I read about using turmeric as a dye here. Turns out I have lots of it, because mmm, it's good. So I dissolved some in water with vinegar and stewed it for a while and then dumped in some wet wool.
The spice doesn't totally dissolve, but the color migrates to the water. Still, a LOT of rinsing was required; I used soap in the rinse water and still the water dripping from the wet wool is kind of yellow, so I doubt fabric woven from this will withstand much washing. Still, I'm thinking it might be woven into, say, a drapery that would gain charm as it faded.
2 comments:
You're right...if it bleeds when you rinse it it will fade. I use tumeric with alum/cream of tartar in the natural dye classes I teach. It helps the color to bond with the fiber. It still has a reputation of fading with a lot of sun exposure.
Cheri
I dyed some yarn with tumeric. It was in a sunny spot for a while and did fade a bit. I found that it took a lot of rinsing to get the rest of the tumeric powder out of the yarn. Eventually I just let it dry and shook out the rest of the powder.
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