Archive for the dropped spindle An online meeting place for spinners, weavers, dyers and felters.
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cledry yarner
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Elderberries as a dye?I've got some berries that are amost black but not quite, can I use them for a dye? If so - anyone got a recipe?
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sally
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You can, but in my opinion its not a great dye. You'll certainly get a very quick, very dramatic purple, but all the berry dyes are rather fugative and whenever I've tried it the wool has always faded to silvery grey over time.
Why not have a go anyway though, nowt to lose  Mordant with alum and just boil the berries in water to get the dye.
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julie1
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Don't waste them on dyeing!! Make them into wine, it's much more successful - hic.... I would have to agree with Sally about most berries.
I just checked a couple of my books for you.......
The general concensus seems to be to use two pounds of berries to one pound of wool ie; Dyestuff 200% Elderberries
Mordant 8% alum, 7% cream of tartar
If you have chrome and formic acid you will stand a better chance of getting a decent colour in my experience, in which case the proportions are 200% Elderberries, 1% chrome, 2% formic acid.
Neither of these give a very nice colour though, are you sure you wouldn't rather have wine or jam?
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ClaireUK
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I'm definately in favour of elderberry wine - very tasty. We have several gallons maturing from last year
Claire UK
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natalie
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As soon as I read "elderberries", I thought "wine"... and so, it seems, did everyone else!
n
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