It is very difficult to take good pictures of small samples of fiber, so bear with me here.

The fiber on the left is the fiber that I dyed with coreopsis a few days ago. The fiber on the right is the same fiber, after it has been rinsed in an ammonia/water solution! Big difference, huh? Lots of people might wonder why I am so excited about bright orange. Well, my oldest sons favorite color is orange, and he is so getting a hat made out of this.

The natural dye experiments continue. I joined the natural dyes egroup on yahoo, and just reading the archives is an education. That is where I found out about the ammonia rinse changing the color of some dyes. I chopped up a bunch of Rose of Sharon yesterday. I was really excited about the amount of deep purple burgundy color that was seeping out of the flowers. I ran and got a piece of mordanted wool, and threw it in the pot. That was when I discovered why there isn't a lot of mention about Rose of Sharon as a dye plant. The fiber just layed on top of the liquid, as there was a layer of clear, snot-like slime on top. I pushed the wool in anyway, but after two hours in the liquid, it had not picked up any color at all. It was just slime filled wool. Lesson Learned. This plant is listed in a couple of places as producing either a pink or orange dye, but I guess I don't have the right recipe. I still get to enjoy the beauty of the plant though, horray for that. I really love Rose of Sharon, we had a bunch of them where I grew up, and I was so tickled when my MIL bought me this one. It doesn't make seeds like the ones we had growing up though.




The air conditioner went out sometime between yesterday afternoon and last night. I didn't notice when it quit working, I noticed it after the temperature became unbearable. Thank the Lord, though, it started raining last night and with a huge exhaust fan that I borrowed from the in-laws house, it is bearable in here. At least until I have to cook. The air conditioning guy is supposed to be here this afternoon, though, so I will trust it will be fixed by then.

Hope you are cooler than I am, where ever you are.

Edited to say that the air conditioning guy arrived and saved the day. I have never been so glad to be spending money on electricity in my life. Some pioneer I'd make, huh?