take place soon ...










4 comments:

JAMIE SAYS DREAM said...

I saw some cool egg dying with natural dyes, with different teas the other day and now this. I'm getting inspirded! If I just had more time and energy...

The blue from the black beans look pretty and the turmeric gave a really bright yellow colour. It will be fun to see your finished project, if you want to share it.

And I think it was your husband's loss to leave the palak sauce!

Leenie said...

Your projects are so unique. Nothing boring about dying your hankie with beans or using your boiled spinach to make Indian palak sauce even if The Spouse didn't appreciate your efforts.

nathalie et cetera said...

wow! love the colors. i can't believe how bright tumeric can turn out on fabric. very nice!

Linda Sue said...

How did you fix the dye? I just dyed a couple of things with commercial dye and added salt but the colours ran anyway. Usually I use vinegar but didn't have any , maybe I just answered my own question?