I tried another solar dyeing project using capsules from the Pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) shrubs in the side and lower yards. The fruit is in the form of orange woody capsules that ripen in the fall, contain multiple seeds, and are eaten by local and migrating birds. I thought this project might yield a yellow or orange dye, but the project turned out to be doomed from the beginning!
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| Solar dyeing with pittosporum capsules - day 1 |
I harvested 220 grams (7.7 ounces) of the woody capsules for the project, and then rinsed the fruit in water to remove dust and small insects. I let the capsules dry in the furnace room for about a month, which resulted in 103 grams of dried capsules (3.6 ounces).
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| Pittosporum capsules - freshly picked (look at those colors) |
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| Pittosporum capsules - dried |
For this project, I used one cotton dish towel that had been prepared as described in Preparing your Fabric (Scour, Mordant, Brighten or Sadden). The towel had been scoured, mordanted with oak gallnut extract, and brightened with alum and soda ash. The weight of fabric (WOF) was 77 grams, or 2.7 ounces. The WOF% was 133% for the 103 grams of dried fruit. Dyers typically recommend equal weights of fabric and plant material for solar dyeing, so we're well over that.
I added three teaspoons of alum and boiling water to my favorite solar dyeing jar, and the jar "cracked and exploded"! I have poured boiling water into that jar many times, and have washed it in the dishwasher with no problems. I am so disappointed to lose my 1.5 liter dyeing jar (a thrift store treasure)!
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| The whole bottom cracked in my favorite solar dyeing jar! |
I found another jar, although not as desirable, and added three teaspoons of alum to about a cup of hot tap water. After stirring to dissolve the alum, I layered capsules and the dishtowel in the jar, and topped it off with more hot tap water. I found the capsules (especially the capsule seeds) to be very sticky.
My typical experience has been that some dye is released from the dye source almost immediately in solar dyeing experiments, but this time I noticed that no dye was released. I wondered if this was a bad sign, but decided to continue the experiment. After all, perhaps pittosporum dye takes more time to be released, or the color is transferred to fabric through direct contact. If that isn't the case, then the failed project would be a way to eliminate a dye source that does not work using the solar dyeing technique.
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| Dyeing with pittosporum - day 28 |
Initially, I steeped the dishtowels in the pittosporum dye bath for two weeks as I usually do, making sure to rock and rotate the jar daily to distribute dye and fruit evenly. At two weeks, dye was still not released, so I was tempted to abandon the project. Still, I thought I saw the beginning of a very pale yellow tinge to the dye bath, so decided to continue the project for another two weeks.
As with previous solar dyeing projects, I shook out the capsule material, rinsed the fabric, and then ran it through the washing machine without detergent, and hung to dry. Streaks of pale yellow remained on the fabric!
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| Hang to dry |
After waiting two more weeks to set the dye, I washed the fabric with a mild textile soap [like Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent (a.k.a., Dharma Dyer's Detergent)] and hung it to to dry. The result is almost white, but with streaks of yellow in certain light. It will be interesting to see how colorfast the dye is over time. The color that did stick is promising; I'm wondering whether the color could be extracted with heat. On the other hand, with so many plants that produce excellent, strong yellows—weld, tulip tree, marigold, and blackberry cane come to mind—it may not be worth the effort!
