Category: experiments

LYE FROM WOOD ASH

pH is very important when using natural dyes, and people have always used available resources to control pH. The easily available bases in the past – and even the deep past – are urine and wood ash. Urine is pH neutral when fresh, but forms ammonia when stored, causing the pH to rise. There is […]

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AN EXPERIMENT IN COLD MORDANTING

Recently, I have wondered how much it is really necessary to heat wool when you mordant it. To the usual 80-90C? Or would 60C be enough? (Yes I wondered about that because I ruined some yarn, and I think I overheated it!) So I turned to the knowledgeable people on Ravelry’s natural dyeing forum for […]

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