Natural dye experiments 3

Horsetail soaking

Fabric in Kale dye.

This one is not a dye, but while I was harvesting from outside I also picked some Meadowsweet flowers to make a cordial and have kept some to dry for teas later in the year. 

The left over Horsetail dye.

It's very hard to get the colours close to the originals in photos. This is Kale dyed fabric on the left and Horsetail dyed on the right (still wet)

These are the pieces from the first and second experiments. Most of the colours have stayed the same without a mordant apart from the first t-shirt  where the Beetroot parts faded and the Carrot tops colour went greener.

I think the best results came from the Lovage (centre) and Chamomile (either side).

This one is from Tomato leaves which gave a very good colour too (a greenish yellow)

Colours are not accurate again, top to bottom Tomato leaf, Horsetail and Kale dyed fabric. The Horsetail gave a nice brownish yellow. I thought the deep dark green of the Kale leaves would have resulted in more than the pale yellow I got. Again no mordant used, so results could be very different.

Kale (top), Horsetail (centre) and Tomato leaf (bottom).