If At First You Don't Succeed, Dye, Dye Again

The request was made for one of my dyed scarves.

I thought a light woollen scarf full of Spring colour. The materials were assembled and laid out. Two different combinations of colour, hoping for one with pink tones and another with soft greens and yellow with some rusty orange.

The bundles were rolled

Simmered and left to steep overnight

Then removed

and unrolled, always an exciting moment.

And the result... not what I was hoping for. 

So the Eco dyer's mantra was invoked - if at first you don't succeed, dye, dye again. One of the good things about this process is that you can dye and overdye until you have a colour and pattern that you are happy with.

So I soaked and rehydrated some of my leaves and other gathered materials, hopefully they would release stronger colour and prints onto the scarves. More bundling, simmering and steeping.

This looked more promising, stronger colour, definite marks from the binding string, 

And good colour as it was unrolled. This one was much better.