can you tell me about your herbdying? (personal message me back please) advantages/disadvantages :) it looks so cool!!
Thank you very much! I’ll answer this publicly so it may help with some questions other people may have.
I’ve been using a variety of different dried flowers, herbs and tea leaves to produce different dye colours through alkali or acid extraction processes. For the small dye batches I’ve been making so far I’ve used 5g of herbs with 150ml of vinegar or 150ml of water with 5g of baking soda and they have been left to soak overnight before being strained and used to soak fabrics for around 2 hours at a time. The colours in general are quite subtle compared to commercial dyes and they may not always come out the same, but that’s part of the fun. Unlike commercial dyes you also know exactly what is in your dye as you made it yourself and it is sustainable and not toxic to the environment as some chemicals are. For stronger colours you can redye after the fabric has dried but it will only stain more to a certain extent. Another way is to wrap leaves and flowers in fabric and soak/spray it with vinegar and steam it for a while (at least 1 hour) which is a technique called “eco-dyeing” and I have several examples on my tumblr that I did up to a couple of months ago with silk. There is another few methods I would like to try but I am running out of space for my dye pots haha!
I recommend using natural fibres such as cotton, hemp or silk. Trying with lace also gives lovely effects. A disadvantage would also be the strong smell from vinegar if you are adverse to it (or your roommates/family) in which case I suggest when dyeing to do it in your bathroom with the fan turned on! I will be posting some photos of little samples of all the different ones I’ve tried so far soon so keep an eye out.
I hope this helps! (*´㉨｀)