Sappan wood with calcium and alum (red) over gardenia with alum (yellow).
Sappan over gardenia
Month: April 2020
Madder over gardenia
Madder with calcium and alum (orange background) over gardenia with alum (yellow).
Hydrangea: those wilted flowers you were about to throw out
I was about to throw them out, but since the flower/plant has such significance in the East, I just had to try. I cooked up flower heads and leaves separately, here is what I got: top left – leaves with alum bottom left with alum and iron, top right – flower heads with alum, bottom right – with alum and iron. These were white hydrangea exactly the same as in the photo.
Take-away: leaves with alum are the more potent source of yellow that turns green-ish with iron. Would be interesting whether differently coloured plant (not white blooming) would have different results, and since hydrangea themselves are quite ph sensitive, so might be the dyes.
Try them yourselves if you have any!
Elderflower and sappan
Elderflower with alum (yellow base), sappan with alum (final color), pattern from Ferenchuk’s book
Elderflower
Elderflower with alum, pattern from Ferenchuk’s book.
Camomile and logwood
I thought it would be interesting to use camomile on a traditional egg pattern with sort of inverted camomile on it.
Yellow – dried camomile with alum (herbal tea bag), black – logwood with iron. The yellow did not adhere very well to the egg shell, but it might just be something wrong with the egg itself, it worked ok on other eggs.
The pattern in from Vira Manko’s book, from Yaroslav, Nadsyannya.