Tincture with Rhubarb leaves
A little botany…
La rhubarbe est une plante herbacée du genre Rheum et de la famille des polygonacées. Seule la tige est comestible. La feuille est toxique pour l’homme mais aussi pour les animaux. La partie aérienne de la plante disparait totalement l’hiver, seul le rhizome persiste. Le rhizome peut être divisé à l’automne pour créer de nouveaux plants. Lors d’une visite du château de Guédelon en 2018, j’ai découvert qu’il pouvait être utilisé en teinture.
Preparation and dye bath
After harvesting the stalks for a delicious rhubarb pie, I cut the leaves and dried them for later use.
For immediate use, I think the proportion of 300g per 100g of wool is correct.
On the day chosen for my dyeing, I used 100g of dried leaves for 100g of wool. I covered with boiling water and let it simmer for 1 hour, with small “flopflops”. I filtered the juice through my “cheesecloth curtain” and let the bath cool.
Dyeing
After letting my mordanted skeins soak (see the article on my first try), I immersed them in the dye bath, diluted with a sufficient quantity of water to cover the wool. The bath is at 30-35°C. I gradually heated to 85-95°C, stirring slowly every 10 minutes or so. As soon as I dipped the wool, I saw a pretty yellow color appear.
I simmered for 1 hour and allowed the skeins to cool to 30-35°C before rinsing them several times, checking the water temperature each time. I got a nice golden yellow.
I read that it was possible to stop the dyeing before the end of the process by immersing the wool in a water bath at 85°C. This will be for a future test.
Post-etching with Iron Sulfate
J’ai ajouté dans le bain de teinture tiède 6 g de sulfate de fer et j’ai plongé un écheveau encore mouillé et …. Whaou ! Un vert kaki !
Be careful to rinse the pan thoroughly after post-etching with an iron to remove all residue.
See you soon for a next vegetable dyeing experience
Kisses
CKL
