Eco-Dying with Roses

It has been way too hot to function around here, with temperatures rising to almost 35 degrees celsius, so life has mostly revolved around ice cubes and swimming pools. Throw in the fact that I have tons of studying to do for my final exams next week (eeeeeks!) and the amount of creativity drops quickly. Today I finally had some time to try my hand at eco-dying. I kept some ice cold water on hand and dove right in.

I used a bouqet of roses from our living room that was close to wilting completely and scattered the leaves and petals on some 100% cotton (prewashed and still damp). I did a little bit of research on the subject and learned a little about mordants and tennants, but it all sounded a bit intimidating, so I went with water and steam for my first attempt.

When I was pleased with my result I wrapped my bundle around a piece of bark I had lying around in my room (yes, I am the type of girl who has bark simply cluttering her bedroom. It is a good life).

  After that I wrapped my bundles in some yarn to make sure everything would stay in place and then left it to simmer on the stove for about an hour. The pieces of bark were a little too large for my pot so I turned them around after half an hour.

The bundles are currently lying out in the sun to dry where I will leave them for a couple days as recommended on several of the sources I used when researching. I find it a little bit frustrating that I don’t have immediate results with this project, so it’s probably a good thing that it is so hot that I have no intention to leave the couch.

I hope youé had a nice day,
Quinny