Wool Dyeing

By the end of December we defined a palette of six colours bearing in mind the availability of plant material.
We chose:

– Acer (Acer palmatum) Leaves
– Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) Leaves
– Cherry (Prunus Avium) Bark
– Ivy (Hedera helix) Leaves
– Pear (Pyrus communis) Leaves
The sixth colour would be undyed grey or brown wool.

We ordered 3 kilograms of wool at our local supplier Fiwo and started working, mostly on our balcony.
We alum-mordanted the wool, prepared the different plant “teas” and dyed five batches of 600 grams each. In some cases like cherry bark, we double-dyed part of the batch.
Of course, the outcome was different from what we expected. The pear leaves, for example, were picked last November, so the resulting colour changed dramatically from the original sample. On the other hand, ivy leaves produced a much brighter hue than the first time. In the end, the original colour combinations where changed.

We now handed over one palette (acer, cherry and natural grey) to Lina Müller (an illustrator and textile designer from Altdorf, CH), who is going to design the first object for us.