|
Dyeing with Dried Weld
Soak the weld in water overnight. Simmer for about an hour but do not allow the weld to boil. Let the dye bath cool and strain and then add fibres and leave them overnight. You can then add more water to the strained weld to try for paler colours.
Dyeing with Fresh Weld
Chop the leaves and flower stalks and then add boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes, before proceeding as above. This produces a very bright, almost fluorescent yellow.
Back to top
Troubleshooting your Weld Dyeing
Some people get a brilliant lemon yellow with weld with no trouble at all, whilst others only manage to get drab yellows. This may depend on the water that you are using, the soil where the weld has been grown, and how long the dyestuff has been soaked and heated. If you are not getting the colour you want you can try the following:
1) Add 2 to 4g of calcium carbonate to the dye bath. If you don’t have calcium carbonate you could try baking soda or even washing soda or soda ash (follow precautions outlined on the Mordants page).
2) If you don’t mind the smell, you could try letting the weld ferment in water for a couple of days, either before or after simmering it.
3) Try simmering the weld for 2 hours instead of one.
4) Cold dyeing did not work for me with weld and I found that I had to simmer it for an hour to get a good colour.
Back to top
Washing Instructions
Weld is light fast, but dyed fibre or textiles should be washed in cold water, as the dye is slightly soluble in hot water.
Back to Weld Cultivation and Biology
Rhubarb
Other Traditional Yellow Dyes
Dyers’ Chamomile, Dyers’ Green-weed, Saw-wort, Tansy
More Yellow Dyes
Dock, Eucalyptus, Onion, Safflower, Goldenrod & Osage Orange
|
