Sappan wood with calcium and alum (red) over gardenia with alum (yellow).
Sappan over gardenia
yellow
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
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.
Buckthorn again
And some more buckthorn experiments, the lighter one with alum, the darker one with iron. I might stop making it with alum except maybe as a base for other colors, however the chocolate color with iron is very handsome looking.
The wax is still on, the contrast will be stronger once it’s off.
Wild cherry bark
And the season begins, wild cherry bark with alum. I was hoping for more of a pink, perhaps that would come with different mordants.
Unfortunately, it rubs off a bit, we’ll have to see what to do with it…
Elderflower and sappan wood
If you keep an egg in elderflower dye for a while, it gives an intense almost mustardy greenish yellow. Contrasts well with the red of sappan wood.
Last two weeks
Made some more eggs, some were attempts to copy Lithuanian drop-pull eggs, while others were inspired by Lithuanian patterns. A number of dyes – two of coreopsis (extract and fresh), elderflower (dried), sappan wood, madder, saskatoon berries (frozen), I think that’s it though I might have forgotten something. Mainly with alum, one egg had sappan wood with iron on background.
