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Primitive Christianity Revived, Again

Learning to dye wool

This Summer I had the opportunity to attend a wool dyeing workshop in Dugald, Manitoba. It was held by the Manitoba Living History Society. It was lovely to see the colours that came from our natural dyes. Sadly I missed the Indigo which was done the day before...but did get to see Walnut, Onion, and Cochineal. Cochineal is a pink/red colour that comes from a South American beetle. It's also known as Red Dye #40!

First up...put the tea on! This kettle sounds like a harmonica when it whistles!

Here we are soaking the wool in Alum. This helps the wool to take the colour of the dye.

Collection of Onion skins! These were left to steep overnight. The resulting liquid is used for the dye, and the skins for compost.

Wool soaking in Onion Dye.


Preparing the Cochineal! The exoskeletons of the beetles were crushed in a piece of pantyhose...

Cochineal colouring looks deep purple at first.

After about an hour or more, it changes to fuchsia!

Some dyed wool drying next to Undyed samples.

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Comment by Mackenzie on 12th mo. 11, 2012 at 2:34pm: Lovely! I've learned some about natural dyeing as well, since I'm a member of a living history group. Unfortunately, the indigo dyebath on-hand the day of the workshop was old and uncooperative, so I don't have indigo samples either. For more shades of yellow, you can try annatto (yes, the spice). http://www.flickr.com/photos/maco_nix/8152590820/in/photostream

I would really like to try dyeing with cutch. It can make many lovely shades of brown, from something like toast to a nice walnut color. http://www.aurorasilk.com/natural_dyes/dyes/dye_catechu.html

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