One of my other interests besides gardening is going to auctions, especially vintage book, paper, and historical document auctions. Recently I was going through a box of items that I’d purchased about a year ago, and came across 2 relatively hard to find books written in the 1970′s about making dye from plants, and then how to use it. For those interested in this sort of thing, I do have these items up for auction, please click the titles to be taken to the auction, and following each link is a sample recipe from the book:
The Use of Vegetable Dyes by Violetta Thurstan, published in Great Britain.
Juniper:
Found on rather dry, barren hills…. The berries, which take two years to ripen, are used for dyeing. They may be used either fresh or dried.
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- Mordant (how to mordant is in the book) – 4 oz. alum, 1 oz. cream of tarter, copper sulfate
- Dye – 1 lb. berries
- Process – The berries should be crushed and boiled for two hours and then the mordant yarn is entered, and simmered for one and a half hours.
- Colour – A pretty olive-brown
Easy Dyeing – 50 Recipes for Making Colors from Plants by Frances E. Mustard (the self-published edition, copyright 1975:
Queen Ann’s Lace:
Need:
- 1 Pot Queen Anne’s Lace (whole plant)
- 1/3 Cup Alum
- 1 T. Cream of Tarter
- 1/4 t. Iron
- 1 lb. Wool
- Season – Fall
- Color – Soft Green
The whole plant, roots and all, can be used. Chop it up, put it in a pot, cover it with water, and boil it for about an hour. Unfortunately, this is a smelly one. Strain and add enough water to make up to 4 gal. Thoroughly dissolve the iron in some of the dye ooze and add it to the rest of the dye. Stir.
Meanwhile, fill another pot with about 4 gal. water. Dissolve first the cream of tarter then the alum in some boiling water and add it to the pot. Thoroughly wet the wool and add it too. Now slowly raise the temperature to the simmering point and hold it there for a short time. Transfer the wool to the hot dye ooze and simmer it there for another 45 min. Cool and rinse til the water runs clear. Without the iron, you will get a yellow.
These may appear to run high in price, but are offered at less than what I have found for these old editions elsewhere.
